Security Council. Topic A: Rising Tensions in the Korean Peninsula. Topic B: Developments in Contemporary Israeli- Arab Relationships

Transcription

1 Security Council Topic A: Rising Tensions in the Korean Peninsula Topic B: Developments in Contemporary Israeli- Arab Relationships

2 Committee Introduction and History As one of the original deliberative bodies established by the UN Charter in 1945, the Security Council is often regarded as the most powerful and iconic committee of the United Nations. Per its founding documents, the Security Council exists to investigate any dispute, or any situation which might lead to international friction or give rise to a dispute, to determine whether the continuance of the dispute or situation is likely to endanger the maintenance of international peace and security (UN Charter, 1945). To accomplish this mission, the Security Council has been entrusted with an expanded set of powers not generally available to other committees. This includes the power to enforce peace through military action (if necessary), try persons accused of war crimes, recommend steps for peaceful resolutions to international crises, and call upon members to interrupt economic relations with troublesome nation-states. Exercising this unique set of powers, however, has necessitated the creation of an equally unique administrative structure. The founding nations of the UN were weary of constructing a council intended to respond to crises in a quick and efficient manner that was cumbersome and paralyzed by lengthy debate. Thus, the deliberate decision was made to limit the council s size. The arrangement ultimately agreed upon has been monumentally important to the balance of power and maintenance of peace for the last 60 years. The prevailing nations of World War II (collectively known as The P5 )- China, Russia, France, United Kingdom, and the United States of America- were given permanent membership on the council as well as veto power. This means that any action the Council takes must elicit a yes (or at the very least, an abstention ) from each of the P5 nations to be adopted. The veto power of the P5 has been the source of much debate in recent years, however, seems to have staying power as a measure by which to prevent the super-power nations from attacking each other. The remainder of the council is comprised of 10 rotating elected members, each serving two-year terms (half the rotating members are replaced each December). Nation-states are eligible for membership on the Council based on their geography, with three (3) seats reserved for countries in Africa, two (2) for

3 those in Latin America, one (1) for an Arab nation, one (1) for an Asia country, one (1) for an Eastern European State, and two (2) finals seats set aside for Western European countries. Over the last 73 years, the UN s Security Council has been involved in numerous conflicts around the globe. The Council has acted and mitigated crises in some of the most geopolitically complex areas of the globe, including: Iran, North Korea, and Ukraine to name a few. Importantly, responding to crises in real-time has always been at the core of the Security Council s identity and remains a hallmark component of its mission. Today, the Council faces widespread criticism for what many dub an archaic administrative structure while continuing to face down important issues that require dutiful attention. Despite difficulties and potential hurdles, the Council still has an important job to do. Pursuant to such, over the next few days, the VolMUN Security Council will be concerned chiefly with two developing crises in the world: rising tensions in the Korean Peninsula and new developments in Arab-Israeli relations. Below you will find some introductory information and resources to help you frame and understand these topics. This should serve only as a starting point in your research, however. The delegates that will be most successful are those that truly understand the nuance of their country and character s position and will be able to respond accurately, quickly, and forcefully as the situations develop. We look forward to working with you during your preparation and throughout conference. Additionally, we welcome any questions or inquiries you may as you prepare for VolMUN III particularly as they relate to the unique approach to crisis this committee will adopt. Best of luck in your preparation and we look forward to hosting you and some insightful debate, soon! Bobby Krieger: Co-Chair, rkrieger@vols.utk.edu Oumar Diallo: Co-Chair, osouleym@vols.utk.edu Ben Bergman: Crisis Co-Director, bentberg@vols.utk.edu Tristan Smith: Crisis Co-Director, tsmit173@vols.utk.edu Gus White: Crisis Co-Director, awhite85@vols.utk.edu

4 Topic A: Growing Tensions in the Korean Peninsula World War II and Pre-Cold War In January of 1910, the Korean Peninsula was annexed by the Japanese Empire. The Japanese Empire focused agriculture in the south and concentrated heavy industry in the north. During the period of Japanese Imperial rule, efforts were made to repress Korean culture and society, breeding dissent and hatred among the Korean populace. The beginning of the end of Japanese Imperial rule came for Korea during the Cairo Conference of 1943, where leaders of the Allied Forces met to discuss the future of postwar Asia and outline a strategy against Japan. The Cairo Declaration stated the Allied intentions to continue their Eastern Asia campaign until Japan s unconditional surrender and ensure that all territories held by Japan, especially Korea, become free and independent 1. The United States, United Kingdom, and Soviet Union reconvened in December 1945 during the Moscow Conference to further discuss issues in East Asia. The conference decided that the Korean Peninsula would be divided along the 38th Parallel (which would geographically divide the peninsula in half) and established the Far Eastern Commission (FEC) comprising of the United Figure 1. Map of Korea, circa 1945

