In the letter sent on Jan. 30, four U.S. Democratic senators Chris Van Hollen, Edward Markey, Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden urged Trump to implement the "strongest possible non-proliferation measures in any revised nuclear cooperation agreement with South Korea."
Warning about possible revisions to the current bilateral nuclear energy pact between the two countries, they argued, "Providing latent nuclear capability to South Korea would also undermine U.S. non-proliferation efforts," as it could jeopardize efforts to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons.
"South Korea's complicated history with nuclear weapons, and your role in that history, makes your policy shift particularly concerning. South Korea has had an interest in nuclear weapons stretching back to the 1970s and conducted illicit activities that were investigated by the United Nations," they wrote.
The letter followed the release of a joint fact sheet by the White House in mid-November last year, a few weeks after the U.S. reached a tariff-related border deal with South Korea, outlining the Trump administration's plans to "allow uranium enrichment and spent fuel reprocessing for peaceful uses in South Korea."
Seoul and Washington first signed the nuclear energy pact in 1974, which details the scope of nuclear technology South Korea can use for civilian purposes.
Under the decades-long pact, South Korea has been restricted from reprocessing its own spent nuclear fuel rods and enriching uranium for power generation, as Washington fears that South Korea could obtain materials to produce nuclear weapons if allowed.
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