South Korea Makes an Effort to Lead Nuclear Safety Cooperation In Northeast Asia

Dr. James E. Platte, an international relations scholar, has stated that South Korea is in a momentous challenge of leading the nuclear safety cooperation in NE Asia.

The Diplomat noted on Wednesday that Dr. Platte said Northeast Asia is among the early countries to embrace nuclear energy - with Japan being the first, then South Korea. China followed in the 90s.

Approximately half of the world's nuclear plants are found in Northeast Asia. East-West Center reported on Tuesday that, in South Korea, 30 percent of energy needs are provided by nuclear plants, which used to be the same for Japan until nuclear plants were shot down after 2011's Fukushima incident. China, on the other hand, receives only two percent of energy from nuclear plants.

What happened to Fukushima is the perfect example to show there are still unsettled concerns with regards to nuclear power. Apart from safety issues with nuclear power, as clearly demonstrated in the Fukushima incident, nuclear waste management and proliferation also raise concerns.

As most countries all over the world rely on nuclear plants for energy, these issues may possibly be resolved through joint effort.

"There is a lot of opportunity for cooperation," said Platte.

Under the Northeast Asia Peace and Cooperation Initiative (NAPCI) in 2014, President Park Guen-Hye of South Korea has encouraged nuclear safety cooperation in order to establish a trilateral cooperation with China and Japan. A meeting has also been held to consider including new members, such as Russia and the U.S.

Park has also proposed that Northeast Asia should have a consultative body for nuclear safety based on the multilateral cooperation framework called European Atomic Energy Community (EURATOM).

"Korea, China and Japan would spearhead the effort, with participation open not only to the United States and Russia, but also North Korea and Mongolia," says Park.

However, Platte believes that South Korea's endeavor could be challenging as tendencies of regionalization and integration in Northeast Asia may be possible.

"Making a plan every five years for regionalization is not a good way to achieve regionalization," explains Platte.

In addition, he states, "I don't think Japan and China are buying into it."

The scholar suggests instead that countries should highlight on emergency control and management in nuclear safety through information exchange and joint response readiness.

"This seems to be the most common area of interest among the countries," he says.