Saturday, September 9, 2017

Open Letter to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on urgency in Korean Peace Process

Your Excellency Secretary-General Antonio Guterres,

I take this opportunity as the Chair of the Governing Council of the Centre for Global Nonkilling (CGNK) to draw your kind attention to the dangers of an all out but avoidable war that you are  very much concerned considering North Korean President Kim Jong-Un’s bombastic declarations and US President Donald Trump’s aggressive  retaliatory reactions. In this ongoing crisis the global focus has turned to military prowess and posturing rather than rooting out the misunderstandings between North and South Korea. Surely the citizens of Guam and the two Koreas have much to be alarmed of.

I approach you in our consultative status with the United Nations and complement you on your initiatives and efforts to achieve the very challenging task for all round peace in terms of the Charter of the United Nations.  Indeed, you have been a source of great hope not only for us globally but more particularly for those in Korea and for those who believe in peaceful reunification of both the Koreas. 

Your Excellency will agree that in the past, absence of the Peace Settlement has contributed to the development of nuclear weapons in North Korea, threats of nuclear counter attack, and periodic bloodshed on land and sea. It has contributed to mutual fear on both sides of the DMZ, violations of human rights, continued separation of families losing elderly members, economic deprivation related to diversion of human and material resources for war-fighting needs, and ecological destruction. Korean War veteran Late Prof Glenn D. Paige founding Chair of the Centre for Global Nonkilling (CGNK) and world acclaimed author of The Korean Decision (1968), Nonkilling Global Political Science (2002), co-editor of Nonkilling Korea: Six Culture Exploration (2010), and chair of the non-profit Centre for Global Nonkilling have been relentless in pursuing the goal of peace and unification.

Lest we forget the follies of war and its aftermath, the16 UN nations and the Republic of Korea fought under the UN Command led by the United States against the North Korean People's Army and the Chinese People's Volunteers until the Armistice Agreement was signed and called for a political conference of both sides to be held within three months to conclude a peaceful settlement of the War. Apparently that conference never happened as absence of the Peace Settlement has contributed to the development of nuclear weapons in North Korea, threats of nuclear counter attack, and periodic bloodshed on land and sea, and mutual fear on both sides of the DMZ.  Violations of human rights, continued separation of families, economic deprivation related to diversion of scarce resources for war-fighting and ecological destruction followed. Geopolitically, these conditions have led not only to insecurity involving the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia, and the United States, but the region as a whole is regarded as one of the world's most dangerous.

Incidentally, Korean War combatants are members of the UN, including South and North Korea admitted in 1991, and China since 1971. Collectively they can act to establish the peace for which they fought, for the Korean people who have most at stake. Four world leaders can initiate UN action to reignite that 1953 Peace Settlement called for in the Armistice Agreement.  A UN Korean Conference would advance Six Party negotiations toward Korea becoming a nuclear weapon-free zone, and open economic and cultural relations favouring Korean evolution toward mutually peaceful political accommodation.  Under Article 99 of the UN Charter, it is imperative that you as the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres address the crisis and call the Security Council to the long aborted Peace Settlement as a matter of urgency for the maintenance of international peace and security.

In present day crisis everlasting peace eludes us even seventy two years after the arbitrary division of Korea in 1945 and sixty-four years after the July 27, 1953 Korean War Armistice Agreement signed by the Commander-in- Chief of the United Nations Command, the Supreme Commander of the Korean People’s Army and the Commander of the Chinese People’s Volunteers. It is long overdue to conclude the 'Peace Settlement' called for in Articles IV and V “through the holding by both sides of a political conference of a higher level”. Constant political and military tensions on the Korean Peninsula require steps to be made following the principles of the UN Charter, which requires members to “settle their international disputes by peaceful means.”

Let me elaborate that the “Nonkilling Korea: Six Culture Exploratory Seminar” convened by the Center for Global Nonkilling, as a non-governmental organization in special consultative status with the UN, at Seoul National University during August 18-19, 2010. The results of the Seminar are reported in the book Nonkilling Korea: Six Culture Exploration edited by Glenn D. Paige and Chung-Si Ahn and co-published by Seoul National University Press and the Center for Global Nonkilling in 2012. The PDF is available for download at http://nonkilling.org/pdf/nkkorea.pdf. The Center for Global Nonkilling remains fully committed to the development of proposals that may catalyze a lasting Peace Settlement in the Korean Peninsula for a killing-free East Asia in a nonkilling world. 

Your excellency will agree that this is the time to act! As alternative to current dangerous threats and alarms in Korea, the Center for Global Nonkilling will continue to seek as an urgent 'UN Korean War Peace Settlement Conference' as outlined in the attachments. With your leadership we at the Centre for Global Nonkilling (CGNK) will keep trying to bring the proposal to global attention, and redouble our efforts with the Security Council, UN delegations, the President of the United States and political-military leaders of the two Koreas, media and public. 

Among anticipated consequences of the UN Korean Peace Settlement Conference will be to advance Six Party negotiations toward making Korea a nuclear weapon-free zone. Removal of the state of war among all Korean War combatants will open up universal economic and cultural relations favouring Korean evolution toward mutually desired peaceful political unification. Korea can and should become a killing-free nation as an example for the whole world.

Assuring you of our highest consideration and efforts for nonkilling universal peace,


With Aloha, Shanti and profound regards,

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