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Renaissance Model United Nations 2013 | 1 Session
Forum:
The Security Council
Issue:
The situation on the Korean Peninsula
Student Officer:
Jae Hee WEE
Position:
President of the Security Council
Introduction
Korean Peninsula is the only divided country existing
today. In the past there were few other countries that
were separate including Germany and Vietnam. However
all these countries were able to unite at the end. Korean
Peninsula has been keeping up this relationship for more
than half a century. Endless political and military tensions
have overtook Korean Peninsula for all these years along
with not a few provocative actions from two sides. With recent political changes in both South and
North Korea, unpleasant pressure is upon the area again. North Korea with their new leader Kim Jung
Eun (son of the previous leader Kim Jung Il) has been threatening South Korea and the world. Now
the attention lies on Park Geun Hye (the newly elected South Korean President), and its allies’
(mainly USA) reply to North Korea.
Definition of Key Terms
Demilitarized Zone
A buffer zone between North and South Korea created under the terms of the armistice signed on
July 27, 1953, which ended the war.
Incheon
A port on the West Coast of Korea.
Iron Triangle
Area in North Korea bounded by Pyongyang (not Pyongyang), Chorwon, and Kumhwa. The Iron
Triangle was the Communists staging area for attacks into South Korea.
NSC-81/1
National Security Council document that gave a rationale by which the UN Commander (i.e.
MacArthur) would cross the 38TH Parallel and invade North Korea. NSC-81/1 stated that, if possible,
the US should try and bring about complete unification of an anti-Communist Korean state. The
document has been criticized for espousing faulty logic.
North Korean People's Army (NKPA)
The official army of North Korea.
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Panmunjom
The location of the second half of the peace-treaty negotiations during the Korean War, close to 38th
Parallel.
DPRK
Democratic People's Republic of Korea. (North Korea)
Pusan
Located on the southeast tip of the Korean peninsula, it is one of Korea's greatest ports. After the
initial North Korean invasion in 1950, ROK forces were pushed back to Pusan.
Pyongyang
Capital of Democratic People’s Republic of Korea
ROK
Republic of Korea. (South Korea)
Seoul
Capital of Republic of Korea
Suwon
Location where the ROK Army established a temporary command during the early stages of North
Korea's invasion.
X Corps
MacArthur's Marines, responsible for the Inchon invasion.
Kim Il-sung
The Communist leader of North Korea.
Douglas C. MacArthur
General who commanded the Allies in the Southwest Pacific during World War II, he oversaw the
post-war occupation of Japan, and commanded the UN forces during the first phases of the Korean
War. It was MacArthur who engineered the amphibious assault on Inchon.
History
The Korean War started on 25th of June 1950. Until then the North was ruled by the Soviet Union and
USA was in charge of the South. The existence of 38th parallel allowed the division of the country.
Mao Ze Dong, the leader of People’s Republic of China and Starlin, the leader of Soviet Union
showed their support towards the leader of North Korea Kim Il Sung, and helped Kim on sudden
invasion to the South. Since then the North started its attacks. By the morning of 27th, the North
already invaded the most important cities of South including Dongducheon, Pocheon, and some parts
of the Seoul, which is the current capital of South Korea. Followed by these invasions North Korean
armies were all over the South Korea. Then on the 14th of July, USA took over the right of command
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of the South Korean army. Since this day South has made some significant progress in attacking the
North back. The most important was Douglas MacArthur’s Incheon landing operations happened on
15th September 1950. Through this South were able to take over up to Pyong Yang (the capital of
North Korea). However the situation got worse with intervention of China and their army. The next
three years of continuous war caused massive deaths of soldiers as well as the civilians. Buildings
and roads were destroyed; the war resulted in severe hostile relationship between two Koreas.
