OVER 50 WORLD LEADERS TO ATTEND NUCLEAR SUMMIT IN S.KOREA

SEOUL, Korea - More than 50 world leaders are expected to attend nuclear summit in S.Korea tomorrow and on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, President Barack Obama has departed for Seoul, South Korea, for the international summit on keeping nuclear materials out of the hands of terrorists
The president will join a massive gathering of world leaders whose united goal is to secure nuclear material and prevent it from being smuggled to states or groups intent on mass destruction.

• Obama's visit comes amid new tension with the North over a planned long-range rocket launch. The US has said the plan jeopardises a deal to provide American food aid.
• Obama's first stop tomorrow morning will be at the Demilitarised Zone separating North and South Korea. His visit is likely to be read by the North as a special show of strength to its new, untested leader.
• For a president up for re-election, this will be a rare Asia trip devoted to just one country, built around a nuclear security summit that carries his imprint.
• It is brinkmanship with North Korea and Iran, another nation not invited to the summit, that has dominated much of the nuclear debate and that will cast an unquestionable shadow over talks in Seoul.
• Meanwhile, Britain warned on Friday there was a "significant likelihood" that terrorists will one day acquire chemical, biological or nuclear weapons unless countries step up their efforts to keep sensitive materials and information secure.

The British government released its first comprehensive National Counter-Proliferation Strategy, detailing the risks from the spread such weapons and what Britain and other countries can do to stop it.
Halfway into an ambitious four-year effort to safeguard nuclear materials from terrorists, many nations have taken voluntary steps to roundup material that could be used for terrorist weapons.

Source: Agency