JTMUN 2016
Disarmament and International
Security Committee
Table of Contents
History and Division of the Korean Peninsula
3
The DMZ
6
Timeline of Events:
9
International Actors
10
2
History and Division of the Korean
Peninsula:
The Korean peninsula had been
occupied by Japan from 1910. On
August 9, 1945, in the closing days of
World War Two, the Soviet Union
declared war on Japan and advanced
into Korea. Though the Soviet
declaration of war had been agreed by
the Allies at the Yalta Conference, the
US government became concerned at
the prospect of all of Korea falling
under Soviet control. The US
government therefore requested
Soviet forces halt their advance at the
38th parallel north, leaving the south
of the peninsula, including the capital,
Seoul, to be occupied by the US. This
was incorporated into General Order
No. 1 to Japanese forces after the
Surrender of Japan on August 15. On
August 24, the Red Army entered
Pyongyang and established a military
government over Korea north of the
parallel. American forces landed in
the south on September 8 and
established the United States Army
Military Government in Korea.
The Allies had originally envisaged a
joint trusteeship which would usher
Korea towards independence, but
most Korean nationalists wanted
independence immediately.
Meanwhile, the wartime co-operation
between the Soviet Union and the US
deteriorated as the Cold War took
hold. Both occupying powers began
promoting into positions of authority
Koreans aligned with their side of
politics and marginalizing their
opponents. Many of these emerging
political leaders were returning exiles
with little popular support. In North
Korea, the Soviet Union supported
Korean Communists. Kim Il-sung,
who from 1941 had served in the
Soviet Army, became the major
political figure. Society was
centralized and collectivized,
following the Soviet model. Politics
in the South was more tumultuous,
but the strongly anti-Communist
Syngman Rhee emerged as the most
prominent politician.
The US government took the issue to
the United Nations, which led to the
formation of the United Nations
Temporary Commission on Korea
(UNTCOK) in 1947. The Soviet
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Union opposed this move and refused
to allow UNTCOK to operate in the
North. UNTCOK organised a general
election in the South, which was held
on May 10, 1948. The Republic of
Korea was established with Syngman
Rhee as President, and formally
replaced the US military occupation
on August 15. In North Korea, the
Democratic People's Republic of
Korea was declared on September 9,
with Kim Il-sung, as prime minister.
Soviet occupation forces left the
North on December 10, 1948. US
forces left the South the following
year, though the US Korean Military
Advisory Group remained to train the
Republic of Korea Army.
Two, Korea was effectively spilt in
two; the south was in the hands of
America while Russia dominated the
north. The United Nations had already
involved itself in the affairs of Korea
when in 1947, before partition, it had
declared its intentions that elections
should be held for a government for
the whole country and that the United
Nations would oversee these elections
to ensure that they were fair.
In what was to become South Korea,
the United Nations declared that the
elections had been fair. The Russian
presence in what was to become
North Korea complicated matters as
the Russians would not allow United
Nations observers in. As a result, the
United Nations declared that the
election results from North Korea
were not acceptable as they had not
been independently observed. By the
end of 1948, both North and South
Korea had formed separate states. The
North was supported by communist
Russia and when China became
communist in 1949, by Mao‟s China.
The South was supported by America
and was considered by the west to be
the only democratic nation out of the
two. Both governments claimed the
right to govern the other.
The actual invasion of the South by
the North took place on June 25th
1950. The Security Council of the
United Nations met the same day. The
Russian delegation to the Security
Council did not attend the meeting as
they were boycotting the United
Nations for recognizing Chiang Kaishek‟s government in Taiwan as the
official government for China whilst
ignoring Mao‟s communist regime in
Beijing. Therefore, the obvious use of
the veto (which it is assumed the
USSR would have used in this case)
did not occur.
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At the meeting, America claimed that
North Korea had broken world peace
by attacking South Korea. America
called on North Korea to withdraw to
the 38th Parallel. Nine out of the
eleven countries in the Security
Council supported this view. Russia
was absent and one abstained.
On June 27th 1950, America called on
the United Nations to use force to get
the North Koreans out as they had
ignored the Security Council‟s
resolution of June 25th. This was also
voted for and once again the Russians
could not use their veto as they were
still boycotting the United Nations.
