Peace in the Korean Peninsula

Muhammad Muzahidul Islam :
North Korea conducted its first nuclear test in 2006 and the last time when North Korea conducted the nuclear test was in 2017. And in between that time North Korea conducted few nuclear tests. In 2022, record numbers of missile activities were conducted by North Korea. The allegation is that recently, on 18 February 2023, North Korea conducted the missile activities. Does it mean that North Korea has a liberty to conduct its nuclear and missile activities spoiling the harmony, friendship, and posing a threat to international peace and security?
Peace in the Korean peninsula is one of the important issues for the international community. There have been, so far, many initiatives to bring peace in the Korean peninsula. However, those initiatives have, surely, failed to see the face of success. North Korea is one of the key actors for the peace process in Korean peninsula; it’s nuclear and missile activities spoil the peace process and endanger the international community.
News media informed us of the recent missile activities conducted by North Korea on 18 February 2023.According to the Guardian, ‘North Korea has fired a ballistic missile toward the sea off its east coast, South Korea’s joint chiefs of staff said, after Pyongyang warned of a strong response to upcoming US-South Korea military drills.
Japan’s coastguard also said North Korea fired what could be a ballistic missile on Saturday. On Friday, North Korea threatened an “unprecedentedly persistent, strong” response to South Korea and the US gearing up for annual military exercises as part of efforts to fend off Pyongyang’s growing nuclear and missile threats’.
It is not the first time that North Korea conducted such activities. According to paragraph no. 2 of the report S/2022/668of UN Security Council Panel of Experts on DPRK, “The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea continued to develop its capability for the production of nuclear fissile materials at the Yongbyon site. The Panel observed that in March 2022 the country started re-excavation at the entrance to Tunnel 3 (also known as the South Portal) at the Punggye-ri nuclear test site and reconstructed support buildings dismantled in May 2018. The Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency stated on 6 June 2022 that “we have observed indications that one of the audits has been reopened, possibly in preparation for a nuclear test”.
Paragraph no. 3 of the said report also states that ‘The Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea announced in January 2022 that it would “promptly examine the issue of restarting all temporally-suspended activities”, implying a possible resumption of nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) tests. Work at the Punggyeri nuclear test site paves the way for additional nuclear tests for the development of nuclear weapons, as stated as an objective of the Eighth Congress of the Workers’ Party of Korea in January 2021′.
It must be noted that there are important international legal instruments that regulate the nuclear related conducts or activities, for example, the 1963 Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapon Tests in the Atmosphere, in Outer Space and Under Water (Partial Test Ban Treaty, or PTBT), The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). The fact is that North Korea is not a party to either of these legal instruments. UN Security Council also banned or prohibited the missile activities through its several resolutions.
UN Security Council is mandated to check whether a situation poses a threat to international peace and security. If it does, Security Council has the power under UN Charter to order member States to take actions including by imposing sanctions under article 41 of the UN Charter or authorizing the use of force under article 42 of the Charter.
North Korea conducted nuclear activities on several occasions posing a threat to the international peace and security. And those were responded through the UN Security Council resolutions. According to paragraph no. 3 of the annual report S/2022/1001 of the UN Security Council Sanction Committee on DPRK, ‘The Committee is mandated to oversee the implementation, examine and take appropriate action regarding alleged sanctions violations and make recommendations to strengthen the effectiveness of the measures adopted by the Security Council in its resolutions 1718 (2006), 1874 (2009), 2087 (2013), 2094 (2013), 2270 (2016), 2321 (2016), 2356 (2017), 2371 (2017), 2375 (2017) and 2397 (2017)’.
According to the same paragraph of the report ‘The measures include an arms embargo, an embargo relating to nuclear, ballistic missile and other weapons of mass destruction programmes, sectoral bans on coal, minerals and fuel, a ban on the export of luxury goods, a travel ban and/or asset freeze on designated individuals and entities, a ban on the provision of financial services, a ban on specialized teaching and training in disciplines that could contribute to prohibited activities and programmes, and cargo inspection and maritime procedures’.
Finally, I would like to draw a conclusion saying that all member States of the United Nations including North Korea should refrain from the activities that pose a threat to the international peace and security. Nuclear or ballistic missile activities that have been conducted by North Korea may be in violations of the Security Council resolutions mentioned above. It is worth noting that under article 25 of the UN Charter UN Security Council resolutions are legally binding on the member States.

(The writer is Barrister-at-Law, Human Rights Activist and an Advocate at the Supreme Court of Bangladesh).