CGNK Urges for the Peaceful Settlement of the Korean Question at the UN

CGNK’s UN Representative in Geneva Christophe Barbey addressed the consideration of the Universal Periodic Review outcome of Republic of Korea at the 37th Regular Session of the Human Rights Council held in Geneva on March 15, 2018. Within the context of the announced 2018 North Korea–United States Summit that will bring together U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un in Singapore, Christophe Barbey recalled that “the armistice agreement of 1953 contains a duty to call for a peace conference within three months” and that “65 years later, we are still waiting for it.”

CGNK had previously sent a submission for the third cycle of the UPR for the Republic of Korea, indicating that “Special consideration is to be given to the obligations arising from the 1953 Korean war Armistice Agreement signed by the United Nations Command in Korea and by all belligerents. It contains a mandate to set up within three months a High Level Political Conference to achieve a Peaceful Settlement of the Korean question (Preamble, article II §13, IV §60 and V §62 of the armistice agreement). Our reading of the agreement shows that this mandate is still fully valid and in need of being fulfilled.” The statement encouraged “the Republic of Korea to call for a Peace Conference to formally end the Korean War and to deal in a most human way with its aftermaths and consequences”, following previous calls by CGNK on the same matter (i.e. A/HRC/28/NGO/9).

In CGNK’s oral statement (available for download here) mention was made to the Center’s founder Glenn D. Paige and his call for a killing-free world, wishing that the US-DPRK summit may constructive and inclusive. Particular reference was also made for the Republic of Korea in relation to the need to grant a status to Conscientious objectors and provide them with an alternative service “based on the rights to refuse to kill”.