Nuclear experts and officials from around the world kicked off an annual United Nations forum on the southern resort island of Jeju Monday to highlight the importance of strengthening nuclear security, setting the stage for a global summit of the same theme to be hosted by South Korea next year.

The Republic of Korea-U.N. Joint Conference on Disarmament and Non-proliferation Issues, now into its 10th year, comes as Seoul is preparing to host some 50 world leaders in March for the second Nuclear Security Summit.

The two-day conference in Jeju, nicknamed the “Jeju Process,” will this year focus on the aims and expected outcomes of the summit, while assessing the past and future of disarmament and non-proliferation issues, according to Seoul’s foreign ministry, which is co-hosting the forum with the U.N. Regional Center for Peace and Disarmament in Asia and the Pacific.

Participants will also discuss North Korean nuclear issues, including the communist state’s uranium enrichment program and prospects for the long-stalled six-party talks on ending the North’s nuclear ambitions.

Sergio Duarte, the U.N. high representative for disarmament affairs, and Tibor Toth, executive secretary of the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization, are among some 70 international experts to join the meeting.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also marked the forum’s 10th anniversary by offering his congratulations in a video message. 

(Yonhap News)