CHAIR REPORT

Korea Central-Asia Youth Summit

Security Committee
Discussing Nuclear Disarmament Negotiation in Asia

Chair: JAE HEE WEE

Liaisons: KYUNG WOOK KANG, SUNG HO LEE

Inspected by Kylie Genter

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I. Introduction
Nuclear weapons present a unique existential threat to all humanity. Yet, despite the grave, all-
encompassing nature of this threat, the governments of the world are addressing it selectively, not
comprehensively. The world is not just sleepwalking towards disaster. In truth, it is worse than that?
we are asleep at the controls of a fast-moving aircraft. Unless we wake up and take control, the
outcome is all too predictable

Kofi Annan, former UN Secretary-General, Princeton University, November 28, 2006

The issue of nuclear disarmament has been discussed since the 1950s, after the atomic bombings
of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. For the past 70 years, many organisations and treaties arose to effectively
reduce the number of nuclear weapons world-wide, mainly those in the USA and the Soviet
Union(todays Russian Federation). However, the issue has not been resolved yet as numerous
sovereign states still possess nuclear weapons.

The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), an international treaty whose
objective is to restrain proliferation of nuclear weapons and weapons technology, opened for
signature in 1968 and was put into force in 1970. Twenty-five years later, the member states of the
NPT agreed to continue the treaty status indefinitely. The significance of this treaty and furthermore
the importance of the nuclear disarmament limitation agreements was highlighted by the member
states adherence to the NPT. Although, a few countries including India, Pakistan and North Korea have
openly announced their possessions of nuclear power, and Israel purposely remains ambiguous in its
status towards nuclear weapon disarmament. The existence of nuclear weapons imposes a massive
threat to global society, and calls for further actions and strengthening of existing treaties.

Where do South Korea and Central Asia stand on this topic? Since 2003, North Korea declared that
they are no longer a member of the NPT. Beginning in 2006, North Korea started conducting nuclear
tests, the most recent being the test that took place back in September 2016. Unification and
stabilisation of the Korean Peninsula is another issue that has been mentioned for more than half a
century in the Security Council of the United Nations - in fact, the unsettled problems of North Korea
and their nuclear power are one of the reasons of disputes within the Korean Peninsula. South Korea,
as a nation that ratified the NPT back in 1975, and aimed to achieve a Nuclear-free Korean Peninsula
peacefully through negotiations.

Five Central Asian countries (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan)
have a nuclear-weapons-free treaty referred to as the Central Asian Nuclear Weapon Free Zone Treaty
(CANWFZ). As the previous treaties regarding nuclear powers were mostly led by western countries
such as the United States or European countries, the CANWFZ lead Central Asian countries and other
nations toward a nuclear-free world. Now the CANWFZ and its members should focus more on
strengthening and further extending the articles in the treaty. Perhaps, the member states of the
CANWFZ could call upon other nations to join the treaty in an effort to expand the number of ratifying
countries.

This report aims to mainly discuss the history of nuclear disarmament, the current situations on the
Korean Peninsula and in Central Asia regarding the topic and important points that resolutions should
address.

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II. Definition of Key Terms

CANWFZ
Central Asia Nuclear Weapon Free Zone - A treaty signed in 2009, the treaty serves as the legal binding
of five central Asian countries: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan; on
prohibition of manufacturing, acquiring, testing or possessing of nuclear weapons.

CTBT
Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty multilateral treaty, which bans all nuclear explosions for
civilian and military purposes, and was adopted by United Nations General Assembly on September
1996.

CWC
Chemical Weapons Convention Full name of the treaty is: Convention on the Prohibition of the
development, production, stockpiling and use of chemical weapons and on their destruction. The
treaty is administrated by OPCW, Organisation for Prohibition of Chemical Weapon, based in The
Hague.

IAEA
International Atomic Energy Agency international organisation that aims to promote non
provocative use of nuclear energy. Established in 1957, IAEA has its headquarters in Vienna. The
programmes ran by IAEA encourage the development and use of peaceful application of nuclear
technology.

NPT
Non-Proliferation Treaty Full name of the treaty is: Treaty on the Non-proliferation of Nuclear
weapons, has objective of preventing the spread of nuclear weapons and technology, and promoting
peaceful uses of nuclear energy. Its ultimate aim is to achieve nuclear disarmament.

Nuclear Proliferation
Spread of nuclear weapons, fissionable material and weapons-applicable nuclear technology and
information to countries not recognised as the Nuclear weapon states.

Permanent 5
Permanent 5 are five permanent members of United Nations Security Council (China, France, Russia,
United Kingdom and United States), and have the VETO power which can fail a resolution submitted
to the floor even when majority has been achieved.

