Seoul decides to join PSI, announcement due Wednesday

SEOUL, April 14 (Yonhap) -- South Korea decided Tuesday to participate in the U.S.-led global effort to curb the spread of weapons of mass destruction, but it withheld announcing it until President Lee Myung-bak signs a related document, a diplomatic source said.

Seoul's widely anticipated decision to join the Proliferation Security Initiative
(PSI) came at a regular Cabinet-level meeting on foreign and security policy,
presided over by the country's top diplomat, Yu Myung-hwan, the source added.
"The decision was reported to President Lee Myung-bak for final approval. The
government plans to announce it on Wednesday," the source said, asking not to be
named.
South Korea would become the 95th member of the PSI, launched in 2003 by the Bush
administration.
South Korea has limited its role in the PSI to observer in a bid not to
antagonize North Korea, a main target of the campaign.
The North has warned that it will regard Seoul's participation in the PSI as a
declaration of war.
The communist nation's April 5 rocket launch prompted the South to review its
policy on the global initiative.
Seoul officials said the country, aiming to become a global leader, should no
longer delay participation in the PSI.
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