S. Korea, U.S. agree to seek 'tangible' nuclear cooperation outcomes

By Song Sang-ho

WASHINGTON, June 3 (Yonhap) -- South Korea and the United States agreed to pursue "tangible" outcomes from their nuclear cooperation initiatives "as quickly as possible" during a bilateral meeting in Seoul this week, the State Department said Wednesday.

The two sides held the meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday (Seoul time) to discuss cooperation on South Korea's push to build nuclear-powered submarines and secure civil uranium enrichment and spent nuclear fuel reprocessing capabilities.

"Both sides committed to work towards delivering tangible outcomes as quickly as possible to establish milestones for reviewing progress throughout the year and to accelerate future consultations," the department said in a media note.

The meeting was held to make progress on the nuclear cooperation initiatives included in a joint fact sheet, which the two governments released to outline bilateral agreements on security, trade and investment following a summit between South Korean President Lee Jae Myung and U.S. President Donald Trump in late October.

South Korea's First Vice Foreign Minister Park Yoon-joo and U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Allison Hooker joined the meeting, which included interagency representatives from the countries, including those from Seoul's presidential National Security Office and the White House National Security Council.