1. The 14th Republic of Korea-United Nations Joint Conference on Disarmament and Non-Proliferation Issues, co-hosted by the ROK Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the UN Office for Disarmament Affairs, will take place at the Shilla Hotel in Seoul from December 7 to 8.

o In the upcoming conference, to be held under the theme “Unfinished Business of Building a More Secure World,” participants will discuss regional issues, including the Iranian and North Korean nuclear and missile issues; space security; and nuclear security.

2. The conference will bring together about 130 people, including domestic and foreign disarmament and non-proliferation experts from governments, international organizations, academia, and research institutes, as well as the diplomatic corps in the ROK.

o Participants from international organizations will include Acting High Representative for Disarmament Affairs Kim Won-soo of the UN, co-host of the conference, as well as Executive Secretary of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) Lassina Zerbo, and Director of the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs Simonetta Di Pippo.

o Participants from foreign governments will include Chairman of the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) Piet De Klerk (Netherlands), Director Andrey Belousov from the Russian Foreign Ministry, and Director Wu Jianjian from the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

o Participants from academia and research institutes will include Scott Snyder, senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations in the US; Seyed Hossein Mousavian, researcher at Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs; Professor Shen Dingli at Fudan University in China; and Professor Kazuto Suzuki at Hokkaido University in Japan.

o Participants from the ROK government will include Deputy Minister for Multilateral and Global Affairs of the Foreign Ministry Shin Dong-ik, and other officials from relevant ministries, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of National Defense, and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

3. In the forthcoming conference, participants will exchange views on the implications of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on Iran’s nuclear program, which was reached this year, and ways to effectively implement the JCPOA. Participants will also discuss ways for the international community to deal with North Korea’s continued development of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles.

o In addition, participants will hold in-depth discussions on outer space activities and efforts to create new rules and regulations on them, as well as establishment of a durable nuclear security system after the 2016 Nuclear Security Summit.

4. The ROK-UN Joint Conference on Disarmament and Non-Proliferation Issues was first held in the form of an international workshop in 2001, which marked the 10th anniversary of the ROK’s accession to the UN. The Conference has developed into a major annual meeting on disarmament and non-proliferation in the Asia-Pacific. In the Conference, which takes place at the end of every year, disarmament and non-proliferation experts from various sectors, including governments, international organizations, academia, and research institutes, select key issues of that year in the area of disarmament and non-proliferation and hold intensive discussions on them.

5. The ROK government will continue to explore ways to make constructive contributions to global discussions on disarmament and non-proliferation by continuing to hold the ROK-UN Joint Conference on Disarmament and Non-Proliferation Issues, and strengthen diplomatic capabilities in the field of disarmament and non-proliferation.


*unofficial translation