A senior U.S. nonproliferation expert says he believes Seoul and Washington will reach a solution in talks to revise their bilateral nuclear energy agreement sometime before the deal expires in March 2014.

White House Coordinator for Arms Control and Weapons of Mass Destruction, Proliferation, and Terrorism, Gary Samore, made the remark on Monday during a meeting at the South Korean Embassy in Washington.

Samore said that all related officials in Seoul and Washington are “deeply committed to continuing peaceful nuclear cooperation,” but he’s not exactly sure when the talks will yield a solution.

The South wants to gain the right to enrich uranium and reprocess spent nuclear fuel to have a stable supply of the energy source. However, the U.S. has shown a lukewarm stance out of concerns that granting that right could negatively affect its policies on nonproliferation.