The South Korean government announced Tuesday (May 26) that it will fully participate in a United States-led nonproliferation campaign, the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI).

The announcement comes just one day after North Korea conducted its second nuclear test.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Moon Tae-young said that the South Korean government will fully endorse the PSI Statement of Interdiction Principles starting Tuesday, in an effort to tackle serious threats to global peace and security posed by the spread of missiles and weapons of mass destruction.

But he added that an inter-Korean maritime agreement signed in 2005 will remain valid despite the South''s full PSI membership.

The PSI, which aims to curb the spread of the weapons of mass destruction and related materials, and which does not necessarily target North Korea, was initiated by the United States and launched in 2003 with eleven nations originally participating.

South Korea had initially planned to join the PSI following the North''s April 5 rocket launch, but it delayed the final decision in efforts to resume dialogue with the North first.

However, foreign ministry officials said there is no reason to wait any longer, seeing that North Korea carried out another nuclear experiment Monday.

A total of 94 countries have already subscribed to the United States-led program and South Korea has become the 95th country to join the PSI.