When the Korean War started the Korean ambassador in USA reported the seriousness of the
situation to the United Nations, and also to the white house, he visited the president of USA Harry
S.Truman and asked him to send troops to South Korea. Soon the UN Security Council meeting was
held in USA to discuss the issue. Then on the morning of 26th June the Security Council passed a
resolution of “Requesting North to stop all the military actions and to respect the 38th parallel and go
back to North”. And as a result countries including USA, Britain, France and Turkey, 16 nations of UN
organized army to be involved in the Korean War. However the North continued to attack South
Korea, ignoring the commands of the UN Security Council.
As the situation got more serious and as the South was taking over the War through the help of UN
and other member states, the North Korea, People’s Republic of China and Russia started to have
more aggressive attacks. Russia was in charge of providing the arms, weapons, and other heavy
materials such as tanks. Mao ze Dong and Ki Il sung’s final goal was to implement communism in to
South Korea, and USA and South Korea’s final goal was to unite two Koreas. When USA and UN
started to realize that their plan is not going to work, they started proposing different kinds of solutions
to the North. And on 23rd of June 1951, the first ever proposal of ceasefire was presented to the
Soviet Union. It took them two years to modify and accept the proposal. Even in those two years the
war never stopped.
Today the South Korea and North Korea is separated by the ceasefire-line (or the demarcation line).
So technically Korean War is still not finished. It is just on a “break”. South and North Korean armies,
as well as the UN soldiers arm the division line.
Key issues, more recent events
Since the cease-fire of the Korean War, North and South Korea have taken two completely different
paths. South Korea, the capitalist country, has opened itself to the world. It has been growing rapidly,
and it is now considered one of the wealthiest countries in the world. However the situation is quite
different in North Korea. Communism has its deep root in North Korea; the country itself is very locked
away from the world. In recent years, even with the agreements on ceasefire, several military actions
has increased the tension in Korean peninsula, the mains ones are as follows
26th March 2010 sinking of the ship “Cheon an”
South Korean patrol corvette was attacked by the North Korean torpedo, and sank. Investigation on
this incidence was carried out by South Korea, Australia, USA, England and Sweden and they
concluded that it was the attack from North Korea. Forty South Korean navies died, and six are still
missing.
23rd November 2010 bombardment of “Yeon-Pyeong-Do”
This was the first ever-direct attack on the civilians by North Korea ever since the ceasefire on 1953.
More than 100 bombs were thrown into the land of Yeon-Pyeong-Do, and caused the death of 4
people including the armies and civilians, and also 26 injuries, 10 of which are soldiers and 16 of
which are civilians.
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Starting from 2013, North Korea has declared not a few times of testing nuclear weapons and
aggravating South Korea. So far the tensions in the Korean Peninsula is at the most than any other
time in the history since 1953.
Major parties involved and their views
South Korea views the unification as a process of solving the situation in Korean Peninsula. They
believe that disputes can be solved if two Koreas unite. It is proposing short, middle, long term
solutions to approach the problem from scratch. South Korea hopes for economical, political
integration just like the past situation of German unification. Peach is the top priority for them; they are
hoping to implement their capitalism into North Korea once united.
North Korea is mainly worried about the effect of “opening” the country to the international society.
They seem to avoid the approach of South Korea to assimilate and change the way their country is
operating right now. This is not surprising as North Korea is one of the most distinctive nations in the
world who dislikes the foreign intervention in their country.
China, who is known for its strong supports for North Korea is another major party involved in the
issue. They are one of the remaining few communist countries along with North Korea. If North Korea
moves towards capitalism due to the influence of South Korea, it’s going to be loss for China. It is
going to be a loss for them. Their aim from the start of the Korean War was to spread the communism
with the help from Soviet Union. Hence it would not be logical if they support the capitalistic
movement of North Korea.
USA is another main party. USA and South Korea has maintained good relationship since the Korean
War. They’ve been emphasizing the importance of communication between two countries from long
ago. They believe they problems can be solved if North Korea agrees to stop making provocative
statements related to nuclear weapons, and start presenting their views, objectives and hopes to the
international society.
