The Asia-Pacific Leadership Network for Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament (APLN) convened its 7th annual meeting at the Haevichi & Resort in Jeju, Korea on May 23-24, 2016. Twenty-three APLN members gathered to report on their activities in the past year and discussed about potential directions for the APLN to have a more effective and broader impact.

In the opening ceremony, after a short welcome speech by Mr. Hee-ryong Won, Governor of Jeju Special Self-Governing Province, R.O.K., Emeritus Convener Gareth Evans and Co-conveners Ramesh Thakur and Chung-in Moon briefly described the direction of Phase Two of the APLN since September 2015, in which the East Asia Foundation in Seoul will take the role of APLN Secretariat and the Centre for Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament (CNND) at the Australian National University will remain as the research center.

Session one, ‘Report on Activities since the Hiroshima Meeting,’ took off with a short verbal report by each member on their individual contribution to activities related to the APLN objectives. Session two, ‘The Research, Publications and Dissemination Agenda,’ which was presented by Co-convener Ramesh Thakur and Research Director John Tilemann, proposed a list of potential topics and dissemination methods. In the Session three, Jayantha Dhanapala, President of Pugwash Conference on Science & World Affairs and Nobuyasu Abe, former Under Secretary General for Disarmament 2003-6, U.N., led discussions on ‘Where Next for Disarmament?’.

Session four, ‘Where Next for Non-Proliferation,’started off with introductory remarks by Carlos Sorreta, Ambassador of the Philippines in Moscow, and Yungwoo Chun, Chairman of the Korean Peninsula Future Forum. Session five, ‘Where Next for Security & Safety?,’ began with introductory remarks by Shen Dingli, Associate Dean of the Institute of International Studies of Fudan University and John Carlson, Senior Counselor of the Nuclear Threat Initiative. The final session dealt with ‘Proposed Activities for the Coming Year and Next Meeting.’

APLN members who participated in the annual meeting this year will also participate in the sessions at the 11th Jeju Forum, May 25-27, 2016.

 

KOREAN PARTICIPANTS (8)

Myung-bok Bae, Senior Editorial Writer, JoongAng Ilbo

Yungwoo Chun, Chairman, The Korean Peninsula Future Forum

Yong-soo Hwang, Senior Researcher, Korea Institute of Nuclear Non-Proliferation andControl

Sung-hwan Kim, former Foreign Minister of ROK

Hong-Koo Lee, former Prime Minister of ROK

Chung-in Moon, Co-convenor, Asia Pacific Leadership Network

Minsoon Song, President, University of North Korean Studies

Hee-ryong Won, Governor, Jeju Special Self-Governing Province

OVERSEAS PARTICIPANTS (15)

Nobuyasu Abe, former Under Secretary General for Disarmament 2003-6, U.N.

John Carlson, Senior Counselor, Nuclear Threat Initiative

Chen Dongxiao, President, Shanghai Institute for International Studies

Jayantha Dhanapala, President, Pugwash Conference on Science & World Affairs

Gareth Evans, Honorary Convener, Asia Pacific Leadership Network

Peter Hayes, Founder & Director, Nautilus Institute for Security &Sustainability

Pervez Hoodbhoy, Head & Professor of Physics Department, Quaid-e-Azam University

Pan Zhenqiang, Senior advisor, China Reform Forum

Sha Zukang, former Under Secretary General for Economic and Social Affairs, U.N.

Shen Dingli, Associate Dean, Institute of International Studies of Fudan University

Rakesh Sood, former Ambassador for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation, India

Carlos Sorreta, Ambassador, Embassy of the Philippines in Moscow

Ramesh Thakur, Co-convener, Asia Pacific Leadership Network

John Tilemann, Director of Research, Asia Pacific Leadership Network

Nyamosor Tuya, former Foreign Minister of Mongolia

APLN SECRETARIAT

Hyung T. Hong, Head of the APLN Secretariat / Secretary General, East Asia Foundation

Sookyung Cho, Program Officer, APLN Secretariat

Chan Koo Kang, Program Officer, East Asia Foundation

Stella Shin, Program Officer, East Asia Foundation

 

Image: Pixabay stock, Kyeongbok Kim.