The United Nations now had to
formulate its plans. Sixteen member
states would provide troops under a
United Nations Joint Command. It
would fight with the South Korean
Army. This United Nations force was
primarily dominated by America even
to the extent of being commanded by
an American general – Douglas
MacArthur. However, the choice of
MacArthur was hardly contentious as
his ultimate success in the Pacific
War made him one of the most
famous generals of his era. He was
also very popular with the American
public who may have been less
supportive of yet more foreign
military intervention if a nonAmerican had been chosen.
On September 15th 1950, United
Nations troops landed in an
amphibious assault at Inchon. The
landing was a huge success and the
United Nations effectively cut the
North Korean army in half and
pushed them out of South Korea.
MacArthur then advanced into North
Korea – despite the warnings from
Communist China. This resulted in a
Chinese attack on United Nations
troops and between November 1950
and January 1951, the Chinese
managed to push back the United
Nations force. After a clash with
President Truman, MacArthur was
sacked and the war degenerated into a
war of stalemate with neither the
United Nations nor the Chinese
managing to gain the upper hand.
In 1953, a ceasefire was agreed at
Panmunjon which exists to this day.
The United Nations received much
support for taking robust action
against an aggressor nation. South
Korea regained its independence and
continued to be supported by
America. However, Russia had
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dropped its boycott of the Security
Council and had rejoined it during the
Korean War. It had used its veto to
block numerous Security Council
initiatives.
power and 86% of all naval power for
the Korean War had come from
America. This obviously meant that
the United Nations could not keep out
of the whole Cold War issue.
As a result of this, America put
forward a resolution called „Uniting
for Peace‟. This stated that if the
Security Council vetoed any initiative
that was considered important for
maintaining peace, the General
Assembly should take over to keep
going the impetus for peace. Russia
argued about the legality of this and it
was a source of much argument for
many years.
The DMZ:
Another consequence of the Korean
War was the resignation of its
Secretary-General, Trygve Lie. The
Russians had been infuriated by the
speed with which he had got the
United Nations to deal with this crisis.
The Russians claimed that he had
acted outside of his powers. Lie had
to resign as his position had become
untenable without the support of the
Russians.
The Korean War also gave a clear
indication that the United Nations was
dominated by America – nearly 90%
of all army personnel, 93% of all air
The Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) is a
region on the Korean peninsula that
demarcates North Korea from South
Korea. Roughly following the 38th
parallel, the 150-mile-long DMZ
incorporates territory on both sides of
the cease-fire line as it existed at the
end of the Korean War (1950–53).
The areas north and south of the
demarcation are heavily fortified,
though skirmishes between the two
sides are rare. Located within the
territory is the “truce village” of
P‟anmunjom, but most of the rest of
the land has reverted to nature,
making it one of the most pristine
undeveloped areas in Asia.
The demilitarized zone (DMZ)
incorporates territory on both sides of
the cease-fire line as it existed at the
end of the Korean War (1950–53) and
was created by pulling back the
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respective forces 1.2 miles (2 km)
along each side of the line. It runs for
about 150 miles (240 km) across the
peninsula, from the mouth of the Han
River on the west coast to a little
south of the North Korean town of
Kosong on the east coast. Located
within the DMZ is the “truce village”
of P‟anmunjom, about 5 miles (8 km)
east of Kaesong, N.Kor. It was the
site of peace discussions during the
Korean War and has since been the
location of various conferences over
issues related to North and South
Korea, their allies, and the United
Nations.
The areas north and south of the DMZ
are heavily fortified, and both sides
maintain large contingents of troops
there. Over the years there have been
occasional incidents and minor
skirmishes but no significant
conflicts. Once farmland and
subsequently a devastated
battleground, the DMZ has lain
almost untouched since the end of
hostilities and has reverted to nature
to a large extent, making it one of the
most pristine undeveloped areas in
Asia. The zone contains many
ecosystems including forests,
estuaries, and wetlands frequented by
migratory birds. It serves as a
sanctuary for hundreds of bird
species, among them the endangered
white-naped and red-crowned cranes,
and is home to dozens of fish species
and Asiatic black bears, lynxes, and
other mammals. In mid-2007 limited
freight-train service was resumed
across the zone.