5 States, United Kingdom, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and China for a period of five years to make executive decision for the continent, all without consulting experts on Korea beforehand. Following the dissolution of the trustee-ship, a Joint Commission between rival U.S. and Soviet forces was formed to begin the creation of a singular and united Korean Government. In August 8th, 1945, two days after the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima by the United States, the Soviet Union declared war on Japan and rapidly advanced into the Korean Peninsula north of the 38th Parallel. Worried by the Soviet military encroachment into the north of the peninsula, the United States hastily claimed the Korean capital of Seoul and moved its forces to occupy the rest of the peninsula. The division of the peninsula at the 38th parallel was made official by the General Order No. 1 of the United States created for the surrender of Japan on August 17th, Following the division, over sixteen million Koreans were placed under American care in the south while the Soviet Union controlled roughly nine million people in the north. In 1945, a congress of influential Korean representatives convened in Seoul with the goal of creating a provisional government during the transition of power from the Japanese colonial administration to the FEC called the People s Republic of Korea (PRK). The PRK would consist of multiple independent and self-governing People s Committees that would work locally with the Korean people. Post-World War II: South Korea After solidifying control of the southern half of the Korean peninsula in 1945, the United States established the United States Army Military Government in Korea (USAMGIK), which ruled officially from September 8th, 1945 to August 15th, The USAMGIK refused to

6 recognize the PRK and its People s Committees as a governing body and outlawed it under suspicions of being aligned with the Communists within a few months of coming into power on December 12th, 1945, after which point the PRK operated unofficially in opposition to the USAMGIK. Remnants of the PRK operated individually around Korea, especially on Jeju Island, where they later contributed to rising tensions between local Koreans and USAMGIK forces that peaked in 1948 during the Jeju Massacre. Thousands of Korean peasants revolted against the restrictive martial policies of the USAMGIK during the Autumn Uprising of 1946 that started on September in Busan, South Korea s second largest city after Seoul. Members of the movement demanded better working conditions, higher wages, the right to organize, the release of political prisoners, as well as the restoration of the PRK as the lawful governing body of the country. Riots continued and spread to all major cities in South Korea, ultimately culminating in the Daegu October Incident, a protest organized by thousands of Korean workers in retaliation to upcoming elections monitored by the USAMGIK for the South Korean Interim Legislative Assembly that turned violent and resulted in the death of 38 policemen, 163 civil workers, and 73 civilians. The uprising was quickly put down but still failed to prevent the elections on the following October. The USAMGIK continued military campaigns against insurgents and left-wing protesters over the next few years, leading to the deaths of between 30,000 and 100,000 people. Post-World War II: North Korea Unlike the Americans, the Soviet forces recognized the already established People s Committees. The Soviet Civil Administration was created by Colonel-General Terentii Shtykov

7 and functioned as the occupying government of the Soviet controlled northern half of Korea from 1945 to 1948 with the aim of installing communists in key administrative positions. Initially, the Soviets cooperated closely with Cho Man-sik, an influential nationalist activist and advocate for full Korean autonomy. However, Cho Man-sik eventually lost the support of the Russians due to his distrust of foreign powers acting in Korea and his opposition to Communism. Cho Man-sik would have been amenable to the Soviets had they offered him and Korea full autonomy, but the Soviet leaders, who were not agreeable to his terms, instead threw their support behind guerrilla hero and communist Kim Il-sung who had spent the last few years training with Soviet troops in Manchuria. In February of 1946, The Soviets instated the Provisional People s Committee under Kim Il-sung as the local interim government of North Korea and allowed it to operate concurrently with the Soviet Civil Administration. One of the most notable achievements of the provisional government was the creation of a sweeping land reform program that divided and redistributed all lands formerly belonging to Japanese and aristocratic landowners to the poor civilians and laborers under the people s committee. The land reform program was remarkable in that it was implemented in a much less violent fashion than similar programs instituted in China and Vietnam. The Democratic People s Republic of Korea (DPRK) was established north of the 38th parallel on September 9th, 1948, with Shtykov as the Soviet ambassador and Kim Il-sung as the first premier. The Korean War As North and South Korea continued to diverge from each other politically, it became clear that the Joint Commission established by the UN would fail to make progress in unifying the two

8 halves of the Korean peninsula. The United States favored United Nations intervention to help combine the two Koreas, but the Soviet Union opposed the idea of more international involvement in Korea. In a resolution passed on November 14, 1947, the United Nations held that free elections should be held in Korea, mandated the removal of foreign troops, and created the United Nations Temporary Commission on Korea to oversee general elections. When Soviet controlled North Korea refused to recognize the body under the criticism that the United Nations could not guarantee fair elections and that it violated Articles 32 and 107 of the UN Charter that specify that both sides of a dispute must be consulted in a discussion regarding that dispute and denies the UN any jurisdiction over post-war settlement issues, respectively. Without Soviet cooperation, the United Nations decided to hold supervised elections in the south only. Many Koreans viewed the separate elections as an attempt to permanently divide the country and organized mass protests the decision. Fearing that the elections would permanently reinforce division, guerrilla fighters of the communist aligned South Korean Labor Party protested the police and right-wingers on Jeju Island to the south of South Korea in The methods taken by the South Korean government to suppress the growing unrest were especially brutal; by the end of the rebellion, the population of the island had been decimated, killing off around 10% of its inhabitants. The election resulted in a victory for the National Association for the Rapid Realisation of Korean Independence with Syngman Rhee as its speaker and, despite mass protests, a voter turnout of around 95.5%. Rhee was influential in creating the first written constitution in South Korea and was eventually elected president of the formally established Republic of Korea (ROK) under its First Republic in the presidential elections on July 20, On September 9th, the Democratic People s Republic of Korea was created in the North with Kim Il-sung as the prime minister. On October

