It has been far too long that the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea has watched its western counterparts fail the international community. Decades of stability in the DPRK is constantly threatened by the military ignorance of other powerful nations much like itself. It is a job the DPRK takes upon itself to make those who have failed aware of said failures and allow them to chance to redeem themselves within the coming committee session.
Keeping in mind the great benefit it has had for the international community, the failures of the United Nations cannot go unaddressed, especially pertaining to peacekeeping efforts being made worldwide. Currently, the United Nations has 100,000 peacekeepers deployed worldwide. These peacekeepers gloat massive budgets that sum up to 1.5 trillion Korean won. It is common protocol of peacekeeping military personnel to bring weapons not only on their person but in caches. These weapons often serve no purpose other than crowd control, as commonly practiced peacekeeping protocol does not involve firing upon civilian nor military targets. The weapons of peacekeepers are some of the most vulnerable firearms in the world. The lack of protocol pertaining to robberies and raids makes peacekeepers almost powerless as insurgents, terrorists, and criminals, steal their firearms and rotate them through illicit trade networks. One of the worst examples is the situation in the Darfur region of Sudan. Peaking at 100,000 in 2014, United Nations peacekeepers have amassed to attempt to quell the madness of the war-torn Darfur region. These peacekeepers brought caches of firearms and ammunition and kept those on their people as well. They often experienced roadside robberies and cache raids. In one instance a peacekeeping force lost over 100,000 rounds of ammunition to a group of insurgents. The constant robberies and raids created a drastic increase in the illicit trade of arms throughout the region, and contributed to the death and destruction that ensued following United Nations involvement.
While the United Nations has been a major factor in the illicit arms trade, the DPRK must also stress that the relaxed gun laws and flawed trade deals of its western counterparts must be acknowledged. Some of the most powerful nations in the world have extremely relaxed laws that allow citizens, sometimes mentally unstable or of criminal nature, to get their hands on a small arm or light weapon with ease. The ease with which citizens can acquire firearms has also created a culture surrounding them. This culture often promotes violence, anarchy and bloodshed, while covering those views up with lies, manipulation, and the creation of a false need for “self defense”. The delegation can not stress enough how detrimental this type of law and culture surrounding firearms can be to areas affected most by the illicit arms trade: conflicted regions. Illicitly traded small and light arms have played a role in over 250 armed conflicts worldwide. That is rooted in the flawed trade agreements of western powers, trading firearms and munitions with unstable and untrustworthy nations, as well as their relaxed gun laws and violent culture surrounding firearms.
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea will always stand with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime(UNODC) and their goal to limit organized crime and the illicit trade of arms on a local and regional level. That policy may have to be reconsidered going forward though if the organization putting those goals forth, and the nations who maintain their membership, do not make the necessary reforms addressing the causes of the problem at hand stated above. The United Nations and its member nations must be the change they want to see take place throughout the world, because as long as the culture, protocol, and laws that contribute to the trade of illicit arms exist, this committee’s resolution will go nowhere.
- Benjamin M. Venus