Key Dates
Aug 10th 1945: Russians Arrive in Korea, in the last days of World War II, Russian troops begin
moving into northern Korea
Aug 26th1945: Parallel settles
Sep 9th 1945: U.S. in Seoul, American forces reach Seoul, they accept the Japanese surrender of
southern Korea.
Sep 1947: US to Leave Korea, American forces begin to prepare to withdraw from Korea, hoping to
leave the South as an independent state
Mar 1950: Stalin Approves Korean Invasion, Kim Il Sung goes to Moscow to ask Soviet leader Josef
Stalin's permission to invade South Korea and begin the Korean War.
Jun 25th 1950: North Korea Invades
Jun 27th 1950: US and UN Condemn North Korea,
Jun 28th 1950: North Korea Captures Seoul
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Aug 4th 1950: MacArthur and the Inchon Landing
Oct 20th 1950: US Reaches Pyongyang
Nov 1950: China Enters Korean War
1951: Korean War Stalemate
Feb 1st1951: Peace Talks Drag
Jul 27th 1953: Korean War Armistice
Previous attempts to resolve issue
There have been several efforts to resolve the issue since the cease-fire.
First of all the regular South and North Summit has taken place since 1953. Up to today, there has
been more than 350 meetings held. Their meeting has proved to the world that two Koreas are
making effort in order to improve the situation. It is true that political issues as well as other influences
has made this summits not as effective, however there has been improvements made. “Panmunjom”
was set up in the ceasefire line. This is where both North and South soldiers guard their own side with
the control of UN soldiers. Even though it is a militarized zone, it has effectively opened the
communication route for both sides. This talks aim for the relaxation of international tensions,
cooperation from both sides and the international society and reconciliation of the past.
Every UN conferences, especially the Security Council meetings involving the issue of Korean
Peninsula can be seen as attempts to resolve the issue. In fact there has been numerous resolutions
proposed in order to stop either side from attacking or provoking each other. However it is now time
for international society to come up with more effective solutions. Solutions those will actually be
implanted successfully and bring noticeable improvements.
Possible solutions
The key to any solution for the issue is first of all to keep peace. Destroying the peace on Korean
peninsula will not only affect the Korean peninsula itself, but rest of the world as well. The argument
for the peace while solving the situation was always on board since 1971. Economical and
humanitarian aids and supports have to be continued. Expressing the world’s attention towards the
problem is another important point. The world has to encourage the exchange of culture, participant of
sports and other world events from North Korea, in order to increase the access to the country and its
people. The issue of nuclear weapons has to be solved. Acknowledging the United Nations and the
IAEA are putting a lot of effort to solve the fundamental problems arising from nuclear weapon, further
improvements is expected. Nuclear weapon is one of the factors that make North Korea strong and
threatening to the rest of the world. This is nevertheless the most crucial issue to be solved. Support
from the countries is needed. Especially countries including USA, China, Russia and Japan. These
are the countries that are closely related to the issue of Korean Peninsula. When these countries
clearly express their ideas and opinions upon the issue, more effective solutions can be established.
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Bibliography
UN Security Council resolution (1950): http://www.refworld.org/cgibin/texis/vtx/rwmain?docid=3b00f1e85c
UN Security Council resolution (2006): http://www.securitycouncilreport.org/atf/cf/%7B65BFCF9B6D27-4E9C-8CD3-CF6E4FF96FF9%7D/NKorea%20SRES%201718.pdf
UN Security Council resolution (2009): http://www.securitycouncilreport.org/atf/cf/%7B65BFCF9B6D27-4E9C-8CD3-CF6E4FF96FF9%7D/NKorea%20SRES%201874.pdf
UN Security Council resolution
(2013):http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=S/RES/2087%282013%29
Wikipedia “Korean War”: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_War
Wikipedia “Division of Korea”: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Division_of_Korea
Views from different nations (pdf): http://www.coldwar.hu/html/en/publications/Day 1 Panel 3 Cowell
Sonya_ Why did the United Nations pass the resolution to go to war over South Korea_ (Clemson
University).pdf
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