9 12th, 1948, the Soviet Union recognized North Korea as the only lawful government on the Korean peninsula 2 and began to withdraw from the North. Contrarily, on December 12th, 1948, the United Nations General Assembly formally declared the Republic of Korea in the south to be the only lawful government in Korea under Resolution As a result, two antagonistic states with diametrically opposed political, economic, and social systems were created. Syngman Rhee s consolidation of power in the South ended North Korean hopes of a peaceful revolution and reunification of Korea. Kim Il-sung began to seek out potential allies among Soviet and Chinese forces to support a military campaign against the American supported South Korea to reunite the country by force. After United States forces began to withdraw its military from South Korea in 1949, Kim Il-sung believed that the Americans had abandoned the south and became confident that his troops would be capable of defeating the South Koreans and reunite the two territories under one central government. As a result, North Korea crossed the 38th parallel and invaded South Korea on June 25th, 1950, marking the beginning of the Korean War. Contrary to what it seemed, the United States had not abandoned South Korea and still viewed it as a vital market and core economically in helping to rebuild Japan after WWII. Following the North Korean invasion into the south, the United States felt compelled to enter the war on the side of the South Koreans aided by an international United Nations force. The counteroffensive launched by the US and the UN brought communist China to North Korea s aid, and with the help of the Chinese, the North Koreans were able to push enemy forces to a deadlock near the 38th parallel. By 1951, the front line of the war had stabilized near the 38th parallel where neither side could make an advance into the other s territory. In June of the same year, the Soviet representative to the UN proposed an armistice and a cease-fire between the two sides; however, due to

10 irreconcilable disagreements over topics such as the land boundaries for the two countries, no progress on the negotiation was made for almost two years until the death of Joseph Stalin in South Korea initially opposed the armistice agreement that was finally presented as President Rhee had already strongly advocated for continued military action against North Korea to reunify the peninsula. In order to get South Korea to sign the agreement, the United States had to agree to: (1) a mutual defense treaty; (2) massive economic aid; and (3) equipment and training for South Korean military troops. The final Korean Armistice Agreement was signed on July 27th, 1953 and ensured the complete cessation of hostilities of the Korean War. The armistice established the Military Demarcation Line (DML) and the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), regulated the exchange of prisoners of war from both sides, and set up a system for the withdrawal of foreign troops on Korean land with the ultimate goal of reuniting Korea. The DMZ, a 2.5-milewide buffer zone across the middle of Korea, is notable even today for being the most militarily guarded and secure border zone in the world and as of the late 90s, more than a million soldiers have confronted each other along the zone. After the Figure 2. The DMZ armistice was signed, the war was considered to have ended, but without an official peace treaty in place, the war continues to this day. A conference was held in Geneva in 1954 to create further plans related to the withdrawal of foreign troops in Korea as per the terms of the Korean Armistice, but despite efforts of the nations involved, no solution or compromise was found. The United

11 States views the war as an American victory, but the North Koreans and Chinese claim victory on their own behalf. Due to Soviet influence, North Korea established a communist government controlled through hereditary succession of leadership with Kim Il-sung as its Supreme Leader following the war. The current leader of North Korea is Kim Jong-un, the grandson of Kim Il-sung and the son of Kim Jong-il, who held power from 1994 to After the armistice, South Korea still faced years of political turmoil and unrest under the autocratic regime of Syngman Rhee that was eventually ended by a student revolt in While he was in power, Rhee methodically cemented his power by declaring martial law, arresting protesters and political opponents, removing presidential term limits. Despite the wish of both sides to reunite the country, the Korean War managed only to further the divide between the two countries and led to a permanent alliance between the United States and South Korea. The war is viewed today as the first armed confrontation of the greater Cold War and a classic example of a proxy war between two international superpowers. Post-Korean War: South Korea South Korea s recovery after the war was slow initially due to the rampant corruption and mismanagement of government funds during President Rhee s administration. Rhee was eventually forced to resign after many Koreans, most notably university students, protested the blatant and publicized manipulation of the 1960 presidential elections. The exile of Rhee marked the end of the First Republic of South Korea and established the short lived Second Republic of South Korea that reigned shortly before its failure to implement reform and quell social unrest and political turmoil led to a military coup d état on May 16th, Led by Park Chung-hee, the

