AJA hosts symposium on role of Asian news media to effectuate Seoul Nuclear Summit

“Nuclear power facilities should be phased out with an ultimate aim of removing all of them in the long run. Regional news media in cooperation with Parliament and NGOs should play a leading role for peaceful and safe use of nuclear power,” Yun Jae-seok, Pressian & CBS columnist, said Tuesday (Oct. 30).

He made the remarks in the keynote speech at the international symposium on “Role of Asian news media to effectuate the commitment made in the Seoul Nuclear Summit.” The symposium, held at Hwasu Building in Myeongnyun-dong, downtown Seoul, was hosted by the Asia Journalist Association (AJA) amid attendance of some 20 foreign and Korean scholars and journalists.

Yun further said “the second nuclear summit held in Seoul last March adopted “Seoul Declaration” in which the participants have resolved to completely remove high enriched uranium by 2013. But, the declaration lost its significance due to its failure to make a relevant mention about the explosion of Fukushima nuclear power plant.”

Andrei Nikolaevich Lankov, a Russian scholar now teaching at Kookmin University in Seoul, and Kim Yong-kil, layout manager of Dong-A Ilbo, also delivered keynote speeches in the symposium.

All journalists who attended the symposium said in unison that nuclear power should be used for peaceful purposes.

Saida Zoghbi, editor & presenter of Tunisian Radio & Television, talked about an Islam philosopher who said that “human soul has close relationship with energy in view of the fact that people die when they lose warmth” and emphasized the need to make philosophical insight on nuclear problem.

She went on to say that “considering the fact that endless solar energies arise from the nuclear explosion on the surface of the sun, the nuclear energy should also be thought as an energy having the soul of earth. Therefore, any attempt to use the nuclear energy for making destructive weapons is an act of suicide. The energy should be exploited only for peaceful purposes including power generations and medical use,” she emphatically said.

The symposium dealt with three major topics involving peaceful use of nuclear enery; North Korean nuclear armament and nuclear security in Northeast Asia; nuclear problem in Middle East region.

Arabic journalists who attended the symposium included Abderrahim El-Allam, chairman of Morocco Writers Association; Ashraf Abuel Yazid Moursy Eldarly, Egypt, editor of Al-Arabi Magazine in Kuwait; Metin Findikci, Turkish poet & translator at Kitap & Artshop Publishing Houses; Mohammed Saif Salim Al Rahbi, journalist at Al-Thaqafeyya magazine of Oman; Najwa Shaker Abdel-Hamid Zahhar, writer at Organizer of cultural activities in Jordan; Radwa Ashraf Abouel Yazid Moursi, managing editor of AJA Cairo office.

Korean journalists in the symposium were B.J. Ahn, Ombudsman at the Korea Press Ethics Commission; Lim Chul, advisor at Dream e&m; Kim Geon-il, managing director of local MBC Planning Support.

Other foreign journalists who took part as debaters included Tsukamoto Soichi, NHK Seoul bureau chief; Zhang Yue, Planning Dept. manager at Chinese People’s Daily Online Korea Ltd.; Xue Yan, Seoul bureau chief of  Science & Technology Daily of China; Lee Dong-yeol, CEO of NorthEast Asia News;Usame Zunbul, Seoul correspondent for Turkish Radio and Televition Corporation.

from left Andrei Nikolaevich Lankov, Ju Sung-ha, Lee Dong-yeol, Usame Zunbul