Twelfth United Nations-Republic of Korea Joint Conference to Focus on Way

 

Forward for Twenty-First Century Non-Proliferation Regime

 

NEW YORK, 13 November (Office for Disarmament Affairs) — The twelfth United Nations-Republic of Korea Joint Conference on Disarmament and Non-Proliferation Issues will take place on Jeju Island from 14 to 15 November 2013.

The annual event is organized jointly by the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs, through its Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Asia and the Pacific, and the Government of the Republic of Korea.  Angela Kane, High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, and Dong-ik Shin, Deputy Minister for Multilateral and Global Affairs of the Republic of Korea, will address the opening session.  More than 40 participants representing Governments, international organizations, policy institutes and academia will attend the Conference.

Under the theme “Non-proliferation Regime in the 21^st Century:  Challenges and the Way Forward”, the 2013 Conference will focus on a range of non-proliferation issues, with a special emphasis on Security Council resolution 1540 (2004).  Approaching its tenth anniversary, it obligates all States to refrain from providing any support to non-State actors attempting to develop, acquire, manufacture, possess, transport, transfer or use nuclear, chemical or biological weapons and their means of delivery.

The Conference will address key issues associated with implementation of the resolution, examine ways to strengthen and give it universal effect, and discuss its future course over the next decade.  The Conference will also address non-proliferation obligations and initiatives, including Security Council sanctions, International Atomic Energy Agencies (IAEA) safeguards, efforts against proliferation financing, the 2014 Nuclear Security Summit and the Middle East zone free of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction.

Hosted annually by the Republic of Korea since 2002, the Conference has become an important forum, characterized by a candid and constructive exchange of views among Government officials, independent experts and researchers and civil society representatives on the challenges of and solutions to current disarmament and security issues.  It also addresses particular disarmament and non-proliferation concerns in the Asia-Pacific region.

The Conference is financed through voluntary contributions to the Office for Disarmament Affairs by the Government of the Republic of Korea.

For further information, please contact Sharon Riggle, Director, United Nations Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Asia and the Pacific (UNRCPD), at tel.: +977 1 501 0257, fax.: +977 1 501 0223; or e-mail:  info@unrcpd.org.

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For information media • not an official record