12 military, which controlled South Korea from 1961 to 1963 and was supported by the Koreans as a symbol of national security, began to root out corruption in the government and set up another election in Park became the presidential candidate for the newly formed Democratic Republican Party and won the election of 1963 by a narrow margin to start the Third Republic of South Korea. Park s administration focused on redeveloping the economy and industry of South Korea; the unofficial slogan of the republic became Development First, Unification Later. It was during Like former president-in-exile Rhee, Park suppressed the civil liberties of Korean civilians and imprisoned his political opponents. In an attempt to consolidate and expand government power, Park declared martial law on October 17th, 1972, and suspended the national constitution. The adoption of the Yushin Constitution on November 21st, 1972, began the Fourth Republic and gave Park more control over the parliament and a potential permanent presidency. Despite strong economic growth, civil dissent continued to grow under the Yushin system, to which Park responded by jailing hundreds of protesters. In the midst of national mass antigovernment demonstrations, Park Chung-hee was assassinated in 1979 by the director of the Korean CIA, Kim Jae-gyu, ushering in the Fifth Republic of South Korea. Shortly after the assassination of Park Chung-hee, Major General Chun Doo-Hwan executed another military coup and declared national martial law in 1980, effectively creating another military dictatorship. South Korean civilians, already staunchly opposed to authoritarian rule, heavily opposed Chun s regime and organized protests in different cities that turned into violent confrontations, like the Gwangju Massacre of 1980 in which over 600 people were killed by armed forces. After the deaths of more protesting students, public outrage consolidated into nationwide support for democracy. The anti-government protests of the 1987 June Democracy

13 Movement succeeded in pressuring the acting president Roh Tae-woo to restore civil rights and organize a direct presidential election and in October of the same year, a newly revised constitution was approved by the parliament. Presidential elections were held in the following December, marking the beginning of the Sixth Republic, which remains as the current republic of South Korea. Today, South Korea stands as the world s seventh most economically powerful country and is the only G20 nation in simultaneously free trade agreements with China, the US, and the EU. Its citizens enjoy many personal rights like universal healthcare and one of the highest standards of living in the world. Post-Korean War: North Korea The conclusion of the war left North Korea with considerable debt and political challenges. Russian influence on the North Korean government was diminished due to the fact that the Chinese had been the ones to come to North Korea s aid during the war to prevent their likely extinction. Kim Il-sung implemented the principle of extreme self-reliance called juch e and thus gave birth to the Hermit Kingdom. The North Korean strategy for growth involved heavy investment in industry, which gave the country record growth rates in the 1950s and 1960s during the same time period that the South Korean economy was stagnant. The North Koreans desired to lessen dependence on China and the Soviet Union and began to buy mineral extraction infrastructure from abroad to take advantage of their mineral wealth. The 1970s marked a turn for the North Korean economy; plagued by an oil crisis and poor management, North Korea was forced to default on their payments to their Japanese and Western

14 creditors following the war. As a result, it was unable to pay for Western technology and resources. Without foreign aid and support, the North Korean centrally planned economy was unable to keep up with other industrialized nations as new industries around computers and electronics emerged. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, North Korea lost one of its biggest trading partners and its economy began to further decline as it became more isolated from the rest of the world. As a result of an economic crisis, North Korea endured a famine known as The March of Suffering from 1994 to 1998 which ended in the deaths of an estimated 240,000 to 600,000 Koreans and severe pediatric malnutrition. The death of Kim Il-sung allowed Kim Jong-il in 2000 to arrange the first personal meeting between leaders of the two Korean countries since its division in During the meeting, discussions on reconciliation were opened once more, and despite no steps being immediately implemented towards reunification, the meeting was seen as a real step towards peace. While relations between the two countries have seen improvement since the end of the Korean War, brief periods of hostility and high tensions threaten the progress that has been built over the past 70 years. Today, North Korea adheres strongly to the principle of Songun, or military-first policy, and sports a total of 9,500,000 active, reserve, and paramilitary forces. Its government has been described as an absolute monarchy with the Kim family in charge despite regularly scheduled elections. The Human Rights Watch has referred to North Koreans as some of the world s most brutalized people due to the egregious restrictions placed on individual political, economic, and social freedoms. As a Stalinist communist country, all aspects of North Korean daily life are relegated and managed by the state and travel is strictly regulated. Reports from North Korean defectors of citizens being deported to inhumane labor prison camps without trial where prisoners

