27 July 2023. The Korean Peace Appeal Campaign hosted an international symposium in Seoul city at the International Conference Hall of Seoul Global Center on “From Armistice to Peace: 70th Year of the Korean War Armistice”. It was held in collaboration with the Forum on Peace and Diplomacy of the National Assembly and the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (GPPAC).
During the symposium’s opening session, one of the international participants, Mr. Enkhsaikhan JARGALSAIKHAN, Chairman of Blue Banner, Former Diplomat of Mongolia to the UN, gave a short speech. Mr. Enkhsaikhan Jargalsaikhan is an international lawyer and diplomat who has served in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mongolia as Mongolia’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations. Here is below is his remarkable full speech.
This symposium, marking the anniversary of the Korean War armistice, is a very timely event in discussing where the Peninsula is after seven decades of the armistice agreement, where it should go from here, and what strategy needs to be taken to strengthen peace in the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia. Today, the overall situation in the region is very tense and fraught with possible unintended consequences for peace and security. Therefore, concrete measures to lower the tension and peace-building are needed. Therefore, this symposium provides an important platform for civil society organizations, experts, and scholars to share their views on how to practically move from the armistice to stable peace and reunification.
Blue Banner is part of the GPPAC’s (Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict) Northeast Asian network. Its aim is to promote nuclear non-proliferation and trust in the region by denuclearizing the Peninsula and establishing an NEA-NWFZ. These would serve the interests of all. Enjoying good relations with both Koreas, a traditional friendship with North Korea, and a comprehensive partnership with South Korea, Mongolia tries to play trust-and bridge-building roles which are vital for meaningful regional dialogue and cooperation. To that end, Mongolia is promoting a 1.5-track Ulaanbaatar dialogue in the region to focus on the soft security and common infrastructure development issues, while GPPAC/NEP is promoting a track 2 dialogue known as Ulaanbaatar process that is intended to support the 1.5 track processes as well as strengthen the role and voice of regional CSOs in these. That would benefit not only the Korean people but the Northeast Asian region and well beyond it. These processes make Mongolia a hub for third parties, states, as well as NGOs in supporting regional confidence and peace-building and turning the armistice agreement into a stable peace. I hope that today’s symposium would be helpful in all these. Wishing all the participants a productive meeting.
Here are some photos of the symposium:
Photo credits: Bereket Alemayehu
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