Appearance of ROK DPRK Peace amidst Hostilities calls for End-of-War Declaration

“Ceasefire can never mean the termination of war and it cannot guarantee peace. 

“This is a serious lesson taught by history.  

“The ceasefire that has lasted unprecedentedly long in history is like a time bomb set, threatening peace and security in the Korean peninsula, region and the rest of the world.” [Korean Central News Agency]

Koreas 1950 – 2018

1950

August 12, 1950 the Air Force of the United States “dropped 625 tons of bombs on North Korea” and in two weeks “the daily tonnage had increased to some 800 tons.”

The Korean split was a US/USSR Cold War scheme. In an escalating conflict between the two Koreas, instead of assisting by mediating the conflict, the Soviet Union and China backed the North and the United States backed the South, providing some 90% of the military personnel. Technically, the UN forces of 21 nations backed the ROK.

Armistice and North South fight for unification 1951 – 1958 –

The president of the Republic of Korea (ROK, South Korea), Syngman Rhee opposed peace talks and supported an “independent and unified country,” a position opposed by the United Nations Command but later accepted by the National Assembly of South Korea.

1953

The Korean Armistice Agreement though designed to end hostilities was not an end to war. The document signed on July 27, 1953, by U.S. Army Lieutenant General William Harrison, Jr. representing the United Nations Command (UNC), North Korean General Nam Il representing the Korean People’s Army (KPA), and the Chinese People’s Volunteer Army (PVA) was reportedly designed to

“…ensure a complete cessation of hostilities and of all acts of armed force in Korea”—“until a final peaceful settlement is achieved.”

1958 US Unilateral Breach

Though the Armistice Agreement had mandated that “neither side introduce new weapons into Korea, other than piece-for-piece replacement of equipment,” the United States, unilaterally, and despite concerns of UN allies, violated the Armistice Agreement by, provocatively, deploying atomic bombs.

In January 1958, the United States deployed “nuclear armed Honest John missiles and 280mm atomic cannons to South Korea”; and later that same year deployed “atomic demolition munitions and nuclear armed Matador cruise missiles with the range to reach China and the Soviet Union.”

1998 - 2008 Attempt at Rapprochement Obstructed

South Korean President Kim Dae-jung proposed the “Sunshine Policy” aimed at softening “North Korea’s attitude toward South Korea.” Under the policy, “North-South cooperative business developments began” and South Korean citizens traveled between the two countries until 2008.

The first conference in the post-Korean War period came in 2000. South Korea’s Kim Dae-jung and North Korea’s Kim Jong-il met at a summit meeting and in mid June of that year completed a five-point agreement:

to settle the problem of independent reunification,

to promote peaceful reunification,

to solve humanitarian problems such as the issue of separated families,

to encourage cooperation and exchange in their economy, and

to have a dialogue between the North and South.

However, the new administration in Washington discouraged rapprochement and insulted the Koreans smearing the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea as part of an “axis of evil.” North Korea responded by renouncing the nonproliferation treaty, kicking out UN inspectors, and restarting its nuclear program. Causing further cooling in North-South relations was a short naval skirmish in 2002 over disputed fishing territory that left six South Korean naval soldiers dead.  

Nevertheless progress  

2000 North-South Joint Declaration signed by the Republic of Korea President Kim Dae-jung and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea Chairman, Supreme Leader Kim Jong-il declared

The South and the North have agreed to resolve the question of reunification independently and through the joint efforts of the Korean people, who are the masters of the country.

For the achievement of reunification, we have agreed that there is a common element in the South’s concept of a confederation and the North’s formula for a loose form of federation. The South and the North agreed to promote reunification in that direction.

The South and the North have agreed to promptly resolve humanitarian issues such as exchange visits by separated family members and relatives on the occasion of the August 15 National Liberation Day and the question of unswerving Communists serving prison sentences in the South.

The South and the North have agreed to consolidate mutual trust by promoting balanced development of the national economy through economic cooperation and by stimulating cooperation and exchanges in civic, cultural, sports, health, environmental and all other fields.

The South and the North have agreed to hold a dialogue between relevant authorities in the near future to implement the above agreements expeditiously.”

2005 Truth and Reconciliation

Established December 1, 2005, the South Korean Commission for Truth and Reconciliation, a governmental body, “investigated numerous atrocities committed by various government agencies during Japan’s occupation of Korea, the Korean War, and the authoritarian governments that ruled afterwards”; and estimated “that tens of thousands of people were executed in the summer of 1950”

Among the victims discovered were “political prisoners, civilians killed by US forces, and civilians who had allegedly collaborated with communist North Korea or local communist groups.

Sanctions Warfare, Blowback

More than 50 years after the U.S. breach of the Korean Armistice, repeated war games provocations, and the imposition of “a new wave” sanctions aggression, the North Korean president declared the 1953 Armistice “invalid”; and on March 13, 2013, affirmed that North Korea had “ended the 1953 Armistice,” declaring the DPRK unrestrained “‘by the North-South declaration on non-aggression.’”

At the end of March that year

North Korea stated that it entered a ‘state of war’ with South Korea and declared that ‘The long-standing situation of the Korean peninsula being neither at peace nor at war is finally over.’”

2016 Proposal to End War

North Korea reportedly approached the United States about conducting formal peace talks to formally end the war.

North Korean and United States “agreed to secret peace talks” but “rejected” the terms of a peace treaty that would include “nuclear disarmament.”

2018 North-South talks

North Korea and South Korea on reportedly agreed on April 27 “to talks to end the ongoing 65-year conflict” and committed to completing “denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.”

Because of the continued Republic of Korea (ROK)-United States military drills, the People’s Democratic Republic of Korea (PDRK) on May 15, 2018, cancelled a high-level meeting.”

This week’s News Reporting

“South Koreans are now increasingly calling for adopting a declaration on the end of war in this year that marks the 65th anniversary of the Korean armistice. The People for Achieving Peace and Unification, the headquarters of the movement for conclusion of peace agreement and other civil society organizations of all social strata held demonstrations, rallies and press conferences to urge the US to work for the adoption of the declaration, saying the US demands the unilateral denuclearization of north Korea and it should also fulfill its responsibility to establish a permanent peace mechanism.…” 

Republic of Korea “Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha also has spoken to “the need to hold a north-south meeting—or a tripartite meeting involving the United States—in order to declare the end of war this year.”

Sources

Korean Central News Agency (KCNA)

“Declaration of Termination of War Is First Process for Peace: KCNA Commentary” July 25, 2018 | Source: DPRK Today (English) | https://kcnawatch.co/newstream/1532509238-983185363/declaration-of-termination-of-war-is-first-process-for-peace-kcna-commentary/

Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/June_15th_North%E2%80%93South_Joint_Declaration

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truth_and_Reconciliation_Commission_(South_Korea)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_War

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunshine_Policy

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/June_15th_North%E2%80%93South_Joint_Declaration

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_Armistice_Agreement

Korean Central News Agency

“South Koreans demand declaration of war termination” by Song Jong Ho PT July 24, 2018 https://kcnawatch.co/newstream/1532426452-357035003/south-koreans-demand-declaration-of-war-termination/

Foreign Minister of South Korea Kang Kyung-wha is the first woman nominated for and appointed to the position. Kyung-wha is also “the first Korean woman to hold a high-level position in the United Nations.” She “joined the South Korean delegation for the third Inter-Korean Summit in Panmunjom becoming the first foreign minister to participate in such summit.”  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kang_Kyung-wha

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