Tag: United Nations

The UNCLOS ruling was expected to rule in favor of the Philippines, but I think no one expected it to be this much of harsh rebuke against China:

An international tribunal in The Hague delivered a sweeping rebuke on Tuesday of China’s behavior in the South China Sea, including its construction of artificial islands, and found that its expansive claim to sovereignty over the waters had no legal basis.

The landmark case, brought by the Philippines, was seen as an important crossroads in China’s rise as a global power and in its rivalry with the United States, and it could force Beijing to reconsider its assertive tactics in the region or risk being labeled an international outlaw. It was the first time the Chinese government had been summoned before the international justice system.

In its most significant finding, the tribunal rejected China’s argument that it enjoys historic rights over most of the South China Sea. That could give the governments of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam more leverage in their own maritime disputes with Beijing.

The tribunal also said that China had violated international law by causing “irreparable harm” to the marine environment, endangering Philippine ships and interfering with Philippine fishing and oil exploration.

“It’s an overwhelming victory. We won on every significant point,” said the Philippines’ chief counsel in the case, Paul S. Reichler.

But while the decision is legally binding, there is no mechanism for enforcing it, and China, which refused to participate in the tribunal’s proceedings, reiterated on Tuesday that it would not abide by it.

Speaking at a meeting with European leaders, President Xi Jinping was defiant, reasserting China’s claim to sovereignty over the South China Sea “since ancient times,” the state-run People’s Daily reported. His remarks echoed a statement from the Foreign Ministry. The tribunal’s decision “is invalid and has no binding force,” the ministry said. “China does not accept or recognize it.”  [NY Times]

You can read much more at the link, but first of all as the court pointed out Chinese historical claims to the SCS are ridiculous.  Should the Mongolians put in a claim for the parts of China and central Asia they once controlled?  Maybe the Koreans should put in a claim to the parts of northeast China they once controlled as well?

It will be interesting though to see what China does in response.  Considering how much nationalism the communist regime has put into their South China Sea claims they will have to do something.  The easiest thing would be to declare an ADIZ; the most provocative would be to start land reclamation at the Scarborough Shoal which they stole from the Philippines and the international court confirmed.  The Scarborough Shoal is just off the coast of the Philippines and building a base there would put potential US assets based in the Philippines at risk.

So what does the US do in response?  I can’t imagine anyone wants a war over this and the Chinese know this so what is to stop them from moving forward with their consolidation of the SCS?  There needs to be an asymmetric response and the recent approval to sell US weapons to Vietnam is a perfect example.  Determining weapons that could be sold to other regional countries in response to Chinese provocations could be a strategy to think about.

I have always wondered why the environmentalists are not involved in this?  The international court confirmed the Chinese are destroying a fragile eco-system with their scorched earth fishing and dredging in the SCS.  Where is Sea Shepherd and Greenpeace?  This is actually an area I would support them protesting instead of non-endangered whales.  The environmentalists could bring international attention and embarrassment against what the Chinese are doing in the SCS.

Anyone else have any ideas and how the international community should respond to China’s now confirmed illegal territorial grab in the South China Sea?

Considering the few friends Pyongyang has this is a big diplomatic win by South Korea by getting Uganda to enforce the United Nations sanctions against North Korea:

Uganda has told North Korean military and police personnel stationed there to go home, according to multiple diplomatic sources.

One diplomatic source told the JoongAng Ilbo that President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda asked about 10 North Korean military training officials and another group of 40 police personnel stationed there to leave the country. No deadline was specified by the source.

Another source said Museveni had diplomatically told the North Koreans that his government no longer required their aid and cooperation in the field of national security and military strategy. Both sources asked not to be named, given the classified nature of the information.

If true, Museveni’s decision to drive North Koreans out of his country comes just a week after he promised visiting South Korean President Park Geun-hye that he would honor UN Security Council resolutions on North Korea approved in March, which bars Pyongyang from having any military links with foreign countries, including weapons trade and training deals. The South Korean government estimates about 50 North Korean military and police training officials were staying in Uganda as of February 2016.   [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link.

For anyone wondering how the regime continues to supply itself with military components despite the UN’s shipping sanctions and China’s apparent motivation to actually enforce them, this may be the answer:

Among the North Korea-linked ships still on the U.N. blacklist, some are making fresh maneuvers that appear aimed at camouflaging their identities. The North Korean vessel the Dawnlight, which the U.S. has designated since last year, was flagged to Mongolia. In January it was renamed the Firstgleam and acquired by Sinotug Shipping Limited, a company set up just this past September in the Marshall Islands.

 

The U.N., having apparently missed the update, blacklisted this ship on March 2 under its old name of Dawnlight. A day later, despite a provision calling for member states to deflag North Korean ships, the Firstgleam was reflagged to Tanzania, according to Lloyds. As of this week, the ship, which the U.N. and U.S.-sanctions lists still refer to as the Mongolia-flagged Dawnlight, was signaling a position close to Japan. [Wall Street Journal]

One Free Korea has a really good read over at his site on this topic.  It seems to me that the shipping sanctions are working to an extent, but they need to be tightened to ensure military components are not getting into North Korea to assist their missile and nuclear programs.

