The military on Thursday opened an operations headquarters to ensure safety at the nuclear security meeting to be attended by some 50 heads of state in Seoul next year, officials said.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said the headquarters will oversee all security-related missions before, during and after the Nuclear Security Summit, scheduled for March 26 and 27 next year.
Chaired by President Lee Myung-bak, the meeting will bring together leaders from about 50 nations to discuss ways to prevent terrorists and other non-state actors from acquiring potentially harmful nuclear material, such as highly enriched uranium, plutonium and radioactive material.
The JCS said the nation's military will assume the responsibility for ensuring the successful hosting of the summit.
"To prepare for various forms of provocations, we will establish multidimensional military readiness posture on the ground, in the sea and in the air," the JCS said in a statement. "And on the basis of a close cooperative network with relevant agencies, we will command and control our operations commands to carry out security missions."
At the opening ceremony of the headquarters, Army Gen. Jung Seung-jo, chairman of the JCS, called for "the preparation and execution of perfect security operations" for the nuclear meeting, the JCS added.
The Seoul summit will be the second of its kind, after the inaugural meeting in Washington last year. (Yonhap)