15 are subject to slave labor, malnutrition, torture, and rape have caught the attention of the international community and have resulted in numerous sanctions against North Korea being implemented. The North Korean government, however, rejects the human rights abuse allegations as wild rumors but has also stated that it is working to improve substandard living conditions. North and South Korean Relations Hostilities between the two countries have not fully ceased since the declaration of the armistice. In the late 1960s, tensions between the two states became strained over a series of lowlevel armed conflicts known as the Korean DMZ Conflict, during which time South Korea continued covert raids on the North, the North Koreans attempted to assassinate South Korean President Park Chung-hee in his own house, and a South Korean airliner was hijacked by an individual North Korean agent. In 1972, South Korean President Park Chung-hee opened up lines of covert communication with Kim Il-sung of North Korea with the intention of working towards reunification. After a secret visit by a North Korean deputy premier to Seoul, the North-South Joint Statement 4 was released on July 4th, 1972, announcing the Three Principles of Reunification: first, the reunification must be achieved with no reliance on external forces or interference and it must be achieved internally; second, the reunification must be achieved peacefully without the use of military forces against the other side; and third, both parties must promote national unity as a united people over any differences of our ideological and political systems. The Joint Statement also established the South-North Coordinating Committee (SNCC) which consisted of five subcommittees in areas of politics, economy, military, foreign affairs, society, and culture.

16 Diplomatic talks between the two nations temporarily came to a pause in 1973 after South Korean opposition leader Kim Dae-Jung was kidnapped by the Korean CIA. Communication was resumed between 1973 and 1975, during which time ten meetings of the SNCC were held at Panmunjom, the location where the 1953 Korean Armistice Agreement was signed. In 1983, the North Korean proposal for a three-way talk between itself, South Korea, and the United States was thwarted by an assassination attempt on the South Korean President Chun Doo-Hwan which was later revealed to be a North Korean plot. The attempt failed to kill the President but succeeded in killing 21 people, injuring 46, and further straining relations between the North and the South marked the first reunion of separated families and a rise in the goodwill between the DPRK and the ROK. Open conflict on the Korean peninsula almost reignited in the 90s when it was discovered that North Korea was attempting to develop a nuclear arms program with enough plutonium and radioactive elements to create two nuclear weapons and threatened war if sanctions were taken against them. In an effort to diffuse the tension on the peninsula, an Agreed Framework was proposed in 1994 by the United States where peace was essentially purchased by promising financial aid if North Korea were to stop developing nukes. In 1998, South Korean President Kim Dae-Jung proposed the Sunshine Policy in an attempt to ease reconciliation between North and South Korea by softening attitudes towards each other. The central principle behind the Sunshine Policy was to restore lost communication between the two nations and help the economy of the DPRK flourish during widespread starvation and malnutrition. The policy resulted in a greater number of diplomatic correspondences between the North and the South between 1998 and A Joint Declaration 5 was released on June 14th, 2000, following various diplomatic meetings between leaders of North and South Korea that

17 allowed separated families and relatives to meet with their family members in Pyongyang and Seoul. Tensions again saw a rise in North Korea-South Korea relations in 2002 after North Korea was branded by US President George W. Bush as a member of the Axis of Evil, states developing weapons of mass destruction and supporting international terrorism. North Korea responded to the hostile stance taken by the United States in recent years by cutting off peace talks and including it on a list of targets for a preventive nuclear strike. Concerns about a nuclear North Korea were addressed from 2003 to 2004 during a series of six-party talks including North Korea, South Korea, the USA, Russia, China, and Japan in which the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula was agreed upon. By 2006, however, the North had resumed testing missiles and conducted its first nuclear test on October 9th. On October 2nd, 2007, South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun traveled across the DMZ to Pyongyang for talks with Kim Jong-il who had expressed a desire to work diplomatically with the South Korean government and on October 4th, the two leaders signed a peace declaration that called for international talks to replace the armistice with a permanent peace treaty and it seemed as if peace was within grasp. In 2010, however, the Sunshine Policy was formally abandoned as the ROK s policy regarding the DPRK after a naval vessel called the ROKS Cheonan and its crew of 104 sank off the coast of the Baengnyeong Island in the Yellow Sea. International researchers published results that indicated that the sinking was caused by North Korean explosive torpedoes, a claim which the North Koreans immediately refuted. As a result, South Korea began to take measures to harm the DPRK financially and diplomatically and North Korea repealed the previous non-aggression agreement in place between the two.

18 North Korea once again fell under international scrutiny after launching Kwangmyŏngsŏng-3 Unit 2, a scientific satellite, into orbit, an action it was thoroughly condemned for in the United Nations Security Council Resolution and began a crisis on the Korean peninsula lasting from January to September of 2013 fueled by the adoption of extreme rhetoric by the new North Korean administration under Kim Jong-un suggesting imminent nuclear strikes against South Korea, Japan, and the United States. The Korean peninsula came close to war once again on August 20th, 2015, after North Korea fired a shell on the South Korean city of Yeoncheon, prompting South Korea to evacuate its west coast and retaliate with artillery rounds. The incident caused both countries to adopt pre-korean War stances regarding each other and a meeting was organized between high ranking government officials on August 22nd in Panmunjeom. North Korea took this opportunity to deploy around 70% of their submarines, but an agreement was reached on the 25th and military tensions were eased. North Korea continues testing nuclear weapons, but recent develops in North Korea-South Korea relations have been positive. A meeting on January 9th, 2018, resulted in the recreation of a hotline between the militaries of the two countries in order to prevent further deterioration in diplomatic relations. The delegates at the meeting took steps to further improve relations by holding consultations between the militaries of North and South Korea on reducing tensions across the DMZ and the Korean border. Potential Topics of Debate: UN Sanctions against North Korea Since North Korea s inception as a country, a number of sanctions have been levied against it by the international community as a whole. The current UN sanctions are largely concerned with

