By Kang Hyun-kyung
The deputy negotiators of 47 countries and officials of five international institutions will gather in Seoul today for a two-day meeting to study agenda items of the Seoul Nuclear Summit to be held next March.
During the two-day closed-door meeting, dubbed the Seoul Sous-Sherpa Meeting, delegates will begin discussing what is to be included in the so-called Seoul Communique that will be produced at the end of the summit.
Based on their discussion, chief delegates to the Seoul summit will meet in October in Helsinki to discuss the items.
A government official told reporters that the meeting will primarily focus on ways to deter terrorists or other non-state actors from obtaining nuclear materials.
Asking for anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the press, he said nuclear safety will be another topic to be addressed at the meeting.
“The Fukushima meltdown has some implications for nuclear security because there are worries that terrorists or non-state actors can target nuclear facilities to cause an incident,” he said. “This explains why the delegates will place nuclear safety on the negotiating table at the meeting.”
The official went on to say that there has been a shift in the nuclear security environment between the Washington summit held a year ago and the Seoul summit next year.
The shift he mentioned is a regime change in international terrorist group al-Qaida.
After Osama bin Laden was killed by U.S. commandos on May 1, bin Laden’s chief deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri succeeded him as a new al-Qaida leader.
While bin Laden was alive, Zawahiri was reportedly in charge of a plot to attack the United States and its allies by using weapons of mass destruction.
“The regime change in al-Qaida is an issue that can be discussed at the highest level next year when the Seoul Nuclear Summit opens,” the official said.
Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Kim Sung-hwan is slated to deliver a speech at the deputy negotiators’ meeting today.