The North Korean nuclear arms issue, one of the major ones on international society’s 

agenda, will be addressed as a key subject of the Jeju Forum this year. Eleven out of 71 Jeju 

Forum sessions will form a “track of nuclear arms discussions” that will diagnose the threats 

of nuclear weapons in the Asia-Pacific region and seek denuclearization of the area. 

The organizers of the sessions related to nuclear arms issues are the Asia-Pacific Leadership 

Network (APLN), the East Asia Foundation, the Korea National Diplomatic Academy, the Jeju 

Peace Institute and the Korea Foundation for Advanced Studies. 

The sessions will be attended by the high-level delegates on UN disarmament commissions, 

including India’s Center for Air Power Studies and the Defense Committee of the Pakistani 

Senate, which are parties directly involved in nuclear disarmament; the People’s Liberation 

Army of China and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, which are expected to play a key 

role in resolving the North Korean nuclear issue; scholars from the Carnegie Endowment for 

International Peace; and other opinion leaders. 

The participants who will discuss viable alternatives to the nuclear issue are Des BROWNE, a 

former British defense secretary who joined the Advisory Group of the Comprehensive 

Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT); KIM Won-soo, a former UN under-secretary general for 

disarmament; Nobuyasu ABE, a former UN under-secretary general for disarmament; SHA 

Zukang, a former UN under-secretary general for economic & social affairs; NYAMOSOR 

Tuya, a former foreign minister of Mongolia; JIA Qingguo, dean of the School of 

International Studies, Peking University; and KIM Sung-hwan, a former minister of foreign 

and trade affairs of South Korea.

The discussions are divided into three subjects: non-nuclear proliferation, nuclear 

disarmament and nuclear security. The discussions on measures to check nuclear proliferation by other countries than the five nuclear powers are scheduled for the sessions organized by the APLN under the following titles: 

-No First Use and the Asia-Pacific (at 1 p.m. on May 31)

-Containing Nuclear Rivalries in Asia: What Roles for the Non-Nuclear Weapons State? (at 

2:50 p.m. on May 31)

-The NPT: Challenges for the 2020 Review (at 4:40 p.m. on May 31)

-Denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula: Making a Breakthrough (at 1 p.m. on June 1)

-North Korea Policies of Current Neighboring Countries: Donald Trump, Xi Jinping, Abe Shinzo and the Korean Government (at 2:50 p.m. on June 1)

-Denuclearizing North Korea under a New Security Environment in Northeast Asia (at 2:50 

p.m. on June 1)

The APLN is an expert group organized to form a consensus among high level policymakers 

on the need to curb, reduce and ultimately remove nuclear arms by informing them of the 

real and serious threats of nuclear armament. Members include former and incumbent high 

level political and military officials from 14 countries, and 60 opinion leaders. Key members of 

the APLN are such dignitaries as Kevin Rudd, a former Australian prime minister; Geoffrey 

Palmer, a former New Zealand prime minister; Kono Yohei, a former Japanese foreign 

minister; and prominent scholars, including Prof. Shen Dingli at Fudan University in China. 

Korean members of the APLN are former Prime Minister Lee Hong-koo, Korean Peninsula 

Future Forum Chairman Chun Yung-woo and Jeju Special Self-governing Province Governor 

Won Hee-ryong. 

The sessions organized by the Korea National Diplomatic Academy under the title, “North 

Korea Policies of Current Neighboring Countries: Donald Trump, Xi Jinping, Abe Shinzo and 

the Korean Government” (at 1 p.m. on May 31) and “Denuclearizing North Korea under a 

New Security Environment in Northeast Asia” (at 10:20 a.m. on June 2) will also address the 

North Korean nuclear issue. 

The discussions at the sessions above will be focused on the security environment of the 

Korean peninsula now at a crossroads. The sessions will examine the implications of the 

principle of no first use of nuclear weapons amid North Korea’s continual nuclear 

development, and illuminate the roles of non-nuclear states in preventing the domino effects 

of nuclearization and reducing nuclear threats in the Asian region. 

The APLN and the experts in global nuclear governance from the countries involved in the 

North Korean nuclear issue – China, the U.S., Russia and South Korea – are expected to 

suggest practical policies to resolve the nuclear issues.