1. On the evening of January 6, Minister of Foreign Affairs Kang, Kyung-wha virtually attended the “Third Ministerial Meeting of the Stockholm Initiative on Nuclear Disarmament and the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT),” the first ministerial multilateral meeting in the area of nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation in 2021.

° The meeting brought together 16 non-nuclear countries including Korea to discuss ways to further promote nuclear disarmament and strengthen the NPT regime ahead of the Review Conference of the NPT in August marking the 50th anniversary of the Treaty’s entry into force.

° The participating countries stressed that, in order to reinforce the global nuclear non-proliferation regime, the upcoming NPT Review Conference should be successful and particularly that it is important to reach agreement on concrete actions in the field of nuclear disarmament, including extending and expanding the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) between the United States and Russia due to expire on February 5. In this regard, the participating countries agreed to submit at the NPT Review Conference the concrete action proposals for progress in nuclear disarmament, namely stepping stones, adopted at the Second Ministerial Meeting in Berlin last February.

2. In her leading remarks, Minister Kang underscored the need for the international community to shore up the nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation regime based on the NPT to achieve the goal of “a world free of nuclear weapons,” and conveyed the Korean government’s commitment to contribute in this regard.

° Minister Kang pointed out the importance of dialogue among nuclear-weapon states for progress in nuclear disarmament and emphasized the need to seek effective progress in nuclear disarmament in due consideration of the international security landscape.

° In addition, the Minister mentioned that Korea had led the adoption of the resolution titled “Youth, Disarmament and Non-Proliferation,” the first of its kind, at the United Nations General Assembly in 2019, adding that Korea will continue to carry out various youth projects in a bid to inform future generations of the importance of the NPT regime.

3. With regard to the North Korean nuclear issue, Minister Kang explained the Korean government’s efforts on the Korean Peninsula peace process for complete denuclearization and the establishment of permanent peace on the Korean Peninsula, and requested continued support of the international community.