[Title] Cooperation on Nuclear Safety

We, the leaders of Japan, the People's Republic of China, and the Republic of Korea, discussed the recent tragic earthquake and tsunami and the nuclear accident which hit Japan. We now reaffirmed the utmost importance of strengthening nuclear safety and continue to safely operate nuclear facilities with the maximum level of transparency.

Following the recent events in the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant, we recognized that serious threats to nuclear safety could be triggered by devastating natural disasters. The Government of Japan is committed to sharing with China, ROK, and the international community at large the lessons learned from the nuclear accident, which will be conducive to enhancing safety of nuclear facilities around the world.

While we recognized that nuclear energy remains an important option for many countries, ensuring nuclear safety is a prerequisite for the development of nuclear energy, and the principle of "safety first" should be upheld. The Government of Japan expressed its determination to resolve the situation at the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant and confirmed that Japan would continue to provide information to the international community with maximum transparency. The governments of China and ROK support efforts of the Government of Japan to stabilize the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant in a safe and secure manner, and to achieve final solution to this nuclear accident.

We decided to promote discussions among our experts on the strengthening of safety of nuclear power generation against natural disasters. Their discussions will be made on safety regulations, emergency preparedness, emergency response measures and other safety related issues in the trilateral and bilateral frameworks such as the Top Regulators' Meeting on Nuclear Safety, established in September 2008, among the three countries, and other fora. Therefore, the three countries will make full use of the Top Regulators' Meeting as a practical and tangible framework of cooperation.

Information sharing and exchange regarding nuclear safety are vital for building and maintaining confidence in the safe operations of nuclear facilities. In this light, we decided to strengthen cooperation in information sharing. In addition, we also decided to start discussion on establishing early notification framework in case of emergency and exchanging experts, and to contemplate on exchange of information regarding the analysis and forecast of air flow trajectory on a real time basis in case of a nuclear accident. We shared the view that it is important to take necessary responses prudently on the safety of products based upon scientific evidence in case of a nuclear accident.

We reaffirmed our support to the international cooperation on nuclear safety and the leading role of the IAEA in this regard. In this connection, we expressed our readiness to take an active part in the IAEA Ministerial Conference on Nuclear Safety to be held this June.

In this regard, we also welcomed the relevant initiative of the Republic of Korea hosting the Nuclear Security Summit in 2012.

We renewed the commitment to strengthening cooperation in the field of nuclear safety.