Tensions on the Korean Peninsula have recently increased, highlighted by the nuclear weapon test of North Korea and the subsequent reactions. In a 14 March 2013\u00a0message to the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Rene Wadlow, President of the Association of World Citizens,\u00a0called for an UN-led Korean peace settlement conference and stressed that a crisis also can be an opportunity for strong initiatives and action. The United Nations with historic responsibilities for Korea should take the lead.<\/p>\n
The 1950-1953 Korean War was undertaken by UN Security Council Resolutions 82, 83, and 84.\u00a0 21 UN Member States (16 combatants and 5 humanitarian) joined to support the UN Command.<\/p>\n
The 27 July 1953 Armistice was signed by the UN Command Delegation and by Delegations of the Korean People\u2019s Army and the Chinese People\u2019s Volunteer Army.<\/p>\n
The 1950-1953 Korean War set the stage for later Cold War tensions in Asia, tensions which have prevented an Asia-wide organization of security and cooperation as was possible in Europe with the OSCE.<\/p>\n
Today, with the entry of the two Korean States to the United Nations in 1991, all the States involved in the Korean War are members of the United Nations.<\/p>\n
Partial measures of cooperation between the two Korean States, the 6-Party talks on nuclear issues and a number of\u00a0 Track II diplomatic efforts have shown the possibilities but also the limits of partial measures.<\/p>\n
With conditions of insecurity growing and also threatening Korea\u2019s neighbours, the Korean situation is a \u201cmatter which may threaten international peace and security.\u201d\u00a0 Therefore, the Citizens of the World call for a UN-led Korean Settlement Conference to be organized during 2013 \u2014 the 60th<\/sup> anniversary of the 1953 Armistice.<\/p>\n Such an UN-sponsored Korean Peace Settlement Conference can build upon past partial measures and especially meet the new challenges of security and cooperation in Asia. The Association of World Citizens also stresses that such a Peace Settlement Conference is of concern not only of Governments but is one in which the voices of civil society are legitimate and should be heard.<\/p>\n __________________________<\/p>\n Ren\u00e9 Wadlow, a member of the Fellowship of Reconciliation and of its Task Force on the Middle East, is president and U.N. representative (Geneva) of the Association of\u00a0World\u00a0Citizens. He is a member of the TRANSCEND Network for Peace, Development and Environment.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Tensions on the Korean Peninsula have recently increased, highlighted by the nuclear weapon test of North Korea and the subsequent reactions. An UN-sponsored Korean Peace Settlement Conference can build upon past partial measures and especially meet the new challenges of security and cooperation in Asia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56,82],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26701","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-asia-pacific","category-united-nations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26701","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26701"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26701\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}