The Institute for Disarmament and Peace (IDP) of the DPRK Foreign Ministry on November 13 issued the following press statement “The dissolution of ‘UN Command’ is an essential requirement for preventing the outbreak of a new war and defending peace and security on the Korean peninsula”:

The U.S. and the south Korean puppet military gangsters are going to hold the first meeting of defense authorities of south Korean puppets and member states of the “UN Command” in the region of south Korean puppets on November 14.

This confab, to be held under the manipulation of the U.S. Secretary of Defense, will reportedly adopt a “joint declaration” showing the will of “UN Command” member states to cope with contingency on the Korean peninsula.

The “UN Command”, which should have been dissolved decades ago, is now revealing its aggressive nature again, seeking to cook up a declaration of confrontation simulating a second Korean war. This shows that the security terrain of the Korean peninsula is being more definitely turned into a war-oriented structure by the U.S. and its followers.

The Institute for Disarmament and Peace of the DPRK Foreign Ministry clarifies the following stand, considering it necessary to draw attention of the international community to the ghostly entity of “UN Command” aggravating the situation of the Korean peninsula and the illegality of its activities:

First of all, the “UN Command” is an illegal war mechanism fabricated by the U.S. to send more aggression troops to the Korean front during the Korean War in the 1950s.

The U.S. instigated the Syngman Rhee puppet regime to launch an all-out armed invasion of the DPRK on June 25, 1950. And it cooked up the UN Security Council “resolution” 82, which branded the DPRK as an “aggressor”, availing itself of the former Soviet Union’s absence at the UNSC meetings taken in protest against the Taiwan authorities’ exercise of China’s representative right at the UN.

Then, it cooked up in succession the UNSC “resolution” 83 “recommending the UN member states to offer necessary aid to the ‘Republic of Korea’” and the UNSC “resolution” 84 calling for “attaching the armed forces of satellite states to the U.S.-led combined forces command and using the UN flag”.

In this regard, on June 29 and July 6, 1950, the government of the Soviet Union sent to the UNSC its messages stressing that any resolutions adopted without approval of the Soviet Union and China, permanent member states of the UNSC, contrary to the UN Charter, would not be effective.

All the facts show that the U.S. introduced its followers into the Korean front by abusing the name of the UN, pursuant to its ulterior intention to “legalize” the war of aggression against the DPRK.

Second, the “UN Command” is no more than a U.S. tool for confrontation as it has nothing to do with the UN.

In fact, the “UN Command” came to appear since the U.S. arbitrarily changed the name of the U.S.-led “Combined Forces Command” into the “UN Command” in its report on the activities of the “Combined Forces Command” submitted to the UNSC on July 25, 1950.

The UNSC meeting on January 31, 1951, after the Soviet Union’s re-participation in the UNSC activities, adopted the resolution 90 on removing the agenda “complaint against aggression on the ‘Republic of Korea’” put by the U.S. on June 25, 1950. This is self-acknowledgement of the UN that the mobilization of multinational forces in the Korean War was wrong.

On June 24, 1994, UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros Ghali acknowledged that the Combined Forces Command was not established as an appendage under the UNSC control and it is under the control of the U.S.

On December 21, 1998, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, too, stated that none of his predecessors had allowed any country to connect the name of the UN with the armed forces dispatched to the Korean War by the U.S. or its command. After that several UN officials repeatedly stressed that the UN Command is neither an entity of the United Nations, nor is it under the direction or supervision of the UN.

This being a hard fact, the U.S. has abused the signboard of the “UN Command” for its aggression forces. It is a wanton violation of international laws including the UN Charter and a shameless insult to all the UN member states.

Third, the “UN Command” is an illegal organization which should have been dissolved decades ago in accordance with UN General Assembly resolutions.

The plenary meeting of the 30 th session of the UN General Assembly on November 18, 1975 simultaneously adopted two resolutions on disbanding the “UN Command” and withdrawing the U.S. forces, in reflection of the just demand of the DPRK and the broad international community for the immediate withdrawal of the U.S. occupation troops from the region of south Korean puppets.

Resolution 3390(xxx)B, sponsored by progressive UN member states, calls for unconditional and immediate dissolution of the “UN Command” and withdrawal of all foreign troops from the puppet region. Resolution 3390(xxx)A, proposed by the U.S., states that the “UN Command” shall be disbanded from January 1, 1976 and the U.S. forces shall be withdrawn from the puppet region if another mechanism is established to maintain the Armistice Agreement.

At that time, the U.S. expressed its readiness for conditional dissolution of the “UN Command” and pullout of the U.S. forces, as a last resort to avoid the immediate dissolution of the “UN Command”. Anyhow, this evidently shows that they themselves recognized the “UN Command” as an entity to be disbanded.

Nevertheless, the “UN Command” has persisted for several decades and is now reviving as a U.S.-led multinational war instrument. Such are grave developments of the situation endangering the security in the Asia-Pacific region including the Korean peninsula.

Moreover, the U.S. and the south Korean puppets are staging large-scale joint military drills of aggressive nature while deploying nuclear strategic assets on the Korean peninsula one after another. To coincide with this, the defense authorities of member states of the “UN Command”, a war tool for aggression, seek to discuss a joint counter-action scenario which made the contingency on the Korean peninsula a fait accompli. This is a dangerous scheme to ignite a new war of aggression against the DPRK.

The confab of defense authorities of the “UN Command” member states, to be held by the U.S. and its vassal forces, clearly shows that the U.S. has never changed in its aggressive nature to occupy the whole of the Korean peninsula by force of arms and has already started to create actual conditions for igniting a second Korean war.

The international community should heighten vigilance against the U.S. and its vassal forces’ military moves for bringing a new war cloud to the Korean peninsula and the region and resolutely denounce and reject them to save the world from the holocaust of a thermonuclear war.

As in the past, the DPRK will fulfill its responsible mission in the future, too, to drive out the foreign forces and ensure lasting peace and stability on the Korean peninsula and in the region.

The illegal and aggressive “UN Command” should be dissolved without further delay, and this is an essential prerequisite for restoring the authority and impartiality of the UN and promoting peace and stability on the Korean peninsula.