USFK has come out now and put it quite clearly that once operational control is handed over USFK will not be responsible for maintaining the armistice agreement:

The U.S. Forces Korea on Tuesday said the UN forces commander here €œcannot be responsible for maintenance of the Armistice Agreement and potential crisis escalation once he has no further control of South Korean forces after their full operational control has been handed over to Seoul. USFK Commander Gen. Burwell Bells statement came in a press release aimed at clarifying reports on Bells recent remarks about the changing role of UN Command.

It was Bells first official statement of his position that the largely nominal UN forces, which are headed by the USFK chief, will no longer be responsible for maintaining the armistice treaty once Combined Forces Command is dismantled. The remarks as good as say the UNC’s duty of maintaining the armistice and dealing with violations will be left to South Korea.

General Bell felt the need to respond to media reports that falsely claimed that the General was trying to keep command of South Korean forces after the operational control hand over with his UN title.  The CFC will no longer exist which has been discussed at length before.  This is just nothing more than people in South Korean government doing everything possible to delay the inevitable.

In the Stars and Stripes they have an interesting article up about the neutral nations committee from the UN that investigates and reports violations of the cease fire agreement on both sides of the DMZ:

Maj. Gen. Sture Theolin of Sweden and Maj. Gen. Gerhad Bruegger, Switzerland, meet weekly. Polish delegate Brig. Gen. Anatol Czaban joins the meetings a few times each year. The commission reports to the senior member of the Military Armistice Commission.

The NNSCs mission is to “supervise, observe, inspect and investigate military activities outside the Demilitarized Zone and to ensure that neither side violates the armistice by introducing or reinforcing military personnel and materiel for resumed fighting, Theolin said during a news conference prior to the meeting late Tuesday afternoon.

Since the commission hasnt been allowed for decades to inspect ports for any military build-up, officials admitted their presence is largely symbolic.

But they represent the value of the international community, Bruegger said.

The UN is willing to sends millions upon millions of unaccounted for dollars to North Korea while they can’t even inspect a port in accordance with the armistice agreement in return?  If this isn’t a perfect example of the irrelevance of the UN I don’t know what is.  The “value of the international community”?  What the heck is that?  Does he mean kind of like the value of the international community in Lebanon?  That has worked out great.

Wait there is more:

Most likely, the year of 2006 will not be remembered as a good year for reconciliation and cooperation on the peninsula, Theolin told a gathering of journalists. The Norths missile tests in July and the nuclear event in October cast shadows into an uncertain future.

You don’t say?

And decisions made in ongoing discussions on the future role of the U.N. Command will inevitably affect also the NNSC, Theolin said.

He declined to speculate what changes could be in store for the commission.Theolin added that the armistice is of fundamental relevance, that has allowed for a blossoming South Korean democracy and regional security and stability.

“It is important to recognize that although (North Korea) tries to undermine the NNSC and other institutions of the armistice, claiming that they no longer exist, North Korea continues to respect the cease-fire itself, he said.

Respect the cease-fire?  The UN most be using the Palestinian definition of a cease fire where one side stops firing while the other one continues to take pot shots.  How can the UN claim North Korea respects the cease fire when North Korea murdered 6 six South Korean sailors and wounded 18 others in a planned ambush to draw attention away from South Korea’s amazing 2002 World Cup run?  Or how about the 1996 spy submarine incident that claimed the lives 13 ROK Army soldiers and 4 civilians?  There has been numerous clashes in recent years in the West Sea and the DMZ due to North Korean violations of the Military Demarcation Line.  I can keep playing this game, but I think everyone has got the point, North Korea isn’t abiding by the cease fire resolution and the UN is making excuses for another dictator; not that it isn’t anything new.