Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Dr. Woonsang Choi is Professor of Law, Graduate Institute of Peace Studies, Kyung Hee
University in Seoul, Korea. He served as Korean Ambassador to India, Egypt, Morocco,
Jamaica and the Caribbean. In 1954, during the Geneva Conference on Korean Unification,
he was Chief of the First Section of the Bureau of Political Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs. He received an LL.B. from Seoul National University, an M.A. from Georgetown
University, and an LL.M and S.J.D. from Harvard University.
INTRODUCTION
The purpose of this paper is to focus on
the efforts made by the international
community for the independence and
unification of Korea, the role of the
United Nations in the process and the
prospects for Korean unification in
view of Chinas rise. In particular, close
attention will be paid to the result of
the first political conference on Korean
unification held in Geneva from April
26-June 15, 1954, an event whose
importance should not be underestimated despite the passage of time.
At the outset, reference must be
made to the outcome of the current Six
Party Talks on North Korean nuclear
disarmament and its relevance to our
subject in hand. Under the agreement
reached on February 13, 2007, North Korea would receive initial energy
assistance equal to 50,000 tons of heavy fuel oil from South Korea for
shutting down and sealing the main nuclear reactor and related facilities
at Yongbyon within 60 days, to be confirmed by international inspectors
from the IAEA. For irreversibly disabling the reactor and declaring all
nuclear programs, North Korea will eventually receive another 950,000
tons of heavy fuel oil.
There are some misgivings about the future of the February 13 agreement. The nuclear program is the single negotiating card North Korea
has in its hands. Therefore, success or failure will largely depend on how
willing the United States is to have a give and take attitude for future
negotiations. On the other hand, it will be recalled that North Korea has
made it clear that it is one thing
There are some misgiv- to dismantle its nuclear facilities
ings about the future
and another to discard the nuclear
weapons it already has, which experts
of the February 13
agreement. The nuclear estimate to be six or seven.
In the past, North Korea has also
program is the single
sidestepped previous agreements,
negotiating card North
allegedly running a uranium-based
Korea has in its hands.
weapons program even as it froze a
plutonium-based one, which sparked
the most recent nuclear crisis in late 2002. At any rate, the recent six-nation
agreement provides that some of the six nations, the belligerents in the
Korean War, will hold a separate forum on negotiations for a permanent
peace settlement to replace the 1953 Armistice Agreement that temporarily ended the Korean War. However, without a prior settlement of the
North Korean nuclear disarmament issue, it will be impossible to establish
a permanent peace in the Korean peninsula.
THE STATE OF WAR IN KOREA
Article 36 of the Regulations annexed to the Hague Convention with
respect to the Laws and Customs of War by Land of July 29, 1899, provides
that an armistice only suspends military operations by mutual agreement
between the belligerent parties. Any serious violation by one party endows
the other with the right of denunciation, justifying their immediate recommencement of hostilities (Article 40).
Article IV, paragraph 60 of the Korean Armistice Agreement provides
for a political conference of a higher level for both sides to settle through
negotiation the questions of the withdrawal of all foreign forces from Korea,
the peaceful settlement of the Korean question, etc.
At present, the stark reality is that Korea is still in a state of war under
international law. This state of war should be ended and it can be done
only by conclusion of a peace treaty at a peace conference attended by all
the belligerents concerned.
THE GENEVA PEACE CONFERENCE, 1954
Few people remember that a political conference for peace in Korea At present, the stark
was indeed held in Geneva from reality is that Korea is
April 26-June 15, 1954, more than still in a state of war
50 years ago. At the conference, the under international law.
Communist side was represented by This state of war should
North Korea, Communist China
be ended and it can be
and the Soviet Union (by special
done only by concluinvitation), while the United Nations
was represented by the United sion of a peace treaty
States, Republic of Korea (South at a peace conference
Korea), Australia, Belgium, Canada, attended by all the belColombia, Ethiopia, France, Greece, ligerents concerned.
Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New
Zealand, the Philippines, Thailand,
Turkey, and the United Kingdom, whose armed forces had participated
in the Korean War in accordance with the Security resolutions of June 25,
June 27 and July 7, 1950.
Under the General Assembly Resolution 711 (V11) of August 28, 1953,
the United Nations endorsed the Korean Armistice Agreement of July 27,
1953 and helped organize the Geneva Political Conference of 1954.
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The agenda of the peace conference must include all pending issues
relating to the Korean Question, including the recognition of the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (North Korea) by the United States and
Japan which, of course, presupposes a prior and final solution of the North
Korean nuclear issue and other related matters.
The establishment of full diplomatic relations with the United States
and Japan is what the DPRK has direly wanted for a long time and could
serve as an inducement for North Korean cooperation. Specifically, the
agenda may include:
1. matters pertaining to permanent peace and order between South
and North Korea, including the unification formula;
2. the demilitarized border between the ROK and DPRK which should
follow the demarcation line as defined in the Korean Armistice Agreement;
3. replacement of the U.N. forces by a suitable peace-keeping force or
an observer team;
4. international inspection and verification of nuclear and missile development programs, as well as the manufacturing of weapons of mass
destruction and terrorist training, in both South and North Korea;
5. exchange of prisoners of war, refugees and abducted civilians;
6. return of the remains of U.N. soldiers killed or missing in action;
7. recognition of the DPRK by the states which have not yet done
so;
8. state succession of treaties, whereby each state maintains its treaty
and other international obligations. In this way, the issue of U.S.
forces withdrawing from South Korea will not arise, as the ROK will
continue to maintain its treaty obligations under the Mutual Defense
Treaty with the United States;
9. the establishment of a High Commission or representative mission
in the South by the North, and vice versa;
10. economic assistance to North Korea by the United States, Japan,
international organizations, including the ADB, IBRD, and IMF,
as well as the international community as a whole;
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