Rice to Push for Greater South Korean Participation in Proliferation Security Initiative

The United States plans to urge South Korea to increase its participation in the U.S.-led Proliferation Security Initiative, an international effort to monitor and intercept illicit WMD cargo at sea, Agence France-Presse reported today (see GSN, Oct. 13).

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is scheduled to arrive tomorrow in Seoul, where she will push for more South Korean involvement in the initiative as a way to enforce the recently approved U.N. Security Council resolution on North Korea, according to U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Alexander Vershbow (see GSN, Oct. 16).

“Secretary Rice will talk to the South Korean government about our request for the ROK (South Korea) to join with others to expand cooperation through the Proliferation Security Initiative,” he said today.

South Korea has so far declined to formally join the initiative, fearing a belligerent response from North Korea, according to AFP.  A senior official, however, said South Korea leaders were discussing that policy.

“We are considering readjusting the width of our participation to an appropriate and necessary degree in accordance with the contents of the U.N. resolution,” said Vice Foreign Minister Lee Kyu-hyung.

However, South Korea does not consider PSI participation to be required, he said.

“The U.N. resolution is separate from the PSI,” Lee said (Agence France-Presse, Oct. 18).

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