19 the North Korean nuclear weapons research program and were administered shortly following their first nuclear weapons launch in The UNSC resolution that was passed in response to North Korea s 2006 nuclear test prohibited the export of arms and luxury goods to North Korea and created the UNSC Sanctions Committee on North Korea. Various resolutions have since Figure 3. North Korean Nuclear Sites. broadened the materials and arms embargo as well as prohibited money transfers to and from the DPRK. Individual states have since enacted independent sanctions on North Korea, including forbidding travel to and communication with North Korea and condemning North Korea for various human rights abuses. Since 2005, the UN General Assembly has also annually condemned the human rights violations in North Korea. South Korea has participated in the UN General Assembly since 1948 as an observer while North Korea gained observer status only after the 1971 recognition of the UN Security Council Chinese seat. Since joining the UN formally as a seat in 1991, South Korea has held two nonpermanent seats on the UN Security Council while its northern neighbors have yet to do so. North Korea calls for reunification with the South While the eventual reunification of Korea is viewed as an inevitably by South Korea and the United States, significant work still needs to be done towards that regard. Relations between the North and South have been strained under the regimes of Kim Jong-il and his son Kim Jong-

20 un, both of whom have ignored UN sanctions and treaties in their launching of rockets, nuclear tests, and attacks on foreign assets. Since dividing, the two countries have also diverged greatly both culturally and economically, with North Korea lagging far behind the South in terms of GDP and a stable economy. Recently, it was announced that the North and South Korean women hockey teams would unite to compete in the 2018 Winter Olympics, which is the first time the two countries have united during a sporting event. However, in a recent poll, it was discovered 73% of South Koreans are opposed to merging of the two hockey teams. In recent years, similar anti-unification sentiments have been rising in South Korea, most notably among younger generations who don t feel the same connection to their North Koreans neighbors as their grandparents, who lived during a time when the country was unified, do. North Korean Refugees The famines that followed North Korea s bankruptcy in the 90 s along with harsh political regulations have prompted numerous North Koreans to defect. North Korean defectors, known more commonly as northern refugees in South Korea, typically cross the border into northeastern China before moving on to a third country due to China s close affiliation with North Korea. Since China does not recognize North Korean defectors as refugees (instead, they are classified as illegal economic migrants), getting caught for escapees means being sent back and enduring years of punishment in political prison or re-educational camps. Defectors who escape to South Korea are handled by the Ministry of Unification, a political organization that oversees potential future reunification between the North and the South and are resettled to a new location with financial

21 aid packages. The Ministry of Unification has reported aiding over 26,000 defectors since the early 50s. North Korean refugees often suffer from PTSD due to traumatic events and experiences with the brutal regime (some studies suggesting as many as 56% of refugees are afflicted by PTSD 8 ), which could serve as an explanation for the difficulty many North Korean refugees have with adjusting into new cultures and countries. Rarely, but not unheard of, some defectors voluntarily return to North Korea which has promised money, housing, and employment for double defectors. Resources: js-en.htm 5. orea pdf

22 Topic B: Developments in Contemporary Israeli-Arab Relationships Initial Geography of the Region Initially, the region known as Palestine was populated by people mostly of Arabic descendant and was an official part of the Ottoman Empire. The area that Palestine is located on does not actually contain traditional and precise boundaries, but rather can be denoted according to certain landmarks. Palestine's eastern most border can be defined by the Jordan River while the top and bottom borders are roped off by Lebanon in the North and Egypt in the south 1. The population in Palestine at this time consisted mostly of Muslims and Christians as well as a small number of Jews. All three religions generally lived in peace with little to no conflict. Zionism Zionism can be defined as an international movement originally for the establishment of a Jewish national or religious community in Palestine and later for the support of modern Israel 2. This movement was established as a political organization in 1897 by a Jewish activist named Theodor Herzl. Herzl believed the Jewish people needed a nation of their own and in his pamphlet, Der Judenstaat, he called for a Jewish homeland to be established in Palestine. In 1917 the British government established the Balfour Declaration in an attempt to gain Jewish

