South Korea and Russia will hold the annual meeting of their joint nuclear cooperation committee this week to discuss ways to further increase their cooperation and strengthen their safety measures against nuclear accidents, the Seoul government said Monday.

The meeting will be held in Seoul for two days from Tuesday, according to the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology.

“As the first meeting since Japan’s Fukushima nuclear accident, it will be a chance to reaffirm the need to further step up the countries’ cooperation in the area of nuclear safety,” the ministry said in a press release.

Japan invited more criticism than comfort from its neighboring countries, including South Korea, despite the disastrous leak of radiation from its nuclear reactors in Fukushima in March as it failed to provide information on the nuclear accident that was vital to preparations by its neighboring states.

Seoul and Moscow have been holding annual meetings of their joint nuclear committee since 1991, one year after the countries normalized diplomatic ties.

Also on the agenda at the upcoming talks will be 17 joint projects that include joint research for the development of new reactors and nuclear fuel, the ministry said. 

(Yonhap News)