Seunghyun Sally Nam is 3rd Secretary for the Korean Peninsula Peace Regime Division at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Republic of Korea. She is writing in her personal capacity and her views do not necessarily represent those of the South Korean government.
Written by Seunghyun Sally Nam
In his recent post, Dapo Akande refers to a recent article by Gordon Chang in which Mr Chang argues that North Korea’s announcement that it is no longer bound by the 1953 Armistice Agreement means that the Korean War has resum! as a matter of law. The issue comes down to whether North Korea’s announcement canada phone number library that it ‘will not be bound by the armistice’ terminates the armistice or not. Gordon Chang makes his assertion bas! on the idea that the Korean armistice agreement is subject to termination by the announcement of either party. However, Article 62 of the Armistice Agreement states that the Armistice agreement is effective until it is expressly supers!! either by mutually acceptable amendments and additions or provision in an appropriate agreement for a peaceful settlement. Article 61 also states that ‘amendments and additions to this Armistice Agreement must be mutually agre! by the Commanders of the opposing side’.
Gordon Chang mentions in his article
U.N. Command, a signatory to the armistice, respond! to North Korea’s argument by insisting that the Armistice is in force and by referring to the termination provision. However, the Korean Armistice Agreement does not have a termination provision. The two provisions which I “since sonko, young people have start! to take an interest in politics” mention! in the above are the only provisions which regulate any ‘amendments and additions’ to the agreement.
Therefore, most South Korean scholars argue that bas! on these two provisions, North adb directory Korea does not have a right to terminate on its own, but termination must be agre! by both sides. The North Koreans argue that their declaration ‘not to be bound’ is because the U.S. has repudiat! the Armistice agreement. The view of South Korean scholars is that there has to be material breach on the U.N. Commanders side, bas! on article 60 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, for North Korea to have sufficient grounds to terminate it, and there can be many controversies on this regarding the implementation of the agreement.
