With 100 days remaining before it hosts a global nuclear summit, South Korea is putting the final touches on preparations for the 50-nation Nuclear Security Summit, key organizers said Friday, promising to make the event a success.
The Seoul nuclear summit will take place on March 26 and 27, attended by top leaders from about 50 countries, including the United States, Russia, China, Japan, Britain and France. The summit, which will be the second such meeting following one in the United States in 2010, is aimed at preventing nuclear terrorism.
It is also expected to give a further boost to a “Global Korea” campaign by South Korean President Lee Myung-bak to upgrade the nation’s stature on the global stage, organizers said.
On Tuesday, the Seoul government will hold its third round of intra-government meetings, presided over by Prime Minister Kim Hwang-sik, to discuss the process of preparations and future plans, they said.
“The 2012 Seoul Nuclear Security Summit will significantly help South Korea boost its stature and national brand image in the world,” said Ambassador Cho Hee-yong, secretary-general at the Preparatory and Planning Office for the summit.
Negotiators from the participating nations have been in close coordination to discuss key goals for the Seoul summit and what topics should be included in a so-called “Seoul Communique” that will be announced at the end of the summit, Cho said.
Last month, a group of former leaders and ministers from around the world held its first meeting in Seoul to advise President Lee on nuclear security issues ahead of the summit.
The “Eminent Persons Group” comprised 15 experts on international security and nuclear issues, including Hans Blix, a former Swedish foreign minister and former chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency; former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger; and former Indian President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.
Seoul officials said one of the key topics at the Seoul summit would be how to protect vulnerable radioactive materials worldwide so terrorists could not use them to make a crude nuclear bomb.
Other key agenda to be discussed in Seoul will include “practical and concrete” ways to prevent the threat of nuclear terrorism and ensure the safety of atomic energy, they said.
Concerns have persisted over the safety of nuclear energy following widespread radioactive contamination after Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear crisis in March of this year.
North Korea’s nuclear weapons programs are not on the agenda of the upcoming summit in Seoul, but the issue can be discussed on the sidelines of the forum, they said.
President Lee has already expressed his willingness to invite the North’s leader Kim Jong-il to the Seoul summit but Pyongyang has not responded. (Yonhap News)