Six-Party Talk
Aim of the Six-Party Talk is to achieve peaceful resolution to the issue of North Korean nuclear weapon
programme, and to ultimately head towards nuclear disarmament of the Korean Peninsula. Six
participating countries are: South Korea, North Korea, United States, China, Japan and Russia. The talk
began in 2003, although it never continued after 2009 due to North Koreas opposition to be present
in the talk.

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III. Timeline of Key Events

The nuclear bomb is perhaps regarded as the greatest human invention with the power to destroy all
worlds and as Albert Einstein put it: mankind invented the atomic bomb, but no mouse would ever
construct a mousetrap. Ever since American scientists conducted the first nuclear weapons test in
1945, the international community has sought to prevent the spread of such weapons because of its
profound implications on international peace and security.

The first-time nuclear weaponry was used to ensure peace and security in the world was when the
United States decided to drop Little Boy and Fat Man on Hiroshima and Nagasaki to end World War II.
Since then more states have acquired nuclear weapons. In addition to increasing the number of states
with atomic weapons, nuclear weapons have continuously increased in number and sophistication. At
the height of the Cold War, there were about 70,000 nuclear weapons. Qualitative advancements
included the development of extremely powerful hydrogen bombs, a diverse array of tactical nuclear
weapons, and the invention of missiles capable of delivering nuclear warheads accurately across the
planet in minutes. Since the atomic bombings on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, nuclear weapons have not
been used in actual warfare. However, with its proliferation, world security became increasingly
interwoven with the perilous testing of such weapons, leaving the fates of the people perched on the
unstable balance of terror.

Key events

1946 After World War II, the Truman Administration proposed the Baruch Plan for the verifiable
dismantlement and destruction of the US nuclear arsenal which was the only nuclear arsenal at the
time. The precondition was the establishment of an international atomic development authority,
which was the first realisation of the United Nations Atomic Energy Commission. This would control
all nuclear materials and activities and have the authority to give automatic sanctions which not even
UN Security Council could veto. Although the Baruch Plan received international support, it failed to
become an international policy as the Soviet Union planned to veto it as they were developing their
own nuclear weapons. However, it still remained as an official American policy.

1957 President Eisenhower gave his Atoms for Peace speech in UN General Assembly which
eventually led to the creation of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) few years later. The
International Atomic Energy Agency was established by the United Nations in 1957 for the peaceful
nuclear energy development of nations and to prevent accidents. The IAEA regularly inspects civil
nuclear facilities to make sure that they stick to their peaceful purposes. The main concern of the IAEA
is that uranium not be enriched beyond what is necessary for commercial civil power plants, and that
plutonium produced by nuclear reactors not be refined into a form suitable for bomb production.

1960s The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear weapons, more commonly known as the Non-
Proliferation Treaty (NPT), is an international treaty set to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and
weapons technology, to promote cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy, and to further
the goal of achieving nuclear disarmament. It was put into force in 1970 and although the treaty had
a limited duration of 25 years, countries have agreed to extend the treaty indefinitely in 1995. As of
2016, 191 states have join the treaty excluding four UN member states of which three are known to
possess nuclear weapons: India, Israel, and Pakistan. Also, North Korea has withdrawn from the NPT
in 2003 with the continued testing of nuclear weapons. The treaty only acknowledges nuclear

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weapons of the US, Russia, the UK, France and China which have all been developed before 1967, the
year in which the treaty was signed. The NPTs central bargain is often seen as the following:

The NPT non-nuclear-weapon states agree never to acquire nuclear weapons and the NPT nuclear-
weapon states in exchange agree to share the benefits of peaceful nuclear technology and to pursue
nuclear disarmament aimed at the ultimate elimination of their nuclear arsenals

There are also many other bilateral talks and agreements most notable being the Strategic Arms
Limitation Talks (SALT) between the USSR and the US which began in 1969. The main objective was to
match the arsenal of strategic forces to ensure that no country would gain advantage over the other
as they would be equally strong. They would also maintain this balance to prevent future nuclear
warfare and enhance stability. SALT II was never ratified but the talks led to the Strategic Arms
Reduction Treaties (STARTs) in 1991 with New START in 2011.

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IV. Current Situation

Situation in Central Asia: Central Asian Nuclear Weapon Free Zone Treaty (CANWFZ)

a. Establishment of CANWFZ

Signed on 8th September 2006 and entered into force on 1st March
2009, Central Asian Nuclear Weapon Free Zone Treaty (CANWFZ) is a
legal binding of the five central Asian countries on prohibition of
manufacturing, acquiring, testing or possessing of nuclear weapons [1].
Also known as the Treaty of Semipalastinsk, Treaty of Semei or Treaty
of Semey, the treaty is thought to remain in force indefinitely,
although CANWFZ includes member state withdrawal option.

