Korea was appointed the next chair of the Hague Code of Conduct against Ballistic Missile Proliferation (HCOC) in its 10th regular meeting, held on June 2 in Vienna, Austria. (Cho Hyun, Korean Ambassador to Austria and Ambassador to the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Korea to the International Organization in Vienna, will serve as the chairman for a one-year term beginning from mid-2012.)
The HCOC was established in 2002 with the aim of preventing the proliferation of ballistic missiles, and is the only universal international code of conduct in the field of missiles. Korea was one of the original signatories to the HCOC in 2002, and adopted in last year's HCOC regular meeting the Chair's Summary that condemned North Korea's launch of long-range ballistic missiles in 2009.
Korea intends to reinforce the HCOC during its 2012-2013 term as the chair by actively contributing to the global effort for nonproliferation of ballistic missiles and expanding the number of HCOC member countries.
