April 14, 2010

South Korea’s President Lee Myung-bak addresses the Nuclear Security Summit on April 13 in Washington, DC.

At the Nuclear Security Summit held in Washington, D.C. on April 13, the Republic of Korea was chosen as the host of the next Summit in the first half of 2012.

As President Barack Obama opened the first Summit and explained its purpose, he nominated South Korea to host of the second Nuclear Security Summit, which was then unanimously approved by the participating leaders. South Korean President Lee Myung-bak responded by shaking hands with President Obama and accepted the honor.

In the first session of the Summit held in the morning, President Lee took the podium as the first presenter to introduce the ROK’s measures for the physical protection of nuclear materials, the topic of the first session. He also laid out what contributions South Korea would make to the international community.

The U.S. and other participating nations at the Summit actively supported South Korea’s hosting of the next Nuclear Security Summit considering that South Korea has complied with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and followed other related international norms, setting an example of utilizing nuclear power for peaceful purposes. Also the Korean Peninsula bears crucial significance in terms of resolving nuclear issues.

Since South Korea is directly involved in resolving the issue of North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, the hosting of the next Summit is expected to help rally the international community to make a stronger commitment to settling the issue. A South Korean official said the presidential office is looking into the possibility of inviting North Korean leader Kim Jong Il to the 2012 Summit, especially if the North were to make meaningful progress in denuclearization in the next two years.

South Korea’s hosting of the 2012 Nuclear Security Summit along with the November 2010 G-20 Summit demonstrates that its status and prestige is rising in the international community, as the G-20 meeting is the world’s premier economic consultative body and the Nuclear Security Summit is the highest-level conference in global nuclear security.

The first Nuclear Security Summit in Washington was the largest gathering of world leaders (outside of the UN) hosted by the United States in recent history, and the second meeting in South Korea promises to be the largest summit Korea will have hosted in its history.

Read President Obama’s remarks at the Nuclear Security Summit here