On January 9, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs held an inter-agency meeting chaired by Lim Gap-soo, the government representative for Korea-U.S. nuclear cooperation, and officially launched the ‘Korea-U.S. Nuclear Cooperation Interagency Task Force (TF)’ to secure enrichment and reprocessing capabilities for peaceful and commercial purposes. The meeting was attended by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Science and ICT, the Ministry of Climate and Environment, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission, the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI), the Korea Institute of Nuclear Nonproliferation and Control (KINAC), and Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power.
During the inter-agency meeting, the major issues and tasks related to enrichment and reprocessing were reviewed, and the roles and cooperation systems of each ministry were examined. Opinions were exchanged on the direction and plans for responding to consultations with the U.S. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs plans to hold regular director-level meetings and working-level consultations of the interagency task force (TF) to gradually review major issues related to enrichment and reprocessing.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will promote a government-wide response to create domestic and international conditions for securing enrichment and reprocessing capabilities for peaceful and commercial purposes. Meanwhile, a separate TF within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to support the work of the government representative for Korea-U.S. nuclear cooperation was already established on January 5.