23 support. This document promised to establish Palestine as an official home for the Jewish people. After World War I, the Ottoman Empire collapsed - allowing the British to establish a colony on Palestinian lands and shortly after, they established separate institutions for Christians, Jews, and Muslims overall limiting their interactions and cooperation. From 1920 to 1939, Jewish immigration increased dramatically to honor the Balfour Declaration established by Britain. In that time, approximately 320 thousand people migrated to Palestine 3. Tensions rose, ultimately resulting in a revolt of Arab Palestinians against the British. Resultantly, the Britain limited Jewish immigration into the area and concluded to establish a joint Arab-Jewish state in ten years. United Nations November of 1947 Between 1933 and 1936 mass amounts of German Jews sought out a safe haven from Germany as Nazis began to gain power. An estimated 154,300 such Jews 4 immigrated to Palestine legally during that time, making up almost half of the large Jewish migration to Palestine that began in World War II actually proved to be relatively peaceful in Palestine. It wasn t until after the war that conflicts picked up, once Britain realized maintaining a colony that was experiencing tensions was not in their best interests. This caused the British to instead pass the issue over to the newly formed United Nations. The United Nations agreed to separate the land into a Palestinian state and a Jewish state with an attempt to keep each equal in size, but the result that was established looked very divided

24 and unusually complicated (see in the image to the right). Soon after the announcement of the new states, The Arab-Israeli War of 1948 broke out causing many to believe the resolution passed by the United Nations may have been the initial kick towards war between the states. The War of 1948 The War of 1948 lasted around ten months and mostly took place on the former territory of the British Mandate. Once the war had reached a conclusion, the State of Israel had gained 33% more land than they had originally been granted under the UN s plan. Thus, over 700,000 Palestinians were forced to evacuate their home and become refugees in the neighboring countries. The regional results of the War of 1948 remained for 18 years with the State of Israel dominating the area until the Six Days War. The Six Days War In response to a build-up of Arab forces along the Israeli border, Israel launched simultaneous attacks against both Egypt and Syria. From June 5 to June 11, 1967 Israel managed to gain control of the Gaza Strip, the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt, the Golan Heights of Syria, the Arab sector of East Jerusalem, and most importantly Jerusalem, which had previously been under Jordan s control.

25 As a result of the Six Days War, the United Nation Security Council passed Resolution 242, which called on the Israeli withdrawal from all occupied regions. This swiftly failed as the Israeli state declined immediately. In response to the resolution, Israel instead declared that Gaza, the West Bank, the Golan Heights, and the Sinai would be returned if Arab leaders recognized the right for Israel to exist. Leaders from both sides met in August to discuss future territorial plans, but yielded no meaningful resolutions. Very little to no progress was made on improving relations between the two sides, which consequently resulted in Israeli rule of the majority of the territory previously known as Palestine. Throughout the next 20 years, conflicts such as Guerilla warfare, the Yom Kippur War, and murder at the Munich Olympics took place causing tensions to continue to increase. A small amount of progress was made towards peace on March 26, 1979, when Egypt and Israel signed a peace treaty to revert the Sinai Peninsula to Egyptian Sovereignty on the agreeance that Egypt recognize Israel. This was the first peace treaty between Israel and an Arab country, but was sadly met with opposition from the larger Arab community. The First Intifada and Hamas About twenty years after the 6 Days War, the first Intifada, an armed uprising of Palestinians against Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip was initiated 5. This revolt involved the boycott of Israeli products and services as well as the refusal to pay taxes. As a result of the protests, violence was once again ensured between the two sides causing an urgency in the emergence of peace talks. Due in part to the first Intifada, Hamas (Harakat al-muqawama al-islamiya), an Islamic fundamentalist movement engaged in grass-roots organizing and armed resistance and terrorism

26 against Israel 6 was founded by Sheikh Ahmed Yassin. While Hamas did in fact engage in acts of militancy and guerilla warfare against Israel, they also managed to gain support through establishing schools, mosques, and even clinics throughout area of Palestine. The Oslo Accords After the first Intifada, the need for peace talks became clear, leading way to the Oslo Accords. These accords aimed to achieve a peace treaty based on the United Nations Security Council Resolution 242. The result of the negotiations were two signed agreements, the Oslo I accord and the Oslo II Accord. Overall, the agreements caused Israeli acceptance of the PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization) as the representative of the Palestinians. The PLO renounced terrorism and recognized Israel s right to exist in peace and both sides agreed that Palestine would establish governing responsibilities on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Both sides also agreed to hold permanent status talks on the issues regarding borders, refugees, and Jerusalem. While many talks did happen to establish peace, most of the discussions ended in disputes or refusal from one side to cooperate. The Second Intifada On September 28, 2000, Ariel Sharon, a possible candidate for Prime Minister, led a group of 1000 armed guards to the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem in an attempted visit. This event resulted is a series of protest and riots the next day and eventually became so hectic Palestinians were fired upon by Israeli soldiers. This spark of violence can be credited for officially beginning the much more violent Second Intifada.

