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Statements Archive |
LAST UPDATE October
16, 2006 |
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| October 13, 2006 |
GPPAC Northeast Asia Statement: Condemning the
DPRK's Nuclear Testing, Northeast Asian Citizens Call for Immediate Talks for
Peace |
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We, citizens of Northeast Asia, are
gravely concerned at the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)'s announcement
that it conducted a nuclear test on October 9, 2006. We strongly condemn the test.
At the same time it is clear that hostile policies and the "axis of evil" rhetoric
of the United States were counterproductive and only exacerbated tension. We need
to strengthen our cooperative efforts in the region to prevent armed confrontation
and chain reactions of nuclearization and militarization in Northeast Asia. We
support the efforts of those governments and civil society members who are trying
to find a solution based on dialog and negotiation. We commit ourselves to unite
and work to establish a nuclear-weapon-free zone and a lasting peace mechanism
in Northeast Asia, through dismantling the remaining Cold War structure, which
has constituted a root cause of the present crisis.
We are united in calling for the following:
- We call on the DPRK not to conduct any further nuclear tests, to take prompt action towards the complete abandonment of nuclear weapons programs, and to return to the Six-Party Talks and any other multilateral and bilateral talks for denuclearization.
- We call on all the related governments, including in particular the US, Republic of Korea (ROK), Japan, China, and Russia to reconvene immediately the Six-Party Talks or any other dialog format to resolve this crisis peacefully. In particular, we urge the US to respond to the DPRK's call for bilateral talks between the two nations. The talks should be based on the comprehensive framework provided by the Six-Party Joint Statement of September 2005, in which the DPRK committed to abandon its nuclear weapons programs, and the US, Japan and others committed to guarantee the DPRK's security and work towards the normalization of diplomatic relations and economic cooperation. Governments must refrain from any military or other reckless reactions that could worsen the situation.
- We urge the members of the United Nations Security Council not to allow any kind of military action or other counter-productive measures that might lead to a humanitarian crisis or escalate tensions on the Korean Peninsula. Economic sanctions so far have not brought about a positive change in the nuclear crisis in the DPRK and have only had negative consequences for the humanitarian situation. Therefore, we strongly urge the UN to be mindful of the ineffectiveness of such measures to date, before imposing economic and other types of sanctions on the DPRK. The UN Secretary-General and the UN officials in political and disarmament affairs are encouraged to promote talks among the concerned parties.
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We urge the mass media and other civil society sectors to refrain from any behavior that promotes hostile sentiments or violence among citizens in the region. Instead, we urge focus on perspectives such as civil efforts for peaceful settlement, the humanitarian situation in the DPRK, and the negative consequences of any further nuclearization or militarization of Northeast Asia.
October 13, 2006
Signed by:
AU Pak Kuen (Hong Kong Professional Teachers' Union, Hong Kong)
Jau-hwa CHEN (Soochow University, Taipei)
Marx CHEN (Alliance for Peace Homeland, Taipei)
ENKHSAIKHAN Jargalsaikhan (Blue Banner, Ulaanbaatar)
Vadim GAPONENKO (Center For International Studies, Maritime State University,
Vladivostok)
JUNG Gyung Lan (Women Making Peace, Seoul)
KAWASAKI Akira (Peace Boat, Tokyo)
Viktor KONONOV (Charitable non-profit organization 'Club 'Raft', Vladivostok)
Viktor KORSKOV (International Public Institute for Culture of Peace, Vladivostok)
LEE Jae Young (Korea Anabaptist Center, Seoul)
Kathy MATSUI (Seisen University, Tokyo)
MUSHAKOJI Kinhide (International Movement Against Alll Forms of Discrimination
and Racism, Tokyo)
NIU Qiang (People's Association for Peace and Disarmament, Beijing)
SASAMOTO Jun (Japanese Lawyers International Solidarity Association, Tokyo)
Lauren SAUER (Korean Anabaptist Center, Seoul)
SHEN Dingli (Center for American Studies, Fudan University, Shanghai)
Olga YACUCENKO (Russian Peace Fund, Primorskiy Regional Branch, Vladivostok)
Philip YANG (National Taiwan University, Taipei)
YOSHIOKA Tatsuya (GPPAC Northeast Asia Regional Initiator, Tokyo)
*The above is the initial list as of October 13, 2006.
*Affiliation in bracket is for identification purpose only.
*This statement was drafted and facilitated in the Northeast Asian network of
Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (GPPAC-NEA).
Further information: KAWASAKI Akira (Peace Boat/GPPAC-NEA Secretariat)
Tel:+81-3-3363-7561/Fax:+81-3-3363-7562 |
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| October 10, 2006 |
GPPAC-ISG Emergency Statement Calling for a Peaceful
Resolution of the Korean Peninsula Nuclear Crisis |
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On the morning of 9 October, the DPRK
(North Korea) announced that it had carried out a nuclear test.
As the Global Partnership to Prevent Armed Conflict (GPPAC), the world-wide civil
society-led network to build a new international consensus on peacebuilding and
the prevention of violent conflict, we strongly protest such destabilizing and
provocative acts.
Nuclear tests threaten the lives of inhabitants of surrounding areas and the DPRKfs
possession of nuclear weapons threatens the Korean Peninsula, Japan, East Asia
and the entire world. Such testing is also in violation of the Non-Proliferation
Treaty.
The DPRK must refrain from any nuclear testing and development of nuclear weapons,
and totally abandon its nuclear weapons programme. At the same time, we also call
for abandoning approaches which are antagonistic, lack dialogue, and involve threats
of use of force and resort to unilateral diplomatic pressure.
As a result of the extant cold war structures in the region, military pressure
only exacerbates crisis and puts the Korean Peninsula at high risk of an armed
conflict.
We call upon the governments of the US, China, South Korea, Japan and Russia to
reopen the Six-Party Talks, based on the comprehensive structure outlined in the
Six-Party Joint Declaration of September last year. The declaration calls on the
DPRK to abandon its nuclear programme and for Japan and the US to then guarantee
the DPRKfs security and work towards the normalisation of diplomatic relations
and economic cooperation. We also seek strong support from the UN Secretary-General,
the Security Council, and all governments to use all available channels to work
towards reopening the Six-Party Talks.
Recognising that international agreements concluding that the nuclear weapon states must undertake solemn nuclear disarmament negotiations are not being observed, we call for concrete action on the part of all these states to work towards achieving nuclear disarmament.
We also strongly oppose any moves by neighbouring countries to use the DPRKfs claimed nuclear test as an excuse to proceed with plans for developing their own nuclear capabilities, which would violate the NPT and pose a grave risk to regional and global security.
As civil society organisations participating in the GPPAC network, we declare our solidarity with@our counterparts in the region and, in cooperation with Northeast Asian civil society, pledge to work together with the UN and national governments to create and strengthen a framework to prevent armed conflict in the Korean Peninsula and to find a peaceful solution to the nuclear crisis.
10 October 2006
This statement is signed by the international secretariat and regional
representatives of GPPAC. |
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