S. Korea joins PSI after N. Korea's nuke test

(ATTN: UPDATES with media briefing, other details)
By Lee Chi-dong
SEOUL, May 26 (Yonhap) -- South Korea on Tuesday declared full participation in
the U.S.-led campaign aimed at curbing the spread of the weapons of mass
destruction and related materials, a day after North Korea conducted its second
nuclear test.

South Korea made the decision to join the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI)
following the North's April 5 rocket launch, but it had delayed a formal
announcement in consideration of its efforts to resume dialogue with the
communist neighbor. Government officials said there was no reason to wait any
longer as North Korea carried out another nuclear experiment on Monday.
"The government has decided to endorse the PSI Statement of Interdiction
Principles to counter serious threats posed by the spread of weapons of mass
destruction and missiles," foreign ministry spokesman Moon Tae-young said in a
statement.
But an inter-Korean maritime agreement signed in 2005 will remain valid, he added.
The initiative, launched in 2003, does not directly target any country, but North
Korea, long suspected of exporting illicit weapons and parts, is understood to be
a main target. North Korea has repeatedly warned that the South's participation
in the PSI would be tantamount to a declaration of war.
South Korea's previous liberal administration rejected the U.S. request for Seoul
to take part in the PSI, citing "unique geopolitical situations" on the divided
peninsula, the words Seoul uses in referring to its tricky relations with the
North. South Korea has only been an observer to the offshore exercises.
But the current conservative administration, one of whose slogans is "Global
Korea," said Seoul should play a bigger role in cracking down on the
international black market for weapons and related technology. It also puts top
priority on strengthening its alliance with the U.S. in its foreign policy.
The government informed the U.S., China, Russia, Japan, and other major countries
of its plan to join the PSI before the announcement, according to ministry
officials.
"We will send a formal letter of accepting all PSI principles, especially
interdiction principle, to the U.S. State Department later today to complete the
process of joining the PSI," an official told reporters in a background briefing.
South Korea will be its 95th member.
He said South Korea is considering attending a regional meeting of the PSI's
Operational Expert Group, composed of some 20 core member states, to be held in
Poland in June.
Maritime drills will be held in September in the U.S. and in Singapore in
October, he added.
He pointed out that the PSI is one of two nonproliferation-related
accomplishments by the Bush administration that President Barack Obama is seeking
to develop, along with the Global Initiative to Counter Nuclear Terrorism.
In an outdoor speech in Prague hours after the North's April 5 rocket launch,
U.S. President Barack Obama expressed his will to bolster the PSI. He called for
its "durable international institutionalization."
South Korea initially planned to announce its plan to fully take part in the PSI
days after the North's rocket launch but it put off the announcement several
times amid worries over the future of the Kaesong industrial complex, a joint
venture with the North, and the fate of a South Korean worker detained there by
the North on charges of slandering the communist nation.
"The government concluded that there is no reason to delay the announcement," the
official said, adding the international community has voiced unified criticism
against North Korea's violation of international norms.
lcd@yna.co.kr
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