Why the "Declaration of the End of War" and "Peace Agreement" are the preconditions for the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula

Title: 

On the Correlation between 

[1] the Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula  and 

[2] the "Declaration of the End of War" and "Peace Agreement"  

A paper indirectly presented by
TAE Hyung Chul, President of Kim Il Sung University 

in Sept 2018, Global Peace Conference, Washington. 

(organised by the husband of Mrs Chung)

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A very rough translation using Google translation and slightly corrected.

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Introduction

Today, the prospect of denuclearization of the Korean peninsula is a matter of concern. Recently, DPRK suspended the nuclear test and the intercontinental ballistic rocket launch test to establish favorable conditions for the realization of the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, followed by a series of proactive and peaceful measures . The United States is also taking measures to refrain from military actions that are stimulating us, including the suspension of joint US - South Korean military exercises that were to be conducted in South Korea this year. However, in order to actually carry out the task of denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, this is not enough, and it should be preceded by normalization of relationship based on trust. 

1. History of the Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula Project and the Efforts of the DPRK for the Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula

An accurate understanding of the historical background of the Korean peninsula denuclearization project is a cognitive basis for finding a reasonable and constructive way for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

(1) Historical Background of the Establishment of the Denuclearization Plan of the Korean Peninsula 

Historically speaking, the issue of he denuclearization of the Korean peninsula was a task initiated by DPRK from the beginning. 

The issue of denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula was a problem set up in relation to the fact that the nuclear issue in the Korean peninsula has occurred, that is, the nuclear weapons of the United States have been brought in, stored and distributed in the Korean peninsula and a serious nuclear threat has been created to DPRK. 

The nuclear issue in the Korean Peninsula first occurred in the 1950s when the United States took nuclear weapons including "Honest John" in South Korea, and after that, the United States solidified nuclear weapons in South Korea and began military exercises involving nuclear war equipment.

 It has become increasingly serious as it has constantly increased the frequency of threats. On January 29, 1958, the United States deployed "Honest John" missiles and battleships in the southern half of the Korean peninsula and promulgated it. Since then, the United States has continued to import nuclear weapons into South Korea. In the mid-1980s, South Korea has already deployed more than 1,720 nuclear weapons, more than four times as much as US nuclear weapons deployed in the NATO region. This has caused a serious nuclear threat to our republic. Even after the end of the ranks, the nuclear threat and intimidation of our republic did not go away, but it got bigger. On the Korean peninsula and its environs, the practice of nuclear war with the US nuclear strategic assets has been annualized and regularized, and the United States has been publicly threatening to strike a nuclear strike on our republic from time to time. The task of denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula was a historical task posed by the DPRK to end this nuclear threat to the United States. 

(2) Efforts of DPRK toward Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula 

The great leader Kim Jong Il taught: "Denuclearization of the whole of Korean Peninsula is the instruction of the departed great President Kim Il Sung and is a consistent position of the government of our republic." ("The Anthology of Kim Jong Il" Supplement, Vol. 25, pp. 438) The denuclearization of the Korean peninsula is also an instruction of  Comrades Kim Jong Il. 

Today, the supreme leader Kim Jong Eun emphasizes that our commitment to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula remains unchanged, consistent and steadfast. The denuclearization of the entire peninsula is a consistent principle of DPRK. The activities of DPRK for the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula can be divided into two stages. 

The first stage is the stage where DPRK was trying to realize the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula as a status of a non-nuclear state. 

As we have pointed out, there was a nuclear weapon in the South Korean region during the Cold War period, but there was not a single nuclear weapon in our republic. In the long-standing imbalance of nuclear imperatives, our republic has had to undergo constant nuclear threats and nuclear blackmail from the United States. Therefore, it was DPRK that first raised the issue of denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and has made every effort to realize it. 

• In 1959, the suggestion of the creation of a peace zone without atomic weapons in Asia, 
• the creation of a zone for No Nuclear Weapon in Northeast Asia in 1981, and
• the three-party talks were held in 1984 among the South Korean authorities, the US, and DPRK to eliminate the nuclear war, 
• Proposals for the DPRK's nuclear non-proliferation in 1986, and 
• proposals for negotiations with the United States for the establishment of a new peace regime system in 1994, 

These efforts by DPRK for many years show that we have endeavored with patience. 

