KEI Spotlight

2012 Nuclear Security Summit – The Korean Twist

September 28, 2011 – KEI hosted The Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation's Deputy Director of Non-Proliferation, Ms. Duyeon Kim, for an academic paper series event on her new paper, "2012 Nuclear Security Summit – The Korean Twist".  

Nuclear security issues are often more focused on the northern half of the Korean peninsula and the efforts toward denuclearization of North Korea’s nuclear weapons program; however, next March, the attention will focus on South Korea as it hosts the 2012 Nuclear Security Summit.  Yet the nuclear disaster in Japan has raised concerns over the safety of nuclear power, creating a possible incentive for the Nuclear Security Summit to connect the issues of nuclear safety and security. As host, South Korea will face the challenge of encouraging the full implementation of the 2010 Nuclear Security Summit agreements and figuring out how to address concerns over nuclear safety in the wake of the Fukushima disaster.

At the event, Ms Kim discussed the important factors associated with South Korea hosting the event and the possible advantages and capabilities Korea brings as a non-nuclear weapon state using nuclear power, a major nuclear exporter, and a neighbor to a country that uses nuclear weapons to threaten peace and stability.

This event was mentioned by several Korean and English news sources, including:

• "2차 핵 안보정상회의서 `HEU 전환' 문제 다룰 듯" – Yonhap (Korean)
• "Safety of NK nuke facilities can be discussed at Seoul summit: researcher" – Yonhap (English)

To download Duyeon Kim's paper, click here.

You can watch the video from the event here.

The photos from the event as also located on KEI's Flickr.