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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