Seoul – The revelation that the US Department of Energy has identified South Korea as a “sensitive country” – a sign for countries that are a threat to national security or nuclear non -proliferation – left South Korea officials to scramble to obtain answers.
His interrogation by legislators during a parliamentary session on March 11, Foreign Minister Zhou Tae Yol said that the South Korean government was not aware of this measure, as it discovered through “informal channels” only after the local media broke the news a day ago.
The list of sensitive countries, which is kept by the Ministry of Energy’s sensitivity unit, includes nuclear countries such as India and Russia, as well as countries that are considered terrorist sponsors, such as North Korea or Iran.
The Hankurura newspaper in South Korea reported that adding South Korea to the list, which the Ministry of Energy announced by research institutions under its jurisdiction this month by April 15.
South Korean President Yun Sok Yol, right center, and wife, Kim Keun, are waving national flags.
(Ahn Yong John / Associated Press)
In a statement to the Times on Saturday, a spokesman for the Ministry of Energy confirmed that the change was made by the outgoing Biden administration in January, but he did not explain the reason.
The spokesman said: “The inclusion does not necessarily indicate a rivalry relationship with the United States,” the spokesman said.
The spokesman said: “The listing of Scl is not prohibited from Americans or US Energy Ministry employees (DOE) from visiting or doing business with listed countries, just as these foreign citizens do not prevent the visit of the Ministry of Energy sites.” “The appointment is not prohibited from scientific or technical cooperation.
On Monday, Zhou told local correspondents that officials believed that this step had arisen through a “security -related problem” in the Energy Research Laboratory. In a audit report covering October 2023 until March 2024, he came to Congress, the Ministry of Energy revealed that it launched a contractor for his attempt to ride a plane to South Korea with a “special nuclear reactor design program”.
However, the undeclared step of the United States government to put a large non -nuclear ally in the same company as countries like China or North Korea, unstable politicians, where many explain that it is a blow to the American and South Korea alliance.
“Something unprecedented in 70 years of the South Korean coalition,” said Democratic Party spokesman Kim Song Hoy.
Experts attributed the non -proliferation of a decision warning the United States of the growing choir in South Korea with its nuclear weapon.
Although South Korea has been a signature of the Nuclear Non -Proliferation Treaty since the 1970s, this idea has gained great power since the time of President Trump’s first term, when Trump hinted that the United States may withdraw forces from South Korea, which he accused of not paying enough in exchange for its maintenance.
“Why do we defend someone? Trump said in an interview with Time Magazine last year.
Since the United States is no longer a reliable military support provider, high-ranking officials here have been behaved frankly about the possibility of developing South Korea from its nuclear capabilities, including conservative President Yun Suk Yol-who is currently facilitating his declaration of the Law of Self-Defense in the past year-and its president in Oh Sion.
“It may come a time when we can no longer rely on the United States for our security,” wrote former Foreign Minister Yoon Yong Kwan in a column in a newspaper this month, shortly after the Trump administration was suspended by military aid to Ukraine. “To undertake such a scenario, we need to strengthen our military strength, including potential nuclear capabilities, so that we can contain North Korea alone.”
Despite South Korea’s official obligations to non -proliferation, US officials are likely to explain these comments much more seriously than South Korea officials believe, said Tom Contiman, former assistant foreign minister of international security and non -spread.
The South Korean Army’s selfies take positions in Pago, near the border with North Korea. During President Trump’s first term, he hinted that the United States may withdraw forces from South Korea, which he accused of not paying enough to maintain it.
(Ahn Yong John / Associated Press)
“It is unusual, but at the same time, there is no other country in the world that does not really have nuclear weapons where the general debate about obtaining nuclear weapons is noisy as in the Republic of Korea now,” he said about the country’s sensitive list.
Laman Man, who in 2015 led negotiations with South Korea for the revised 123 agreement – an agreement required by the American government from countries seeking technical cooperation and assistance in civil nuclear energy – noted that US officials are still aware of the fact that South Korea was running it in the seventies, and continues the necessary departments to continue tickets in taste. It is a decisive launch stone towards building nuclear weapons.
“It is still a history of today,” he said.
Because of the great technological assistance from the United States, which dates back to contracts, South Korea has one of the most advanced civilian nuclear programs in the world, providing 26 reactions about 30 % of the country’s electricity.
Noting the difficulty of storing fuel that was spent in the small land block in South Korea, as long as South Korea officials have called for the right to re -process the fuel that was spent as Japan does, a decision to postpone it in 2015.
But the last appointment of South Korea may mean that the door for this goal has been closed.
“I think all the loose political talk about nuclear weapons makes it unlikely that the United States will provide such permission.”
In South Korea, many fear that this appointment will lead to technology cooperation with the United States, including in nuclear energy as well as artificial intelligence and quantum computing.
“This cold will be thrown at the research atmosphere, especially with a more strict examination of researchers in South Korea who are trying to visit the United States or participate in projects that the Ministry of Energy is sensitive or risky,” said Moon Joe Hyun, a nuclear scientist at Dankok University.
Among the areas of influential research may be small normative reactions, which governments have praised as a more cost -effective and more effective alternative to traditional nuclear reactors, as well as fears that they are the risk of greater proliferation.
Nuclear experts such as Moon, South Korea, which is one of the few countries in the world, says nuclear reactors, may find itself subject to energy management controls on the basis that the leading export reactor in South Korea is designed based on an American design.
After a $ 20 billion deal in 2009 to provide the United Arab Emirates with four reactors, South Korea expressed its interest in exporting its reactors to Saudi Arabia, which refused to sign a 123 agreement with the United States unless it was allowed to enrich uranium-another way to make nuclear bombs.
Last year, after Czech Republic appointed South Korea Korea Hydro and the nuclear power as a preferred bidding for its main nuclear energy project, the United States -based Westinghouse, based in the United States -based, filed a lawsuit against intellectual property violations claimed by Korea Hydro. The two companies reached a settlement this year.
“There were many aspects of the Czech offer, which seemed to make the United States uncomfortable, and I actually believe that this fear of the growing picnic of South Korea in the global nuclear energy market may have played a role in South Korea’s decision,” said Huang Ji Huan, a nuclear expert at the University of Seoul.
“There are still areas in which South Korea needs the cooperation of its counterparts in the United States during these export deals, such as patents,” said Hwang.