Topic: Situation in the Korean Peninsula
Country: Mozambique
Delegate Name: Erik Burbulla
School: Roeper School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All Mozambique position papers GLIMUN 2009 committees
Since the early 1990’s, the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK) has been violating international law, opposing both the United Nations and the international community with its nuclear program. In 1992 the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) led an investigation that found that the DPRK was hiding nuclear activities from the Agency. The pressure added by the IAEA and the Security Council to permit a special investigation into the case caused the DPRK to force the IAEA to withdraw from IAEA guidelines in 1994.
Immediately following, the USA set up an agreement with the DPRK to freeze one of its nuclear sites and to build a new type of nuclear plant. The IAEA was monitoring the plant’s freeze. In 2002 the DPRK told the US that they were starting a nuclear weapons program. Towards the end of 2002 they forced out the IAEA inspectors and started up the previously frozen nuclear plant. Following this, the DPRK exited the Non-Proliferation treaty which it had become a member of in the early 1980’s. To end the DPRK’s nuclear program, talks were started with the six-party group in 2005: US, North Korea, Japan, Russia, South Korea and China. The talks were making progress towards success until the DPRK tested a nuclear weapon, and halted the talks. Soon afterwards, successful attempts were made to restart the six party talks, and the DPRK refroze its nuclear facility. But in 2008 North Korea reopened those facilities and asked the IAEA inspectors to leave. In May of 2009 North Korea conducted another nuclear test. These nuclear tests caused great fear amongst the East Asian community as Japan, the Republic of Korea and China are all in range of a potential North Korean nuclear strike. In response to the DPRK threat the Security Council passed Resolution #1874. The stubbornness of the DPRK in terms of their nuclear program has caused the UN to have to act in a coordinated manner to deal with this urgent problem in order to protect the world from a nuclear threat.
The solutions that are currently in effect are sanctions of the North Korean government. The problem with imposing sanctions to solve a problem is that to be effective, the sanctions imposed must be carefully targeted to affect the regime, its military, and its scientific community, and to not affect civilian population (over a million who have starved to death in the past decade.) Currently travel restrictions are placed on the DPRK’s ten leading nuclear officials, and luxury goods and military sanctions have been put in place against the DPRK. One of the first steps to solve regarding the issues on the Korean Peninsula is to regain the DPRK’s involvement with the IAEA and the NPT. Another possible solution would be to set up a relationship similar to the proposed agreement between Iran and the US to send spent fuel to Russia or to Chine to be reprocessed for electrical power generation purposes.
Mozambique, being a small nation not nearly as developed as the major powers playing key roles in the North Korean problem, fears control of weapons of mass destruction by any nation and is in strong support of the NPT and efforts to end nuclear presence in the world. As an ally of China’s, which itself may have the greatest influence over the DPRK, Mozambique urges the global community to work through China as much as possible to influence the DPRK’s actions. Mozambique has signed a pact to ban all nuclear blasts worldwide as it feels that any testing of nuclear devices is unsafe and irresponsible. Mozambique feels threatened by the presence of nuclear weapons and supports efforts to curb the DPRK’s nuclear ambitions. Mozambique supports efforts to first end North Korean Nuclear and missile testing before talks can be established about the DPRK rejoining the NPT and possible spent fuel solutions.
