SEOUL, KOREA — The Seoul Nuclear Security Summit will be held on March 26th-27th, and will be the largest summit that shares international cooperative ideas to protect nuclear plants and materials from falling into the hands of terrorists.
Participating in this organization will be more than 50 heads of state and other international organizations. The main topics include: cooperative measure to combat the threat of nuclear terrorism, protection of nuclear materials and related facilities, and the prevention of illegal trafficking of nuclear materials.
After the horrific attacks on the Twin Towers on 9/11, the threat of a potential nuclear terrorist became evident. There is a need to recognize the importance of nuclear security, and for the international community to come together and find a solution to this global issue.
The first Nuclear Security Summit, initiated by President Obama, was held in Washington, D.C., in April 2010. This was the first occasion on which nuclear security and safety were discussed at the highest level. The leaders conversed on the prevention of nuclear materials being misused by non-state actors and the how we as an international community can strengthen nuclear security.
South Korea will be playing a crucial role as host, which will include coordinating countries’ view on nuclear security issues, and leading discussions on the drafting of the ‘Seoul Communiqué, which will be the final documents of the Seoul Summit.
Korea is honored to be selected as this year’s host of the 2012 Summit Meeting. The international community recognizes its world-class nuclear technology, use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, and its compliance and recognition of NPT obligations. Having this summit on the peninsula will be significant given its context of denuclearization.
The participants are as follows: Republic of Korea, Algeria, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, India, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Lithuania, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan, Philippines, Poland, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, UAE, UK, Ukraine, USA, and Vietnam.
International participants include: The UN, IAEA, and EU.
The Seoul Nuclear Summit will earn international recognition for Korea. The expected outcome of this international meeting is to secure the stability of the Korean peninsula by bringing global leaders to discuss cooperative measures to strengthen nuclear security.
The safety of nuclear facilities will also be discussed as a vital issue in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear meltdown in 2011. The Fukushima disaster has emphasized the need for setting clear safety measures to be taken in cases of a natural disaster or terrorist attack.