Both the North and the South
remained dependent on their sponsor
states from 1948 to the outbreak of
the Korean War. That conflict, which
claimed over three million lives and
divided the Korean Peninsula along
ideological lines, commenced on 25
June 1950, with a full-front DPRK
invasion across the 38th parallel, and
ended in 1953 after international
intervention pushed the front of the
war back to near the 38th parallel.
In the Armistice Agreement of 27
July 1953, the DMZ was created as
each side agreed to move their troops
back 2,000 m (2,200 yards) from the
front line, creating a buffer zone 4 km
(2.5 mi) wide. The Military
Demarcation Line (MDL) goes
through the center of the DMZ and
indicates where the front was when
the agreement was signed.
Owing to this theoretical stalemate,
and genuine hostility between the
North and the South, large numbers of
troops are still stationed along both
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sides of the line, each side guarding
against potential aggression from the
other side. The armistice agreement
explains exactly how many military
personnel and what kind of weapons
are allowed in the DMZ. Soldiers
from both sides may patrol inside the
DMZ, but they may not cross the
MDL; ROK soldiers, however heavily
armed, patrol under the aegis of
military police, and have memorized
each line of the armistice.[5] Sporadic
outbreaks of violence have killed over
500 South Korean soldiers, 50 US
soldiers and 250 soldiers from DPRK
along the DMZ between 1953 and
1999.[6]
Daeseong-dong (also written Tae
Sung Dong) and Kijŏng-dong were
the only villages allowed by the
armistice committee to remain within
the boundaries of the
DMZ.[7]Residents of Tae Sung Dong
are governed and protected by the
United Nations Command and are
generally required to spend at least
240 nights per year in the village to
maintain their residency.[7] In 2008,
the village had a population of 218
people.[7] The villagers of Tae Sung
Dong are direct descendants of people
who owned the land before the 1950–
53 Korean War.[8]
To continue to deter North Korean
incursion, in 2014 the United States
government exempted the Korean
DMZ from its pledge to eliminate
anti-personnel landmines
There are several buildings on both
the north and the south side of the
Military Demarcation Line (MDL),
and there have been some built on top
of it. The JSA is the location where all
negotiations since 1953 have been
held, including statements of Korean
solidarity, which have generally
amounted to little except a slight
decline of tensions. The MDL goes
through the conference rooms and
down the middle of the conference
tables where the North Koreans and
the United Nations Command
(primarily South Koreans and
Americans) meet face to face.
Within the JSA are a number of
buildings for joint meetings called
Conference Row. These are used for
direct talks between the Korean War
participants and parties to the
armistice. Facing the Conference Row
buildings are the North Korean
Panmungak (English: Panmun Hall)
and the South Korean Freedom
House. In 1994, North Korea enlarged
Panmungak by adding a third floor. In
1998, South Korea built a new
Freedom House for its Red Cross staff
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and to possibly host reunions of
families separated by the Korean War.
The new building incorporated the old
Freedom House Pagoda within its
design.
August 1974
There is another assassination attempt
of President Park Chung-Hee by a
North Korean commando in Seoul.
First Lady Chung-Hee is killed.
April 1996
Timeline of Events:
June 1950
The Korean war between North and
South Korea begins, with help from
the Soviet Union and China on one
side, and the US and the United
Nations on the other.
July 1953
The Korean war ends when a
ceasefire agreement is signed. The
Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) is
created to separate the two countries.
North Korea sends thousands of
military troops into the DMZ as it
announces it will no longer adhere to
the armistice of 1953.
June 1999
Known as the Battle of Yeonpyeong,
North Korean patrol ships cross the
disputed maritime border, leading to
clashes between several ships. At
least 20 North Korean military
personnel are killed.
June 2002
The Korean DMZ conflict begins as
troops from both countries invade the
demilitarized zone and engage in
skirmishes.
Two North Korean boats again cross
the maritime border in the Yellow
Sea, engage South Korean patrol
ships and are quickly forced to retreat.
About 30 North Koreans and four
South Koreans are killed.
January 1968
October 2007
North Korean commandos attempt to
assassinate South Korean President
Park Chung-Hee and are stopped just
a few hundred yards from his
residence.
