President Park Geun-hye asked Friday for U.S. congressional support for South Korea to expand its “peaceful use” of atomic energy, her spokeswoman said, as the two nations are in talks over Seoul’s demand for the right to reprocess spent nuclear fuel.

Park made the remark when she met with Bob Corker, the top Republican on the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, saying she hopes an expiring nuclear accord between the two countries will be revised in an advanced way, according to spokeswoman Kim Haing.

“President Park asked for congressional attention so that the Korea-U.S. nuclear pact will be revised in a way that enables South Korea to expand its peaceful use of atomic power,” the spokeswoman said in a statement.

In response, Corker said that he is aware of the importance of nuclear energy in South Korea and hopes the two countries will come up with mutually beneficial results, according to the spokeswoman.

Seoul and Washington have been in talks to rewrite the nuclear accord set to expire in March next year. Officials said the two countries should reach a deal by summer to allow for time for its ratification from both houses of the U.S. Congress. (Yonhap News)