S. Korea, U.S. expected to announce nuclear energy cooperation agreements at Yoon-Biden summit

SEOUL, May 19 (Yonhap) -- South Korea and the United States are expected to announce a number of agreements on nuclear energy cooperation at their upcoming bilateral summit later this week in Seoul, sources said Thursday.

U.S. President Joe Biden is set to arrive in South Korea on Friday for his first summit with President Yoon Suk-yeol on a range of issues, including North Korea's nuclear program and supply chain risks, set for Saturday.

According to presidential office officials, the two countries are reportedly working to include agreements to pursue cooperation in joint developments of small modular reactors (SMR) and resume meetings of their High Level Bilateral Commission (HLBC), a consultative body on strategic nuclear energy cooperation, in a joint statement released after the summit.

The two sides are also reportedly discussing the inclusion of an agreement to pursue joint nuclear reactor export projects in the global market.

South Korea and the U.S. have agreed to strengthen cooperation in nuclear energy in a summit between then-President Moon Jae-in and Biden in May of last year but have yet to produce concrete results.

The new Seoul administration under Yoon has sought ways to cooperate with Washington in the area of nuclear energy in connection with the president's campaign pledge to scrap the previous government's nuclear phase-out drive.

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