1. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea and the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) will co-host the 18th Republic of Korea-United Nations Joint Conference on Disarmament and Non-proliferation Issues to be held in Seoul on November 13-14.

° After being first held in the form of international workshop in 2001 to mark the 10th anniversary of the ROK’s accession to the UN, the ROK-UN Joint Conference on Disarmament and Non-proliferation Issues developed into a prominent forum for discussing disarmament and non-proliferation issues in the Asia-Pacific region in 2002. It brings together disarmament and non-proliferation experts from various sectors, including governments, international organizations, academia, and research institutes, at the end of the year to discuss key disarmament and non-proliferation issues of the year.

2. This year’s Conference entitled, “Preparing for the 2020 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference,” will have in-depth discussions on prospects and building blocks for the 2020 NPT Review Conference, and ways to reinvigorate the review process. Participants will also discuss regional non-proliferation issue related to the Korean Peninsula.

° Mr. Kang Jeong-sik, Deputy Minister for Multilateral and Global Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Mr. Thomas Markram, Director and Deputy to the UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, will attend the Conference on behalf of the ROK Government and the UN, respectively.

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° The Conference will also be joined by about 60 people, including government officials of such countries as the United States, the People’s Republic of China, the Commonwealth of Australia, the Republic of Finland, the Republic of Indonesia, and Malaysia; representatives from the UNODA, the UN Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR), and other international organizations; experts from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and other disarmament and non-proliferation research institutes at home and abroad; members of the diplomatic corps in the ROK; and officials from relevant ROK Government agencies.

3. The ROK Government will continue to seek ways to contribute constructively to the international community’s discussions on disarmament and non-proliferation issues by continuously holding the ROK-UN Joint Conference on Disarmament and Non-proliferation Issues, and strengthen its capacity for disarmament and non-proliferation diplomacy.

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° In the process, as a follow-up on the ROK-led resolution titled “Youth, Disarmament and Non-Proliferation,” which was adopted by the First Committee of the UN General Assembly on November 6, New York time, and is expected to be finally adopted at the plenary session of the General Assembly in December, the ROK Government will explore ways to further promote youth engagement in the field of disarmament and non-proliferation.