Publication

This bulletin examines the history of US-South Korea civil nuclear cooperation as well as the new so-called 123 Agreement, that was established between the two countries on this issue on June 15, 2015. The author contends that while the new agreement is a step forward in US-South Korea civil nuclear cooperation, it does not give Seoul the consent to enrich or reprocess nuclear materials, something which the country has been pushing for. However, he also suggests that this problem may be dealt with in the future as the 123 Agreement, and others made since 2011, provide South Korea with formal channels to conduct research on reprocessing technologies and as they set possible times in the future for further US-South Korea negotiations on the issue.