The chairman of the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee has introduced a resolution calling for approval of the civil nuclear energy cooperation agreement with South Korea in a move seen as assuring its passage through Congress.

Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA) initiated the joint resolution (H. J. RES. 63) together with Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY) on Friday, three days after Sen. Benjamin Cardin (D-MD) introduced a similar resolution in the Senate backing the civil nuclear cooperation deal with Seoul.

"Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, that the Congress does favor the proposed agreement for cooperation transmitted to the Congress by the president on June 16, 2015," the latest resolution said.

Introduction of the House and the Senate resolutions means that Congress sees no problem with the deal.

South Korea and the U.S. signed the agreement in June after more than four years of negotiations that had centered on reconciling Seoul'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.

Since then, the agreement has been under review for 90 congressional days. Should there be no opposition raised during the process, the pact will go into effect. Widespread views are that no objections will be raised, and this week's resolutions reinforced such views.

No legislative approval is necessary in South Korea. (Yonhap)