1. The 26th Plenary Meeting of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), hosted by the government of the Republic of Korea in Seoul from June 20 till 24, has come to a close after adopting a public statement.

2. In its public statement, the NSG mentioned that Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se, in his special address on June 23, “highlighted the importance of the thorough implementation of UNSCR 2270 (2016) for the resolution of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) nuclear issue and asked the NSG to continue its efforts to cut off the DPRK’s access to its nuclear program’s supply chain.”

° In addition, the NSG “deplored the nuclear test conducted on 6 January 2016 by the DPRK, reconfirmed their commitment to UNSCRs 1718 (2006), 1874 (2009), 2087 (2013), 2094 (2013) and 2270 (2016) which strongly condemned the DPRK’s challenge to the nuclear non-proliferation regime and underlined that export of all controlled items within the NSG to the DPRK is prohibited according to the abovementioned resolutions.”

3. At their Plenary Meeting, the member states of the NSG engaged in an in-depth discussion on ways to block the procurement channels in order to hinder North Korea’s advances in its nuclear program.

° The ROK government formally circulated its watch-list of items that could be used in North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs and led relevant discussions. By doing so, the ROK paved the way for the NSG’s continued discussions on ways to cut off the supply chain for North Korea’s nuclear program as one of its main agenda items during the ROK’s service as the chair country of the organization.

4. The NSG also engaged in a constructive discussion on such major issues as ways to clarify and update its Control Lists and Guidelines; the importance of balancing confidentiality with transparency in its activities; and options for enhancing outreach for interested non-NSG partners on the work of the Group.

5. The 26th NSG Plenary meeting, chaired by the ROK’s Ambassador to Vienna Song Young-wan, is seen to have been successful in that a stern message was sent to North Korea against its nuclear ambition; that the member states mustered their commitment to expand the NSG’s role in efforts to block the procurement channels for North Korea’s nuclear program; and that the NSG substantially discussed its key issues.

° As the NSG chair country, the ROK led the member states to engage in constructive discussions on sensitive issues by encouraging and coordinating the discussions, playing a pivotal role as a leading country in terms of non-proliferation.

6. At the NSG meeting, the ROK government, by adding pressure on North Korea from the Multilateral Export Control Regime to the dual pressure from UN Security Council resolutions and unilateral sanctions, is seen to have built a tighter network for pressuring North Korea.

° The ROK government will continuously intensify this momentum of pressuring North Korea by putting to full use such occasions as the plenary meeting of the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) in October and Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se’s chairmanship of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Ministerial Conference on Nuclear Security in December.


* unofficial translation