Historical data show that from 1958 to 2006, DPRK has appealed to the United States and the international community not to threaten us with nuclear weapons and to realize the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula. For this purpose, we have made numerous constructive suggestions and proposals, and we have been actively trying to realize it. However, the efforts of DPRK for the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula failed to make a proper result. There are many reasons for this, but the main reason was that the DPRK lacks the practical power to drive the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. 

The second stage is the stage in which DPRK has endeavored to realize the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula in the status of the nuclear state, from 2006 to today. By the time of Bush's second administration, the nuclear threat to our republic reached an unacceptable level of danger. By this time, the United States had put the label of  "Terrorist Supporting Country" and a "Axis of Evil" on our republic and increased the frequency of nuclear threats against us. In January 2002, the United States adopted the Nuclear Weapons Assessment Report as a policy preemptive strike against DPRK, and in September, the National Security Strategy Report also stated that the United States would use nuclear weapons in its military preemptive strike action. Following the orders of Bush II, the US Department of Defense produced a "Nuclear Posture Report" and submitted it to the US Congress, where the US military could use nuclear weapons in the event of an "emergency" on the Korean peninsula.

It was stated that it was necessary to develop small nuclear weapons for destruction of facilities and to give up the nuclear test ban treaty. With regard to the US nuclear threat and intensification of publicity, DPRK had to make a serious decision and a nuclear deterrent for the nation and the people and to conduct the first nuclear test on October 9, 2006. However, our nuclear possession was not aimed at nuclear weapons itself from the beginning. Our nuclear possession was aimed at ending the US unilateral nuclear threat to our republic and driving the denuclearization of the entire peninsula. 

Recalling the statement of DPRK Foreign Affairs issued on October 3, 2006, before our first nuclear test, confirms the nature and purpose of our nuclear repatriation. In his statement, he said, "We will never use nuclear weapons first and will completely deny nuclear threats and nuclear transfers through nuclear weapons." This tells us the nature of our nuclear arsenal. "The DPRK will try to realize the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and strive to promote global nuclear disarmament and the end of the nuclear weapons program," the statement said. "This means that our policy of denuclearization will remain the same, It is stated that the possession has the purpose of realizing denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and promoting denuclearization of the world. In other words, our nuclear weapons aimed at restraining the outbreak of nuclear war in the Korean Peninsula and establishing practical force for the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula. 

DPRK has not abandoned its efforts to realize the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula through peaceful means through dialogue and negotiations even after having nuclear weapons. The process of the Six - Party Talks was a process in which the Republic of Korea made efforts to realize the denuclearization of the entire peninsula in the framework of multilateral talks. Meanwhile, the five-year period from 2013 to 2017, in which there has massive strengthening of the deterrence of nuclear weapons and economic construction, has massively strengthened the MAD (mutual assured destruction: mutual assured destruction) relations with the United States.  That is, the process of establishing a relationship and accumulating the power actually promoted the process of establishing preconditions for the denuclearization dialogue. 

The real "enemy" that nuclear powers should deal with is the nuclear war itself.

 The most just and trustworthy way to prevent the war of nuclear weapons that will be put on our country's land is only when we achieve a substantial nuclear balance by massively pushing the nuclear armed forces, not as a card to gain any kind of concessions, but as the only choice we could make to achieve the denuclearization for defend the rights for independence, development, and livelihood of our people.

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2. The correlation between Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and the Declaration of the End of War and the Signing of a Peace Agreement 

The denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula does not mean a one-sided nuclear abandonment by DPRK. The denuclearization of the Korean peninsula is the process of turning the peninsula into a zone free from nuclear weapons, based on the complete elimination of the actual external nuclear cooperation with the Korean peninsula in a verifiable manner. 

It is largely divided into two parts: 

one is elimination of the US nuclear threat to the Korean Peninsula and 

the other is alleviation of the US worry about the DPRK's nuclear possession. 

