With 50 days to go, preparations for the Nuclear Security Summit in Seoul are in full swing at various levels of government, society and industry, organizers said Sunday.
The two-day summit from March 26-27 is expected to draw more than 50 heads of state and international organizations to the South Korean capital for the country’s largest-ever international conference. The event is aimed at holding discussions over measures to prevent nuclear terrorism as well as nuclear safety in the wake of the radioactive disaster in Fukushima last year.
U.S. President Barack Obama launched the inaugural meeting in Washington in 2010. About 4,000 more people are expected to attend the gathering this year, bringing the total number of participants in Seoul to over 10,000, organizers said.
“The number of assistants helping out at the event will reach about 800,” an organizer told Yonhap News Agency by phone. “We are doing our best to ensure the event is carried off flawlessly, as even a minor mistake could turn into a diplomatic faux pas.”
Negotiators from the participating nations are working on a “Seoul Communique” that will summarize the results of the summit, with their final meeting scheduled to be held in Seoul three days prior to the summit.
The document is expected to contain guidelines on reducing the amount of highly enriched uranium and plutonium throughout the world, strengthening safety measures at nuclear power plants, and preventing illegal trade in nuclear materials, according to officials in Seoul.
Publicity events for the summit are widespread, after Seoul’s foreign ministry appointed Korean-American pop singer Park Jung-hyun, TV actor Jang Geun-seok, and boy band JYJ as “PR ambassadors.”
On Thursday, the ministry chose 748 assistants for the summit, who will receive training in conference management, protocol, interpretation and media center management, among other areas.
Also among the beneficiaries of the global event are some of Seoul’s top-rated hotels. More than 8,000 rooms at a dozen hotels have been booked to accommodate the visiting foreign leaders and those accompanying them, officials said.