South Korean President Roh Moohyun walks across the Korean
Demilitarized Zone for talks with Kim
Jong-il. The talks call for peace on the
October 1966
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Korean peninsula and an update to the
1953 armistice.
allegedly carrying anti-North
pamphlets are gunned down.
November 2009
August 2015
The two sides exchange fire near the
maritime border for the first time in
seven years.
The two countries blare propaganda
over the DMZ. Artilley fire is
exchanged. The two countries engage
in tense talks before agreeing to
reduce tensions a few days later.
March 2010
A South Korean naval vessel sinks,
killing 46 sailors on board. A month
later, South Korean researchers
conclude the cause was a North
Korean torpedo.
International
Actors:
November 2010
China is a major ally of North Korea.
It played a major part in the Korean
War, supporting the communist north.
It even faced a heavy casualty count
of 100,000. It helped the retreating
north to push back the capitalist south
to the 38th parallel. After the war, it
sponsored the north and aided it in
terms of finances, politics and
military. It remained the largest
trading partner for the north. Trading
in food stuffs and resources such as
fossil fuels. Recently china has
imposed sanctions on the north, after
its nuclear tests. It has at the same
time increased its trade with it by
more than twice it was previously.
North Korea shells Yeonpyeong
island near the disputed maritime
border in the Yellow Sea, killing two
South Korean marines and two
citizens. South Korea returns fire
using fighter jets.
March 2014
Two drones, apparently form North
Korea, are found in South Korea
carrying pictures of South Korean
government buildings.
October 2014
Fire is exchanged between two patrol
boats in the Yellow Sea. Days later,
there is more fire as balloons
China:
Russia:
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The Soviet Union government had
provided much support to North
Korea during the Cold War. 26,000
Soviet troops fought in North Korea
during the Korean War. The Soviet
government under Gorbachev began
to reduce aid to the North after 1985
in favor of reconciliation with South
Korea. Military equipment continued
to be provided until a last batch of
MiG-29s were delivered in 1989.
But after the union dissolved,
relations changed. Russia originally
even supported the south. Though
there were attempt to restore relation
back to what they were back in 1991
by the Yeltsin administration, but they
eventually failed. But after Vladimir
Putin came in power many treaties of
friendship were signed
South Korea:
Tensions escalated in the late 1960s
with a series of low-level armed
clashes known as the Korean DMZ
Conflict. During this time South
Korea launched covert raids on the
North. On January 21, 1968, North
Koreans commandos attacked the
South Korean Blue House. On
December 11, 1969, a South Korean
airliner was hijacked.
During preparations for US President
Nixon's visit to China in 1972, South
Korean President Park Chung-hee
initiated covert contact with the
North's Kim Il-sung. In August 1971,
the first Red Cross talks between
North and South Korea were held.
Many of the participants were really
intelligence or party officials. In May
1972, Lee Hu-rak, the director of the
Korean CIA, secretly met with Kim
Il-sung in Pyongyang. Kim
apologized for the Blue House Raid,
denying he had approved it. In return,
North Korea's deputy premier Pak
Song-chol made a secret visit to
Seoul. On July 4, 1972, the NorthSouth Joint Statement was issued. The
statement announced the Three
Principles of Reunification: first,
reunification must be solved
independently without interference
from or reliance on foreign powers;
second, reunification must be realized
in a peaceful way without use of
armed forces against each other;
finally, reunification transcend the
differences of ideologies and
institutions to promote the unification
of Korea as one ethnic group. It also
established the first "hotline" between
the two sides.
North Korea suspended talks in 1973
after the kidnapping of South Korean
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opposition leader Kim Dae-jung by
the Korean CIA. Talks restarted,
however, and between 1973 and 1975
there were 10 meetings of the NorthSouth Coordinating Committee at
Panmunjom.
In the late 1970s, US President Jimmy
Carter hoped to achieve peace in
Korea. However, his plans were
derailed because of the unpopularity
of his proposed withdrawal of troops.
In 1983, a North Korean proposal for
three-way talks with the United States
and South Korea coincided with the
Rangoon assassination attempt against
the South Korean President. This
contradictory behavior has never been
explained.