Here, our nuclear issue is a problem caused by the US nuclear threat, which is the cause of the US nuclear threat and our nuclear possession. In other words, the US nuclear threat and our nuclear holdings are causal. The US nuclear threat, which is the cause of the problem here, is an independent variable, and our nuclear reserve is a dependent variable. These two parts are causal and asymmetric. In other words, as the nuclear threat of the United States gets stronger, our nuclear weapons become massively strengthened. 

When the US nuclear threat reaches zero, we will not feel the need to have nuclear weapons. However, our one-sided nuclear abandonment does not affect the existence of US nuclear threats against us. Examples of Libya and others are the case. In this sense, the issue of denuclearization of the Korean peninsula is a problem that can be solved only if the US nuclear threat is substantially eliminated. In other words, the elimination of the US nuclear threat is both an initial goal of realizing the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and a basic condition for the realization of denuclearization. 

The primary problem in eliminating the US nuclear threat to the DPRK is the elimination of hostile relations and the normalization of seasonal relations. There are two reasons why our republic feels the US nuclear threat. One is that the material, physical factors that the US has vast amount of nuclear weapons, and the other is the political and psychological factors in the United States that  conducted a hostile policy against the DPRK, and the fact that two countries are in the technical state of war. 

In order to ultimately eliminate the US nuclear threat, these two must be eliminated altogether, but the first one is to eliminate the second factor. For example, our republic does not feel the threat of China or Russia's nuclear threat. It is because we have friendly relations with these countries, not hostile relations. 

Unless the hostile relationship between DPRK and the United States is changed, we would feel the nuclear threat until the last of the US nuclear weapons is eliminated. 

This is also the case in the United States. US does not feel threats from the nuclear arms of the UK, France, and Israel but feels the threat of nuclear action from us because the United States and our country is at war technically. In this sense, normalization of the relationship between the USA and DPRK is a basic condition, a prerequisite, and a necessary condition for the realization of the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula. It is also an intervening variable that affects the performance of agreements for the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula. There have been many attempts to focus on the nuclear issue in the past and to solve it, but the failure to achieve the denuclearization goal is due to the fact that we have not been able to settle the abnormal hostilities that existed between the two countries. 

The 1994 Agreed Framework signed by the USA and DPRK, the Six-Party Joint Statement, the February 13 agreement signed at the summit concluded between the USA and DPRK presented the goals and timetable in the Korean peninsula to realize denuclearization. However, these agreements could not be carried out due to the lingering mistrust and misunderstanding between each other. 

The reunion of the heads of the state in Singapore on 6 December 2018 was a historic reunion that declared that the two countries made their first steps toward reconciliation. After the reunion, a relatively stable atmosphere of reconciliation has been created. However, it is necessary to establish legal and institutional measures to assure that the states are not hostile to each other in order to achieve the peace and stability of the Korean peninsula and realize the denuclearization. The announcement of the "declaration of the end of war" and the conversion of the Armistice Agreement into a "peace treaty" are the first steps towards establishing such legal and institutional arrangements. In addition, this will be a precondition for achieving substantive progress in the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.

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Conclusion


As a result of the June 12 summit talks in Singapore between USA and DPRK, the period of confrontation, which has been dominated by the confrontation and the atmosphere of the ranks, has been gradually opening up, which allows people to have a peaceful future and new hope for the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula. However, this hope can disappear like wastes at any time unless legal and institutional arrangements are in place to ensure normalization of seasonal relations. The nuclear issue in the Korean peninsula, and the situation in which it periodically reaches the point of explosion, lies at its root in the hostile relationship between distrust and seasonalism that creates confrontation. It is a lesson left by past history of failure and frustration that the enemies of DPRK and the United States, which are parties to the armistice, are unable to make any mistrust and denuclearization as long as there is hostility. Declaring the "end of war" and concluding a "peace agreement" will be the most effective means of relieving mistrust between the two Koreas, and will become a powerful force to secure the realization of the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula. If the United States really wants to secure world peace and security as well as the Korean Peninsula and the region, it will have to negotiate a "declaration of the end of war" and a "peace treaty" with DPRK.

 (End)

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