Korea-U.S. nuclear cooperation deal meets all legal requirements: CRS

The U.S.-South Korean civil nuclear cooperation agreement meets all requirements in U.S. law, the Congressional Research Service said.

The agreement, which was signed in June, meets "all the terms of the Atomic Energy Act, and therefore could enter into force after a 30-day consultation period and a review period of 60 days of continuous sessions unless Congress enacted a joint resolution of disapproval," the CRS said in a report on nuclear cooperation with foreign countries.

The assessment adds to positive views in the U.S. of the agreement after resolutions were introduced in both the Senate and the House of Representatives calling for its approval.

The agreement came after more than four years of negotiations that had centered on reconciling South Korea's demand for the right to reprocess spent nuclear fuel and enrich uranium with Washington's concerns about proliferation.

The new deal still bans Seoul from reprocessing and enrichment, but it opens the way for the Asian ally to begin research into a new technology for spent nuclear fuel recycling, known as pyroprocessing, and to make low-level enriched uranium with U.S. consent.

President Barack Obama sent the deal to Congress last month for approval. (Yonhap)