In September 1984, North Korea's
Red Cross sent emergency supplies to
the South after severe floods. Talks
resumed, resulting in the first reunion
of separated families in 1985, as well
as a series of cultural exchanges.
Goodwill dissipated with the staging
of the US-South Korean military
exercise, Team Spirit, in 1986.
When Seoul was chosen to host the
1988 Summer Olympics, North Korea
tried to arrange a boycott by its
Communist allies or a joint hosting of
the Games. This failed, and the
bombing of Korean Air Flight 858 in
1987 was seen as North Korea's
response. However, at the same time,
amid a global thawing of the Cold
War, the newly elected South Korean
President Roh Tae-woo launched a
diplomatic initiative known as
Nordpolitik. This proposed the
interim development of a "Korean
Community", which was similar to a
North Korean proposal for a
confederation. From September 4 to
7, 1990, the high-level talks were held
in Seoul, at the same time that the
North was protesting about the Soviet
Union normalizing relations with the
South. These talks led in 1991 to the
Agreement on Reconciliation, NonAggression, Exchanges and
Cooperation and the Joint Declaration
on the Denuclearization of the Korean
Peninsula. This coincided with the
admission of both North and South
Korea into the United Nations.
Meanwhile, on March 25, 1991, a
unified Korean team first used the
Korean Unification Flag at the World
Table Tennis Competition in Japan,
and on May 6, 1991, a unified team
competed at the World Youth
Football Competition in Portugal.
There were limits to the thaw in
relations, however. In 1989 a South
Korean student activist who
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participated in the World Youth
Festival in Pyongyang was jailed on
her return.
The goodwill generated began to
dissipate with disagreements over
North Korea's nuclear program which
led in 1994 to the Agreed Framework
between the US and North Korea. At
the same time, the end of the Cold
War brought economic crisis to North
Korea and led to expectations that
reunification was imminent. North
Koreans began to flee to the South in
increasing numbers. According to
official statistics there were 561
defectors living in South Korea in
1995, and over 10,000 in 2007.
In 1998, South Korean President Kim
Dae-jung announced a Sunshine
Policy towards North Korea. Despite
a naval clash in 1999, this led in June,
2000, to the first Inter-Korean
Summit, between Kim Dae-jung and
Kim Jong-il. As a result, Kim Daejung was awarded the Nobel Peace
Prize.[46] The summit was followed
in August by a family reunion. In
September, the North and South
Korean teams marched together at the
Sydney Olympics. Trade increased to
the point where South Korea became
North Korea's largest trading partner.
Starting in 1998, the Mount Kumgang
Tourist Region was developed as a
joint venture between the North
Korean government and Hyundai. In
2003, theKaesong Industrial Region
was established to allow South
Korean businesses to invest in the
North.
US President George W Bush,
however, did not support the Sunshine
Policy and in 2002 branded North
Korea as a member of an Axis of Evil.
Continuing concerns about North
Korea's potential to develop nuclear
missiles led in 2003 to the six-party
talks that included North Korea,
South Korea, the USA, Russia, China,
and Japan. In 2006, however, North
Korea resumed testing missiles and on
October 9 conducted its first nuclear
test.
The June 15, 2000 Joint Declaration
that the two leaders signed during the
first South-North summit stated that
they would hold the second summit at
an appropriate time. It was originally
thought in 2000 that the second
summit would be held in South
Korea, but that was not to be the case
in 2007.
South Korean President Roh Moohyun walked across the Korean
Demilitarized Zone on October 2,
2007 and travelled on to Pyongyang
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for talks with Kim Jong-il. During the
visit, there were meetings and
discussions. The two sides reaffirmed
the spirit of the June 15 Joint
Declaration and had discussions on
various issues related to realizing the
advancement of South-North
relations, peace on the Korean
Peninsula, common prosperity of the
people and the unification of Korea.
On October 4, 2007, South Korean
President Roh Moo-hyun and North
Korean leader Kim Jong-il signed the
peace declaration. The document
called for international talks to replace
the Armistice which ended the Korean
War with a permanent peace treaty.
During this period, the political
developments were reflected in art.
The films, Shiri in 1999 and Joint
Security Area in 2000, gave
sympathetic representations of North
Koreans.
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