DPRK urge to close 'UN Command' on Peninsula

UNITED NATIONS - The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Tuesday urged to close down the "UN Command" on the Korean Peninsula, saying it serves the "US military strategy" by "abusing the name of the United Nations."

The statement came as Pak Kil Yon, vice minister of foreign affairs of the DPRK, was addressing the General Debate of the UN General Assembly, a week-long event which ended here Tuesday.  

"60 years have passed since the end of the gunfire of fierce 3- year-long war and the signing of the Armistice Agreement in the Korean peninsula in the last century," he said. "Yet, a mechanism that guarantees peace fails to be in place, as a result of which the unstable situation of neither war nor peace continues on the Korean peninsula."

Pak said "the'United Nations Command,' the outdated legacy of the Korean War, continues to serve the U.S. military strategy by abusing the name of the United Nations."

The United Nations Command is the headquarters for the multinational military forces supporting the Republic of Korea (ROK) during and after the Korean War in the 1950s.

The Korean War came to a cease-fire on July 27, 1953, when the Armistice Agreement was signed in Panmunjom on the border shared by the DPRK and ROK. But the war is not officially over because no peace treaty has ever been signed.

"The 'UN Command,' which has nothing to do with the United Nations, is ceaselessly conducting military actions threatening the Korean peninsula and its surrounding area in the name of the UN under the baton of the US," Pak said.

He pointed out that the repeated vicious cycle of mounting tension on the Korean peninsula has its roots in the hostile policy of the U.S. on the DPRK.

"The United States designated the DPRK with different ideology and system as its enemy from the very first day of its foundation and has been refusing to recognize its sovereignty and imposing all sorts of sanctions, pressures and military threats on the DPRK for more than half a century," he said.

Pak reaffirmed Pyongyang's commitment to put an end to the tension on the Korean peninsula "by peaceful means through dialogue and negotiations," and contribute to ensuring peace and security in the region.

The DPRK official also pointed out the only way to ensure lasting peace on the Korean peninsula is to "bring the U.S. hostile policy to an end."

"The United States should abolish its hostile policy by beginning from, among other things, respecting the sovereignty of the DPRK, replacing the Armistice Agreement with a peace mechanism dismantling the 'UN Command' with no further delay and lifting all sanctions and military threats," he said.