S. Korea to form task force on nuclear accord with U.S.

By Lee Chi-dong
SEOUL, July 6 (Yonhap) -- South Korea plans to form an interagency task force to
handle its planned talks with the United States on the scope of Seoul's peaceful
nuclear activity, its foreign minister said Monday.
Yu Myung-hwan said his ministry will be in charge of the negotiations in
persuading the U.S. to allow South Korea to pursue a broader commercial nuclear
program including the "recycling" of spent fuel.
"We will make preparations for the start of related consultations (with the U.S.)
as early as in the latter half of this year," the minister said at a National
Assembly committee session, adding his ministry's ambassador for energy and
resources Cho Hyun will lead the envisioned task force to also include
representatives from other ministries and related agencies.
South Korea has 20 nuclear power plants, mainly in southern regions of the
country, but it is banned from reprocessing spent fuel under a 1974 agreement
with its ally that is to expire in 2014.
The two sides need to complete negotiations on a new pact by around 2012, given
the time needed for domestic procedures.
Conservatives here, including a number of lawmakers at the ruling Grand National
Party and the splinter Liberty Forward Party, have called for a revision of the
pact to enable Seoul to regain its rights to reuse spent fuel. They point out
that South Korea, which produces nearly 40 percent of its energy at nuclear power
plants, has more than 10,000 tons of nuclear waste in storage. They said the
storage will become full in 2016.
The foreign minister highlighted the concerns, saying Seoul's peaceful and
commercial nuclear use should be maximized.
"Talks between South Korea and the U.S. should be held on the basis of their
mutual trust and alliance," Yu said. "(We) will reflect the opinions of not only
the government but also academic circles, media, and industry (in the talks)."
He said that South Korea is seeking to acquire the so-called Pyro process, a new
technology aimed at "recycling" used fuel, not reprocessing it.
"It is impossible to extract weapons-grade plutonium from the process," Yu said
in response to worries that Seoul's push for expanded nuclear activity may send
the wrong signal to the international community.
lcd@yna.co.kr
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