Sunteți pe pagina 1din 8

The Korean Peace Treaty

Why were they at war in the first place?


• The Korean War was a war between North Korea and South Korea. The war began on 25
June 1950 when North Korea invaded South Korea following a series of clashes along the
border.
• During 1950-1953 more than one state parties entered to aid both North Korea and
South Korea. This includes the involvement of The United Nations, with the United States
as the principal force, coming to the aid of South Korea. China came to the aid of North
Korea, and the Soviet Union also gave some assistance to the North.
• The fighting eventually ended on 27 July 1953, when an armistice was signed. The
agreement created the Korean Demilitarized Zone to separate North and South Korea,
and allowed the return of prisoners. However, no peace treaty has been signed, and
according to some sources the two Koreas are technically still at war, engaged in a frozen
conflict.
• Finally on April 2018, the leaders of North and South Korea met at the demilitarized
zone (DMZ) and agreed to sign a treaty by the end of the year to formally end the Korean
War.
What Is The Korean Peace Treaty? (Panmunjom
Declaration)
• On April 27 2018, Korean leaders Moon Jae-in and Kim Jong-un signed
the Panmunjom Declaration in an effort to end the temporary armistice
and call for a new era of peace between the two nations.
• The Panmunjom Declaration, which states “there will be no more war on
the Korean peninsula,” was made public following the 2018 Inter-Korean
Summit, marking a momentous shift in Korean history.
• The Declaration said each side would cease propaganda broadcasts, hold
regular military meetings, and take other measures to reduce tensions
along the border and turn the Demilitarized Zone into a “peace zone”.
• Creating a peace zone in the Dematerialized Zone could also mean the
removal of guard posts and landmines.
Panmunjom Declaration In A Nutshell
An Analysis To The Korean Treaty
• The summit can be seen as a success due to the raft of positive
agreements struck.
• However, these agreements need to be critically evaluated, and they
fall into three categories:
• First, the agreement that are easily undone but good for inter-Korean morale;
• Second the agreement which have the potential to bring about enduring
positive change;
• Lastly the agreement that sound good but are insubstantial.
More Analysis
• Referring to the first group, both North Korea and South Korea have agreed to resume
reunions of family members separated by the Korean War, set up a liaison office in
Kaesong (North Korea), and refrain from hostile action at the borders. These signal
improving North-South relations but can easily be undone if disputes arise.
• On to the Second group, both sides pledged to seek a peace treaty replacing the Korean
War armistice via multilateral consultations with China and the United States. Such a
treaty would be a game changer on the peninsula as it would strongly encourage good
behavior from North Korea, and indirectly assure the security. However, winning the
approval of the Trump administration for Washington’s signing of this treaty is contingent
upon the DPRK’s denuclearization.
• On to the last group, the joint declaration signed by both parties at the summit commits
both North and South to seek complete denuclearization. This appears grand but is
ultimately vague, open to misinterpretations, and has no set time frame. Looking to the
past, based on North Korean’s poor track record in honoring nuclear disarmament
agreements, there exists much skepticism about whether Kim will verifiably disarm and if
he ultimately insists on retaining nuclear arms, all the progress from this declaration
might well collapse.
How the Treaty Influence Regional and
International Security
• The Panmunjom Declaration signed by both parties on April 27 is phrased in rather broad and
general terms. Fundamentally, the spirit of national reconciliation evident in the declaration is
arguably the same as the sentiments shared by both parties during their earlier two summits, in
2000 and 2007. However, some parts stand out due to deeper implications, such as sub statement
one of point one where, “both sides agreed to… fully implement all existing agreements and
declarations adopted between the two sides thus far.”
• This line implies that Pyongyang has renewed its commitment to the 1992 Joint Declaration on
the Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. This could potentially be used in future nuclear
negotiations to prevent Northern delegations from stalling.
• Another noteworthy sub point is sub statement two of point three where “South and North Korea
agreed to carry out (conventional) disarmament in a phased manner, as military tension is
alleviated and substantial progress is made in military confidence building.” From a South Korean
national security standpoint, this raises eyebrows because the South Korean military is
numerically inferior to the Korean People’s Army and any force reduction might exponentially
weaken the South to the North’s advantage. Therefore, the chance for both parties to reconsider
balancing their military troops is difficult to verify, and may never be realized.
In Conclusion
• As we can see that there lies a commitment from both parties to
enter a world of peace between them.
• South Korea and North Korea are more interconnected and become
closer to each other.
• Allowing people to visit each other, would be a really dramatic change
and would change the whole dynamic of the Korean peninsula.
• The goal of Nuclear disarmament and the fact that they reached a
peace arrangement where they normalize relations with South Korea,
these two steps would be a massive change in international relations,
changing the dynamic of northeast Asia.

S-ar putea să vă placă și