For those that enjoy reading Korean War history, below I have consolidated the links to my on going series of Heroes of the Korean War. The Korean War is filled with many great heroes, but due to little public interest in the war, the stories of their heroics has largely gone unnoticed. Here at the ROK Drop the leadership, bravery, and sacrifices of the brave servicemembers who fought in the Korean War does not go unnoticed. I hope through my on going series to educate readers about these heroes.  So take the time and read the stories of these brave men who served so notably during the Korean War:

1950:
Lieutenant Colonel Charles B. Smith (USA), Commander 1st Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, Taskforce Smith Battle

Major General William Dean (USA), Commander 24th Infantry Division, Battle of Taejon

Corporal Mitchell Red Cloud Jr. (USA), Squad Leader 2-19 Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division, Battle of the Chongchon River

Captain Charles M. Bussey (USA), Commander 77th Engineer Combat Company, Firefight at Yechon

General Tahsin Yazici (Turkey), Commander 1st Turkish Brigade, Battle of Kunu-ri

Ensign Jesse L. Brown (USA), US Navy 32nd Fighter Squadron, Chosin Reservoir

Lieutenant Colonel William W. Harris (USA), Commander 65th Infantry Regiment, Chosin Reservoir

Lieutenant Colonel Russell Blaisdell (USA), Chaplain US Air Force, Operation Kiddy Car Airlift

1951:

Captain Lewis L. Millett (USA), Commander E Co. 27th Infantry Regiment, Battle of Bayonet Hill.

Colonel Paul Freeman (USA), Commander 23rd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division, Battle of Chipyong-ni

Lieutenant Colonel Ralph Monclar (France), Commander French Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division, Battle of Chipyong-ni

Lieutenant Colonel James P. Carne (UK), Commander Gloucestershire Battalion, Battle of the Imjim x

Lieutenant Colonel J.R. Stone (Canada), Commander Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, Battle of the Kapyong

Lieutenant Colonel Dionisio Ojeda (Philippines), Commander Philippines Expeditionary Force To Korea (PEFTOK), Battle of the Yultong

First Sergeant Benjamin Wilson (USA), First Sergeant Company I, 3d Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division, Battle of Hell Hill

Private First Class Anthony T. Kaho’ohanohano (USA), 17th Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division, Battle of Chup’a-ri

1952:
Brigadier General Haydon Boatner (USA), Commander Geoje POW Camp

Colonel Young-oak Kim (USA), Commander 1-31 Infantry Regiment, First Asian-American Battalion Commander

1953:
Lieutenant Colonel George Koumanakos (Greece), Commander Greek Battalion, Battle of Outpost Harry

Post-Korean War:

Lieutenant General Subayya Kadenera Thimayya (India), Commander of the Neutral Nations Repatriation Commission (NNRC), Operation Big Switch

Call me skeptical that the Chinese will actually inspect all cargo cross their border into North Korea and enforce these sanctions:

The United States presented a draft resolution on North Korea to the United Nations Security Council on Thursday. The resolution, which would tighten sanctions on Pyongyang, represents the culmination of nearly two months of negotiations between the United States and China, beginning just after North Korea’s nuclear test on January 6. As The Diplomat reported previously, final agreement on the resolution came during Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s trip to Washington, D.C. this week, where he met with Secretary of State John Kerry, National Security Advisor Susan Rice, and President Barack Obama.

Reuters has details on the new draft, which is expected to go to a vote this weekend. Notably, the new draft would require mandatory inspections of all cargo en route to or from North Korea; ban all military sales to Pyongyang (including both weapons and items with dual-use potential); and ban the sale of aviation or rocket fuel to North Korea.

However, David Feith, writing in an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal, points out that Beijing’s agreeing to the sanctions doesn’t necessarily mean much. After all, China doesn’t have a good track record of actually enforcing UN sanctions.  [The Diplomat]

You can read more at the link.

The ROK government is making a good point in regards to why North Korea is allowed to remain a member of the United Nations when it does not comply with any of the UN resolutions leveled against the country?  I doubt it will go any where, but it is still worth bringing up:

South Korea has officially questioned North Korea’s qualification as a member of the United Nations during a U.N. meeting this week, citing Pyongyang’s repeated violations of U.N. Security Council resolutions.

South Korea’s U.N. ambassador, Oh Joon, raised the question during a meeting Monday of the U.N. Security Council, saying the North pledged to accept and to uphold the purposes and principles of the U.N. as laid out in its charter when it joined the U.N. in 1991, together with South Korea.

