U.S. to discuss S. Korea's demand for nuclear reprocessing: Campbell

By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, Jan. 27 (Yonhap) -- The United States will discuss next week South
Korea's demand for the right to reprocess spent nuclear fuel to help South Korean
firms make inroads into the global nuclear energy market, a senior U.S. official
said Wednesday.

"I think we will resume some of the discussions next week when I am in Seoul,"
Kurt Campbell, assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs,
told South Korean correspondents here ahead of his trip to Seoul next week. "But
I will anticipate we will be working through this question in the coming weeks or
months."
Campbell was discussing a 1974 agreement, valid until 2014, that calls for South
Korea to obtain U.S. consent before reprocessing spent nuclear fuel.
He said he met with South Korea's Vice Foreign Minister Chun Yung-woo here
Tuesday to discuss pyroprocessing and other related issues.
Campbell refused to elaborate on the U.S. position on pyroprocessing, a new
technology which South Korea maintains is less conducive to proliferation and
differs from reprocessing by leaving the separated plutonium mixed with other
elements.
Nonproliferation advocates say little difference exists between the two.
"We are right in the middle of diplomacy between the United Stats and Korea on
this issue," he said. "I'd rather not characterize it. We heard very clear recent
signals from the South Korean side."
Campbell took note of South Korea's successful bidding last month to build four
nuclear reactors worth US$20 billion for the United Arab Emirates.
"Korea has very ambitious plans for its nuclear exports," he said.
In an apparent dilemma the U.S. faces, Campbell discussed both nonproliferation
as well as the importance of the emissions-free nuclear energy industry.
"It's also the case Korea has been deeply supportive of certain aspects of the
nonproliferation agenda," he said. "And lastly, Korea is a deeply responsible
player in the Copenhagen process. And there is a clear recognition that one of
the ingredients in any effort to deal with curtailing green house gases will
involve a nuclear component. So we understand all that."
The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty legitimizes the right to peaceful
development of nuclear energy.
The U.S., however, fears South Korea's nuclear fuel reprocessing might undermine
international efforts to denuclearize North Korea, making the security situation
in Northeast Asia more volatile.
Ellen Tauscher, undersecretary of state for arms control and international
security, said last year that the Obama administration opposes South Korea
reprocessing spent nuclear fuel.
"I believe that the existence of a reprocessing plant in the Republic of Korea
would be inconsistent with the commitments made in the 1992 Joint Declaration,"
she said.
On the U.S. agreements with India, Japan and the European Union to provide
technology assistance to help them reprocess spent nuclear fuel, Tauscher also
said, "The administration does not believe that such programmatic consent to
reprocessing is necessarily appropriate in other cases, including Taiwan and the
Republic of Korea."
Scott Snyder, director of the Center for U.S.-Korea Policy at the Asia
Foundation, recently said that the "U.S. decision to allow India to have such
capacities a few years ago strengthens South Korea's argument that it should be
allowed to reprocess, but U.S. reluctance to grant similar consent to South Korea
will not be easily accepted in Seoul."
"The rationale for having such a capability in order to compete in the
international nuclear energy export market looks different from the rationale of
trying to match North Korean nuclear weapons development capabilities," Snyder
said. "At present, South Korea is the only nuclear energy supplier among six
countries that cannot independently provide enrichment or reprocessing services
to address issues related to nuclear waste."
hdh@yna.co.kr
(END)

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