CANWFZ was inspired by Mongolia back in 1992, when it declared

itself to be a Nuclear Weapon Free Zone (NWFZ). This led to first
proposal of formal CANWFZ from Uzbek President Islam Karimov at
the 48th session of United Nations [2]. CANWFZ is the very first free-
nuclear-weapon treaty to include former Soviet Union states as
well as in the Northern Hemisphere. Furthermore, CANWFZ was
the first NWFZ treaties to fully comply to Comprehensive-
Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) [3].

With the treaty accepting the enhanced IAEA safeguards on

nuclear activities, the member states agreed on meeting the
Figure 1 Extent of CANWFZ
international standards regarding nuclear facilities securities.
Hence the risk of nuclear terrorism or illegal smuggling of radioactive matter in the region can
be prevented. The treaty furthers by including environmental problems experienced by all five
member states, caused by nuclear weapon testing conducted by the Soviet Union.

b. Situations post 2010

More recent update to CANWFZ comes from the NPT Review Conference held in 2015, where Russia
and China has ratified the CANWFZ protocol. France and the United Kingdom has previously done so,
hence now only the United States remain to ratify the protocol.

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Dates Events
2016
28th June Kazakhstan elected to UN security Council for 2017-2018.
1st June IAEA announced construction of IAEA low enriched Uranium Storage Facility in
Oskemen, Kazakhstan, which will be operational on September 2017.

2015
7th Dec UN General Assembly, approved Kazakhstan-proposed Universal Declaration for the
Achievement of a Nuclear-Weapons-Free World.
27 Aug Agreement signed between IAEA and Kazakhstan, which establishes low enriched
uranium fuel bank in Oskemen, Kazakhstan. Both Kazakhstan and IAEA are
responsible for monitoring, in accordance with the CANWFZ Treaty.

27 Apr Protocol of CANWFZ treaty was submitted to US Senate by President Barack Obama
if the US ratifies the protocol, then it would impose obligations for it not to use,
or threaten to use nuclear weapons towards member states of CANWFZ.
14 Apr Kyrgyzstan submitted a paper in 2015 NPT Review Conference, which composed of
highlighting the importance of CANWFZ treaty, as the first treaty to include IAEA
additional protocol, and urged permanent five members of Security Council for full
ratification.
30 Jan Protocol of CANWFZ treaty was ratified by the United Kingdom.
2014
17 Nov Protocol of CANWFZ treaty was ratified by France.
6 May All five permanent member states of UN Security Council signed the protocol of
CANWFZ treaty in New York.
2013
22 Sept Central Asia: Nuclear Free Zone meeting held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, to celebrate
the 20th year since the first proposal of the creation of CANWFZ discussed issues
in Central Asian region, highlighting the nuclear trafficking and illegal smuggling.
27 May A statement was issued by the Foreign Ministers of the Collective Security Treaty
Organisation, which advocates the multilateral mechanisms for nuclear
disarmament and non-proliferation, expressing the support for CANWFZ.
21 Mar A working paper was submitted to the 2015 preparatory committee for review
conference of parties to the treaty on NPT the submitted paper assured that
nuclear weapon free zones such as CANWFZ has positive impact on steps to nuclear
disarmament.
2012
3 May Kazakhstan called upon the permanent five members of the Security Council to sign
the protocol for member states in CANWFZ.
2011
2 May White house expressed their willingness to work with parties in order to sign the
CANWFZ protocol as soon as possible.

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Situation in Korean Peninsula

The Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK) is well known for its on-going nuclear
weapon testing, which took place in 2006, 2009, 2013 and 2016. Not only this but the DPRK
continuously launches both short and medium range ballistic missiles, and has the capability
to enrich uranium [4]. Back in January 2003, the DPRK withdrew from the NPT, and is not a
member state of the CTBT, the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), nor the Chemical
Weapons Convention (CWC). Hence it is presumed that the DPRK possess nuclear weapons
and chemical weapons, which may be a threat to not only South Korea but other countries
around the world.

The year 2003 marked the start of the Six-Party Talks, between the United States, Russia,
China, Japan, South Korea and North Korea [5]. The main goal of these talks was to
denuclearise the Korean peninsula ? although, the Six-Party Talks never continued after April
2009. It was the death of Kim Jung Il that brought uncertainties in their nuclear programme,
and this was the reason why North Korea left the Six-Party Talks. In February 2012, an
agreement between United States and North Korea was settled, by North Korea agreeing to
suspend nuclear tests and uranium enrichments in exchange for food aid from United States
[6]. About a year later in April 2013, North Korea voided the agreement and conducted a
nuclear weapon test. In the same month, the North Korean media publicly announced the re-
starting of all nuclear facilities.