“Twenty-five years ago, the DPRK solemnly pledged to comply with the obligations of the U.N. Charter as a new member, but during the past decade, the DPRK has persistently violated all Security Council resolutions on the DPRK,” Oh said, according to video footage of the meeting. He used the initials for North Korea’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

“This is not only a direct challenge to the authority of the Security Council, but also a contradiction to both the letter and spirit of the pledge it made. This breach of obligation by the DPRK calls into question its qualification as a member of the United Nations,” he said.

It was the first time the South has taken issue with the North’s U.N. membership.  [Yonhap via One Free Korea]

You can read more at the link as well as over at One Free Korea.

Until the Chinese government changes its mind that a nuclear North Korea is a less a threat than a destabilized North Korea they are going to continue to stop harsh sanctions against the Kim regime.  This ultimately only encourages the Kim regime to advance their nuclear and missile programs and commit further provocations:

Apart from the more hard-line thinkers in Washington, virtually no one wants to have to deal with what might happen if concerted international action were to actually destabilize Kim Jong Un’s regime, however strongly they may feel about its human rights record, authoritarian government and militantly defiant attitude toward Washington, Tokyo, Seoul and anyone else it sees as a threat.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry ran into that wall this week during talks in Beijing with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. After meeting for more than four hours Wednesday, Kerry expressed his frustration with what the United States sees as China’s failure to do more to rein in Pyongyang, noting that “more significant and impactful sanctions were put in place against Iran, which did not have a nuclear weapon than against North Korea, which does.”

“All nations, particularly those who seek a global leadership role, or have a global leadership role, have a responsibility to deal with this threat,” Kerry said.

In response, Wang said China, which is North Korea’s most important ally, chief trading partner and a key source of economic assistance, agreed on the need for a new U.N. resolution. But he suggested Beijing would not support new penalties even though it condemned the Jan. 6 test.

“Sanctions are not an end in themselves,” Wang said bluntly. “The new resolution should not provoke new tension in the situation, still less destabilize the Korean Peninsula.”  [Associated Press]

You can read more at the link.

Sour note lifted in kimchi war as North Korea gets taste of victory at UN: https://t.co/DcBFL5aXcr via @GuardianNK

— NK NEWS (@nknewsorg) November 24, 2015

If you haven’t been to the UN Cemetery in Busan it is definitely worth checking out as it is the only cemetery with UN servicemembers buried together:

Hundreds of Korean War veterans around the world offered a moment of silence on Wednesday, turning to face the direction of Busan where the fallen U.N. soldiers killed during the war are buried.

In the South Korean port city, 40 veterans from 11 countries including the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Turkey attended the ceremony that began at 11 a.m. in the United Nations Memorial Cemetery (UNMCK).

The Turn Toward Busan ceremony, arranged by the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs, was simultaneously observed in Canada, New Zealand and the Philippines. The ceremony was held in some 40 cities of the 21 nations that fought together to safeguard freedom decades ago.

The cemetery is the only place in the world where fallen U.N. servicemen are buried. According to the ministry, 40,670 servicemen of the 21 U.N. allied nations were killed during the conflict, with 104,280 wounded and 4,116 missing. A total of 23,000 U.N. servicemen were laid to rest at UNMCK. [Korea Times]

You can read the rest at the link.

It is going to be interesting to see how this plays out.  The Chinese have so much invested in these South China Sea islands I just don’t see them backing down even if the UN court rules against them.  The domestic political blowback would be too much with accusations of the Chinese government backing down to foreigners.  The UN court though could legitimize the freedom of navigation patrols which are currently being executed by the US Navy.  The ruling is supposed to be released sometime in 2016:

The Hague (AFP) – An international tribunal ruled Thursday it had the power to hear a case brought by the Philippines over disputed islands in the South China Sea, in a move likely to trigger fury in Beijing.

Manila has insisted the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, which the Philippines and China have both ratified, should be used to resolve the bitter territorial row over isolated reefs and islets, which has triggered growing international alarm.

But China has refused to participate in the proceedings, arguing the Permanent Court of Arbitration — which is more than a century old and based in The Hague — had no jurisdiction over the case.

“Reviewing the claims submitted by the Philippines, the tribunal has rejected the argument” by China that the “dispute is actually about sovereignty over the islands in the South China Sea and therefore beyond the tribunal’s jurisdiction,” the court said in a statement.

Instead, the court ruled the case reflects “disputes between the two states concerning the interpretation or application of the Convention” — something which falls within its remit.

China insists it has sovereign rights to nearly all of the South China Sea, a strategic waterway through which about a third of all the world’s traded oil passes.

The disputed waters — claimed in part by Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Brunei — have also become the stage for a tussle for regional dominance between Beijing and Washington, the world’s two largest economic and military powers.

Following a stand-off between Chinese ships and the weak Filipino Navy in 2012, China took control of a rich fishing ground called Scarborough Shoal that is within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone.  [Associated Press]

You can read the rest at the link.