Seoul summit crucial in global nuclear safety, security: pundits

WASHINGTON, March 13 (Yonhap) -- The upcoming Nuclear Security Summit in Seoul is important to keep up momentum in efforts to operate nuclear facilities more safely and prevent nuclear terrorism, a group of American experts said Tuesday. President Barack Obama ambitiously launched the summit in Washington in 2010, joined by the heads of state from nearly 50 nations. The initiative, however, apparently has been overshadowed by seemingly more urgent issues -- Iran's nuclear development and North Korea's possible proliferation. "States have made significant progress on their 2010 summit national commitments, but that is only half of the story," said Michelle Cann, senior budget and policy analyst at the Partnership for Global Security (PGS), as the institute issued a report on the Nuclear Security Summit, together with the Arms Control Association. "The commitments on the books will not get the job done. To prevent nuclear terrorism in the years ahead, the global nuclear security system must grow and adapt to new threats." The 47-page report reviews details of commitments made by participants in the 2010 summit and how much has been implemented. It came in advance of the second Nuclear Security Summit from March 26 to 27 in Seoul, where leaders of more than 50 countries are expected to gather. Roughly 80 percent of the 67 national commitments made by 30 global leaders at the Washington session have been implemented, according to the report. Examples of progress include Kazakhstan's securing of more than 13 tons of highly enriched uranium and plutonium, Chile's elimination of its entire stockpile of HEU, and Russia's termination of plutonium production, it said. Ukraine also got rid of two-thirds of its HEU, estimated to be more than 100 kilograms, and is expected to clean out its remaining stockpile by the Seoul summit. "There is a danger that early successes of the summit process will lead to complacency," Cann said. Other experts agreed that despite some progress, major work needs to be done. "Substantial work remains if the summit process is to meet its goal of securing all vulnerable nuclear materials," said Kelsey Davenport, an analyst at the Arms Control Association. Kenneth Luongo, president of the PGS, said that is why the Seoul session is important. "The 2012 summit provides a window of opportunity to being the process of reframing the nuclear material security debate and initiating some key changes in strategy," he said. He pointed out Seoul is a good venue to hold the second round of the summit, given South Korea's role as a "global bridge" between advanced and developing nations, namely G-8 and G-20, the geopolitical situation regarding North Korea's nuclear threats, and the South's leading technology. Regarding the level of discussion on North Korea in the Seoul summit, meanwhile, William Tobey, senior researcher at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University, said South Korean officials will likely seek strong international support for the denuclearization of the peninsula. The issues of North Korean and Iranian nuclear ambitions are not among the main agenda items at the Nuclear Security Summit, as participating nations want to focus on beefing up the nuclear safety and material security regime. Neither Pyongyang nor Teheran is a participant. (END)