U.N. forum to assess future role of NPT

By Lee Chi-dong
SEOUL, Nov. 24 (Yonhap) -- Two U.S. State Department nuclear experts were to take
part in a United Nations seminar in South Korea Monday to assess the global
nuclear nonproliferation mechanism during George W. Bush's eight-year tenure.

The three-day forum, to begin on the southern resort island of Jeju later in the
day, is also expected to offer ways to strengthen the nonproliferation regime
under the incoming Barack Obama administration.
Paula DeSutter, assistant secretary for verification, compliance and
implementation at the U.S. State Department, and Sung Kim, the U.S. special
envoy for the six-way talks on North Korea, are among some 60 international
experts to join the annual meeting.
"The theme of this year's session, the seventh of its kind, is Nuclear
Renaissance and the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT)," said South Korea's
Foreign Ministry, which will co-host the forum with the U.N. Regional Center on
Peace and Disarmament in Asia and the Pacific.
There will also be in-depth discussions on the North Korean nuclear crisis, which
poses a serious threat to the NPT, the ministry added.
The participants will discuss the North Korean nuclear issue during a Wednesday
session titled "Non-proliferation Challenges in Northeast Asia."
State Department officials will exchange views with South Korea's deputy chief
nuclear envoy, Hwang Joon-kook, on ways of moving the denuclearization process
forward, including a workable verification scheme for the North's declaration of
its nuclear assets.
The NPT's effectiveness has come under increasing question in recent years, as
North Korea successfully developed nuclear weapons and allegedly exported nuclear
technology to Syria. Iran is also suspected of running a secret nuclear weapons
program.
Arms control experts critical of Bush argue that a new U.S. nuclear trade deal
with India has damaged NPT regulations. India, which possesses nuclear weapons,
refuses to sign the NPT, as does Israel and Pakistan.
President-elect Barack Obama vowed to bolster the nonproliferation accord during
his campaign.
The NPT, which went into effect in 1970, bars signatories from sharing nuclear
weapons technology with other nations and calls on nuclear armed states to reduce
stockpiles with the goal of complete disarmament, while allowing the use of
peaceful nuclear technology to produce energy.
The other participants at the disarmament forum include Ian Biggs, head of
secretariat at the International Commission on Nuclear Non-proliferation and
Disarmament, Toshio Sano, director general of the disarmament department at
Japan's Foreign Ministry, and Ye Ruan, vice president of China Arms Control and
Disarmament Association.
lcd@yna.co.kr