27 The Palestinian side was seen taking offensive actions through numerous suicide bombings and gunfire while the Israeli side acted through fire from tanks, guns, and air attacks. A high number of casualties from both civilians and combatants was recorded, with around three thousand Palestinians and one thousand Israelis being killed. The conclusion of The Second Intifada can be credited to the Sharm el-sheikh Summit when on February 8, 2005, President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon agreed that Palestine would cease violent acts, if Israel would end its military activity. Afterwards, steps towards peace slowly began again, however, the violence did not stop. On January 26, 2006, a huge swing took place in the Palestinian Parliament when Hamas won a majority of seats in the 2006 election. Potential Topics of Debate: Current State The current state in the Middle East with regards to conflicts in Palestine and Israel is rather troublesome. Neither side feels comfortable with any type of real deal and there is very little trust between the two governments. In the last decade direct talks have been carried out between the two sides with the first taking place in 2010 under the Obama administration. After months of convincing, ex US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton managed to persuade Mr. Netenyahu and Mr. Abbas to re-launch direct negotiations to hopefully resolve the overwhelming number of issues between the two states. Talks began in Washington on September 2, 2010 and lasted only weeks until a deadlock was reached, ending all negotiations bringing the two states back to where they started. Another attempt was made beginning on July 29, 2013 when the ex-united States Secretary of State John Kerry attempted to restart the peace process. Negotiations began again in

28 Washington and aimed to have an agreement between the two states by April 29, Talks actually lasted the full nine months during this attempt but when the deadline was finally expired, negotiations collapsed with the US state department declaring both sides did things that were incredibly unhelpful and once again the two states were where they had initially begun. While both Palestine and Israel have horribly conflicting views and one state refuses to even consider conceding to the other, they continue to agree to peace talks meaning both sides are wanting to resolve conflicts and establish their own states. A small list of issues that were addressed during peace talks and are highly encouraged topic of debate include: mutual recognition and borders, Jerusalem, refugees, and military presence. Mutual Recognition and Borders Multiple attempts have been made to reestablish the borders, the most popular being a twostate solution that would create an independent Palestinian state along with the State of Israel, but progress has been halted as both sides are struggling with mutual distrust and deep disagreements over basic issues. Also, there is simply no consensus on where these borders would be placed. The United Nations already tried in the Security Council s Resolution 242 and that climaxed to causing a war as well as offsetting the borders immensely. Also, Israel has already constructed barriers along their west bank

29 where settlements have been established so if land is not divided according to the barriers that exist many families will end up in the state they do not desire. There is also talks over a possible one state solution that involves creating an Israeli- Palestinian state that would encompass all the present territory of Israel as well as the West Bank and Gaza Strip. However, to do this both sides would have to be able to coexist and operate as one singular state, a feat that currently seems nearly impossible as both sides have no mutual recognition toward the other. If this solution is chosen the first step to take if for each side to recognize the right of the other to exist, then maybe talks and negotiations towards a singular state can begin. Jerusalem Perhaps the most important piece in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is the ownership over the city of Jerusalem. Each side has asserted claims over this city with Jews seeing Jerusalem as the holiest city in the world and Muslims see Jerusalem as the site of Muhammad's night journey to heaven. Both sides value Jerusalem as priceless and having one region declare ownership over the city is simply not an option. In recent news, the current President of the United States, Donald Trump, officially declared Jerusalem the capital of Israel and ordered the U.S. Embassy to move from Tel Aviv to the contested Holy City 7. Trump s declaration was soon taken to the United Nations General Assembly and with a vote of 128 in favor, 9 against, and 35 abstaining 8, the declaration was shut down and declared void. As a result of this power move, countries have been put on edge and issues regarding the ownership of Jerusalem are in need to be resolved. Deciding how to resolve this dispute should be one of the first things to think of when brainstorming resolutions.

30 Refugees Another huge concern is Palestinian refugees. As the region has experienced multiple wars and border shifts in the past, multiple Palestinians have either fled or been expelled from Israel resulting in an overflow of refugees. Many of these people currently live in recognized refugee camps in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the West bank, and the Gaza Strip. Under a 2015 poll, about 5 million refugees were currently living under UNRWA mandate. The Palestinian Arab refugee and displaced population has currently become the second largest in the world after around 11 million were displaced after the Syrian Civil War. They are currently the world s oldest refugee population as they have been misplaced since the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. To make matters, the state of Israel refuses to exercise their legal right to return home due to three main arguments. The first being there is no space in Israel for the refugees to return, second there would be a threat to security overall resulting in conflict, and lastly return of refugees would jeopardize the Jewish nature of the state. While the first claim regarding space in Israel is very false due to most of past Palestinian land remaining uninhabited, there would be a huge increase in tension and conflict if refugees were to move back into Israeli lands. This blocking of regions means the refugees have very little options so deciding what to do with the millions of refugees currently living without a home is an important step in ending conflicts between these two states. Military Presence Lastly, violence continues to spread throughout the land as regular armies, paramilitary groups, and terror cells have been involved in conflict. As a result, many casualties continue to be registered in the military and the civilian ranks. Most of present day fighting involves guerilla