Nuke test leads Seoul to join PSI proliferation pact

General-level officers from Korean Army, Navy and Air Force attend a key commanders’ meeting yesterday at Defense Ministry in Yongsan, central Seoul.

Following North Korea’s nuclear test on Monday, South Korea announced yesterday that it will join the Proliferation Security Initiative, a United States-led multinational effort to curb trade in weapons of mass destruction.

“To counter grave threats to the global peace and security that weapons of mass destruction and proliferation of missiles present, we have decided to endorse principles of the Proliferation Security Initiative,” said Moon Tae-young, spokesman for the Foreign Ministry.

Moon added that the inter-Korean maritime accord reached in 2004 will remain valid. The accord prohibits the two Koreas from transferring weapons or collecting intelligence in each other’s territorial waters.

The PSI was created in 2003 during the George W. Bush administration. Under the initiative, participating countries try to intercept cargoes of suspected banned weapons, their means of delivery and other related materials. They also enact laws to facilitate seizure of such materials and take part in interdiction exercises and actual operations. South Korea, which has already informed the United States, Japan, China and Russia of its move, will be the 95th member.

According to the U.S. State Department Web site, “the PSI principles ... recognize the value in cooperative action and encourage participating countries to work together to apply intelligence, diplomatic, law enforcement, military and other capabilities to prevent WMD-related transfers.”

The PSI, however, is not a formal treaty-based organization and thus participants are not obligated to take actions.

South Korea has been an observer nation in interdiction drills under the PSI but has previously refrained from becoming a full-fledged member for fear of negatively affecting inter-Korean relations.

Then following the April 5 North Korean rocket launch, South Korea expressed its intention to join the PSI but put off making the call, citing the sensitive state of inter-Korean relations. A South Korean worker in the Kaesong Industrial Complex has been held there since March 30 for allegedly slandering the North Korean regime and encouraging a female North Korean colleague to defect. Seoul has not been granted access to the man despite repeated attempts.

Though the PSI does not single out any country as a specific target, North Korea has previously said it would consider Seoul’s joining the PSI a declaration of war and would take a firm countermeasure. Pyongyang did not have an immediate reaction yesterday but it did launch two additional short-range missiles on its east coast. North Korea fired three missiles Monday after its nuclear test.

A high-ranking official at the Foreign Ministry said yesterday South Korea will consider attending a meeting of the PSI’s Operational Experts Group in June in Poland. The group consists of hundreds of military, law enforcement, intelligence and diplomatic experts from 20 PSI core states. The official added that interdiction exercises are scheduled in the United States in September and in Singapore the following month. But he also said South Korea has no immediate plans of staging drills in Korean waters, calling the action “unnecessary in the current state of inter-Korean relations.”

Other South Korean officials agreed joining the Proliferation Security Initiative was the country’s next logical step. Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan said in a National Assembly meeting that taking part in the PSI will be effective in controlling North Korea’s development of dangerous materials.

“North Korea proceeded with the nuclear test despite repeated warnings from the international community, and that proves the threats of proliferation of dangerous weapons have increased,” Yu said. “We felt endorsing the PSI principles was our duty as a member of the international community.

“Our membership in the PSI will help prevent North Korea from trading dangerous materials and, in the General-level officers from Korean Army, Navy and Air Force attend a key commanders’ meeting yesterday at Defense Ministry in Yongsan, central Seoul. Kim Tae-young, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff convened the meeting after signs of North Korea’s short-range missile launch were detected. North Korea launched two more short-range missiles into East Sea yesterday.

Joongang Daily