By Lee Tae-hoon
Staff reporter
South Korea plans to expand its role in the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI), a U.S.-led global campaign aimed at interdicting ships suspected of trafficking weapons of mass destruction (WMDs), a foreign ministry official said Sunday.
Seoul will join the Operational Experts Group (OEG) of the PSI this year as part of measures taken after the sinking of the South Korean Navy ship Cheonan on March 26 by a North Korean torpedo attack, the official said on condition of anonymity.
The OEG is a 20-member consultative body that plays the role of steering committee for the PSI. OEG members include the U.S., Japan, Australia, Canada and Singapore.
The official noted that the move will help the country play a leading role in the anti-proliferation operation.
Seoul is working closely with other PSI members with the aim of participating in an OEG meeting in Japan in November as a full-member, sources said.
South Korea has yet to sign up for OEG membership, but participated in a meeting held in Poland in June last year.
Once the South enters the group, it will be able to play a key role in the initiative and secure better access and sharing of information on North Korea's proliferation activities with 95 other member countries of the PSI.
The PSI was launched in 2003 to prevent the transfer of WMDs, their delivery systems and related materials by air, ground and sea to and from states and non-state actors of proliferation concern.
The Seoul government declared its intention to be a full participant in the PSI after the reclusive North carried out its second nuclear test in May last year.
However, it refrained from participating in the PSI's maritime interdiction training exercises out of fear that such an action would provoke a strong backlash from the North and undermine inter-Korean relations.
It was only in May this year after the Cheonan incident occurred that Seoul decided to fully participate in the PSI.
On May 20, a multinational investigation team concluded that a North Korean submarine torpedoed the 1,200-ton frigate Cheonan near the disputed maritime border with North Korea, killing 46 sailors on board.
The government has announced a set of punitive measures against the communist regime, including a cut in inter-Korean trade and dropping of all dialogue.
The administration referred the Cheonan case to the U.N. Security Council (UNSC) for further diplomatic and economic sanctions.