South Korean Civil Society Published “Policy Report of Peace on the Korean Peninsula”

Reflection and Alternatives of Policy towards North Korea and Solutions for North Korean Nuclear Issues

(21 April 2014, Seoul) On 17 April 2014, the Civil Peace Forum issued a “Policy Report of Peace on the Korean Peninsula”. The report was finalized at the end of 2013, the year of the 60th armistice agreement and ROK-US alliance, and 20th year since North Korea withdrew from the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). The report was finally published this year before President Barak Obama’s visit to South Korea and was delivered to the U.S. Embassy in Seoul. 

In the report, South Korean civil society pointed out that 20 years of North Korean nuclear crisis are not caused by North Korea but by the interaction amongst the South Korean, U.S. and North Korean government. The report suggests changing existing paradigm on North Korean policies from ‘sanctions and coercion’ to ‘dialogue and negotiation’. The report also suggests novel approaches to solve North Korean nuclear issues in order to achieve peace and denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula.

Civil Peace Forum had a meeting with the U.S. Embassy in Seoul on 17 April 2014 to deliver the report and shared South Korean civil society’s views on this matter. As representatives of the Civil Peace Forum, Mr. Seunghwan Lee(Co-representative, Civil Peace Forum), Mr. Taeho Lee(Secretary-General, People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy), and Mr. Wooksik Cheong(Director, Peace Network) joined the meeting. From the U.S. Embassy in Seoul, Mr. Edward K.H. Dong(Minister-Counselor, Political Affairs) and Mr. Thomas Hines(First Secretary, Chief, Domestic Politics Unit) joined the meeting. 

Main writers of the report are: Prof. YeonChul Kim (Inje University), Mr. Changsoo Kim (Director of Planning Committee, Korea Peace Forum), Prof. Jaejung Suh (Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies), Mr. Seunghwan Lee (Co-Representative, Civil Peace Forum), Prof. Jungchul Lee (Soongsil University), Mr. Taeho Lee (Secretary-General, People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy), Mr. Wooksik Cheong (Director, Peace Network), Mr. Hyungon Jung (Chairperson of Steering Committee, Civil Society Organizations Network in Korea).

People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy(PSPD) and Peace Network, who are co-conveners of the Civil Peace Forum, will jointly hold ‘Northeast Asia Nuclear Free Zone NGO Forum’ as a part of The Third Preparatory Committee for the 2015 Review Conference in New York at the end of April and use this opportunity to present suggestions in the Policy Report of Peace on the Korean Peninsula. In addition to this, Civil Peace Forum will deliver the report to South Korean government, foreign Embassies in Seoul, and research institutes to raise concerns on creating Nuclear Weapons Free Zone on the Korean Peninsula.  \

<Abstract of the Policy Report>

This report focuses on identifying the fundamental nature of the crises on the Korean Peninsula, including the North Korean nuclear issue, and providing substantial and comprehensive solutions. First, this report reviews the previous policies of the South Korean and the U.S. governments, which we believe have been based on unrealistic expectations, prejudices and stereotypes towards North Korea. Second, this report urges both the South Korean and the U.S. governments to base policies towards North Korea on realistic expectations and balanced perspectives. The suggestions in this report have been repeatedly raised by South Korean civil society organizations, who believe the South Korean and the U.S governments should take anticipatory and active measures to break out of a vicious circle of conflicts and crises on the Korean Peninsula.  

Looking back at 20 years of nuclear crises on the Korean Peninsula, the nature of the current aggravated situation is a result of the interactions between South Korea, North Korea and the U.S., rather than simply the unilateral actions of one party. To provide fundamental solutions to the problems on the Korean Peninsula, including the North Korean nuclear issue, both the South Korean and the U.S. governments should realize that it is time to shift their existing paradigm on North Korean policies. The only lesson from the past 20 years, with regard to the North Korean nuclear issue, is that dialogue and negotiation is more effective than sanctions and coercion in changing North Korea’s attitude, or at least not worsening the situation. Through the peaceful conversion of the current armistice regime into a permanent peace regime, South Korea and the U.S. can permanently solve the North Korean nuclear issue in a diplomatic and peaceful manner. 

Based on this analysis, this report suggests four strategies and novel approaches which develop and modify the existing agreements, in order to achieve peace and denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula. First, the South Korean and U.S. governments should consider the September 19 Joint Statement as the basic policy framework and develop the ideas of the statement based on fundamental, comprehensive and balanced principles. In particular, that the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula requires the simultaneous establishment of a Nuclear Weapons Free Zone (NWFZ) and a permanent peace regime. Second, while resuming the Six-Party Talks to resolve the nuclear issue, Four-Party Talks amongst South Korea, North Korea, the U.S. and China should be started in order to establish a peace regime. Third, the U.S. government should improve the comprehensive relationship between the U.S. and North Korea at the same time that it resumes the Six-Party Talks. Fourth, stable development of the inter-Korean relationship is an indispensable condition for achieving the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and establishing a peace regime.

At the core of the new policy, this report proposes the declaration of peace by four countries (South Korea, North Korea, the U.S. and China) in exchange for North Korea’s pledge to eliminate its nuclear capabilities and return to The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). This would be the initial step in a simultaneous exchange of reciprocal actions. This is to first provide North Korea with a transitional status for its return to the NPT and then later the complete destruction of nuclear weapons, as in the Ukrainian case. In order to build trust, a precondition for open negotiations should be the Four-Parties’ declaration of an end to the Korean War and a pledge to transit to a permanent peace regime.