Seoul congratulates international chem-weapons watchdog on Nobel Prize

South Korea congratulated the international chemical weapons watchdog on Sunday on its winning the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize, vowing to extend support for its mission. Last week, the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the 2013 Peace Prize to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) for its "extensive work to eliminate chemical weapons." The United Nations-backed entity, established to enforce the international arms control treaty of the 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) and based in the Hague, is currently in charge of monitoring Syria's chemical weapons arsenal. "The South Korean government highly appreciates the OPCW's leading of international efforts to abolish chemical weapons in Syria," Seoul's foreign ministry said in a statement, vowing its extension of support for the mission.