North Koreas most recent nuclear testing took place on 9th September 2016 [7]. As they
were confirming their testing, it was also mentioned that they successfully built a warhead
that fits in a missile, and have threatened the rest of the world. Recorded as one of the
strongest nuclear weapon testing regimens, in 2016 nuclear testing quickly gathered global
attention. US President Barack Obama referred the test as a grave threat and commented
that it only worsened the stability of Korean Peninsula. Fortunately, the United States was
not the only one who thought North Koreas actions were unacceptable. China, a major ally
of North Korea, criticised the test and called upon the regimen to avoid provocative actions.

South Korea has ratified the NPT in the 1970s ? since then, it has abandoned its nuclear
weapon programmes, but has the technical capabilities to produce such weapons.
Nevertheless, South Korea is a member state of numerous non-proliferation treaties, and has
adopted a policy with the aim of maintaining the Korean Peninsula as a nuclear free zone. In
1991, the two Koreas signed the Joint Declaration on the Denuclearisation of the Korean
Peninsula, where both parties agreed not to test, manufacture, produce, possess, store or
deploy nuclear weapons ? but obviously, this agreement failed [8], with North Korea violating
the declaration, and conducting numerous nuclear tests.

The goal of denuclearising the Korean Peninsula has not yet been achieved. South Korea,
which is the most threatened country by North Korean nuclear weapons, should seek for
methods and negotiations in order to convince North Korea to give up their nuclear weapons.
Not only South Korea, but United States, the leader of the worlds nuclear-free treaties,
should also actively participate. Perhaps collaboration between other Asian countries such as
the central Asian countries, which successfully established their own nuclear-free zone treaty
(CANWFZ), could help the process.

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V. Points a Resolution Should Address

1. Ratification of CANWFZ protocol from the United States

- United States is currently the only nation of P5 who did not ratify the protocol for
the CANWFZ, should the CANWFZ encourage the US to ratify the protocol?
- What changes will it bring to the CANWFZ?
- What is stance of the US upon this matter?

2. Nuclear trafficking and smuggling

- Are there any articles in the CANWFZ on nuclear trafficking and smuggling?
- How are nuclear trafficking and smuggling inspected?

3. Six Party Talk

- Is continuation of Six-Party Talk necessary to achieve stabilisation of Korean

Peninsula?

4. Denuclearisation of Korean Peninsula

- DPRK threatens the world with its possession of nuclear weapons, are there ways to
solve/improve this issue?
- What are the main obstacles facing the problem of denuclearisation of Korean
Peninsula and what are some possible solutions?

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VI. Further Reading

TREATY ON A NUCLEAR-WEAPON-FREE ZONE IN CENTRAL ASIA Main text

http://www.vertic.org/media/assets/nim_docs/Treaty/nuclear/Semipalatinsk%20tre
aty_EN.pdf

United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNDIR) Disarmament forum

(2011)
http://www.unidir.org/files/publications/pdfs/nuclear-weapon-free-zones-en-
314.pdf

United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) Nuclear-Weapon-Free-Zone

Fact Sheet
https://unoda-web.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/NWFZs-Fact-
Sheet-Jan2016.pdf

Website on Nuclear Threat Initiative Prospectus has country profiles and stance
on the issue, as well as summaries of important treaties
http://www.nti.org/learn/countries/

The Korean Peninsula Issue Past, Present and Future 2017

https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/north-korean-nuclear-
issue-fu-ying.pdf

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VII. Bibliography

1. Roscini, M., Something old, something new: The 2006 Semipalatinsk Treaty on a
nuclear weapon-free zone in Central Asia. Chinese Journal of International Law,
2008. 7(3): p. 593-624.
2. Parrish, S., Prospects for a central Asian nuclearweaponfree zone. The
Nonproliferation Review, 2001. 8(1): p. 141-148.
3. Mackby, J., Nonproliferation Verification and the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. Fordham
Int'l LJ, 2010. 34: p. 697.
4. Hecker, S.S., A return trip to North Koreas Yongbyon nuclear complex. Center for
International Security and Cooperation, Stanford University, 2010. 20.
5. Grinter, L.E., The SixParty Talks and the Future Denuclearization and Rehabilitation
of North Korea. Pacific Focus, 2008. 23(3): p. 294-311.
6. Meyers, S. and S. Choe, North Koreans Agree to Freeze Nuclear Work; US to Give Aid.
The New York Times, 2012. 1: p. A1.
7. Bergerson, K., Chinas Efforts to Counter US Forward Presence in the Asia Pacific. US-
China Economic and Security Review Commission, 2016.
8. Kim, B., Step-by-Step Nuclear Confidence Building On The Korean Peninsula: Where
Do We Start? Institute for Science and International Security, 2001: p. 73-86.

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