Nuclear Security Summit

The second Nuclear Security Summit will be hosted in Seoul on March 26-27. The event is the largest international conference the Republic of Korea has hosted and will bring 58 world leaders together, including 53 heads of state and chiefs of international organizations such as the International Atomic Energy Agency. After serving as chair country of the G-20 Seoul Summit in November 2010, South Korea is poised to have a great opportunity to proactively contribute to discussions on the global security order.

The Nuclear Security Summit is an occasion for participants to prevent nuclear materials and facilities from reaching the hands of forces who threaten the international order, including terrorist groups. Highly enriched uranium of 1,600 tons and plutonium of 500 tons scattered around the world is enough to produce 100,000 nuclear bombs, representing a critical threat to world peace. At the first summit in Washington two years ago, eight countries agreed to return and discard 400 kilograms of highly enriched uranium. If 30 additional countries agree to dispose of the nuclear material at the Seoul event, the world can continue to reduce the threat of nuclear terrorism.

South Korea has persuaded certain countries that sought to discuss nuclear terrorism only to adopt nuclear safety as an agenda item for the second session of the upcoming summit. Alert over nuclear safety has been heightened since the nuclear meltdown in Japan last year. Participants should step up efforts to strengthen international rules over the introduction of measures to defend nuclear facilities, including reactors. The meeting could also have a positive effect on negotiations for a revision to the 1974 South Korea-U.S. nuclear treaty that both sides are discussing.

The reduction of nuclear weapons and nuclear nonproliferation are not agenda items for the upcoming summit, but the heads of five countries that are parties to the six-way nuclear talks, except North Korea, will attend the summit. Seoul must reconfirm the strong commitment of the parties on nuclear dismantlement by Pyongyang through bilateral talks and other measures. Countries participating in the summit account for 80 percent of the world’s population and 95 percent of global GDP. North Korea will inevitably feel international pressure to dispose of its highly enriched uranium. Pyongyang`s planned launch of a long-range rocket next month to mark the centennial birthday of the late North Korea founder Kim Il Sung will only accelerate the global isolation of the Stalinist country.

Certain civic groups and political parties have formed a “No nukes” coalition and plan a strike under the slogan “nuclear-free, nuclear reactor-free world” to protest the summit. Fundamentally, there is no reason to oppose the Nuclear Security Summit, which is aimed at safe management and peaceful use of nuclear energy. If they truly demand a world free of nuclear weapons, they should first express opposition to North Korea’s nuclear development and planned launch of a long-range missile.