Deputy Minister for Multilateral and Global Affairs Kweon Ki-hwan met with Under Secretary for Nuclear Security of the U.S. Department of Energy and Administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Jill Hruby on April 22 in Seoul. During their meeting, Deputy Minister Kweon and Administrator Hruby exchanged views on nuclear cooperation between the ROK and the U.S., as well as cooperation in disarmament and nonproliferation.

Both parties acknowledged the importance of nuclear cooperation in the context of the ROK-U.S. Alliance and agreed to work closely together to revitalize bilateral cooperation on various issues, including joint research on nuclear non-proliferation, the stable supply of nuclear reactor fuel, and the management of spent nuclear fuel, as recently agreed to between the coordinating offices of the ROK-U.S. Nuclear Cooperation Agreement.

In particular, both sides recognized the active cooperation taking place in the field of nuclear security. They emphasized the important role of the Nuclear Security Working Group under the High-Level Bilateral Commission (HLBC) and committed to further enhancing cooperation in this area.

Both parties also shared concerns about the increasing threat to the global disarmament and non-proliferation regimes, including North Korea’s illicit nuclear and missile programs, and agreed to intensify cooperation to address these challenges.