From April 16-20, two important events were held in Seoul: the International Conference against the Asia Pacific Missile Defense and for the End of the Arms Race, and the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict's (GPPAC) Northeast Asia Regional Steering Group meeting.  

Planned long ago, these two separated but linked meetings took place in the context of the North Korean missile launch on April 5, which has made initiatives by GPPAC Northeast Asia, with its focus on the "Civil Society Six-Party Talks" as a framework for conflict prevention and peacebuilding in the region, a matter of urgency.

Participants at the GPPAC meeting expressed concerns at Japan's excessive response and stressed the need for a calm and coordinated regional multilateral dialogue on security, centered on the Six-Party Talks in order to promote common disarmament and confidence building in the region.

Taipei Focal Point pointed at President Ma's missiles withdrawal from the Taiwan Strait and his invitation to the other side of the Strait to follow as example showing how common disarmament and confidence-building is possible in the region.

Participants reiterated some of the fundamental messages of the 2005 GPPAC Northeast Asia Regional Action Agenda, namely the need to end the Cold War structures remaining in Northeast Asia to create a sustainable peace mechanism grounded in the principles of nonviolence and human security.

In this context, the use of Article 9 of Japan's Constitution was praised as the foundation for Northeast Asian security, including its three fundamental principles of renunciation of war, no maintenance of military or other war potential, and the right for people to live in peace.

Both the GPPAC meeting and the International Conference against the Asia Pacific Missile Defense insisted on the need to address the root causes of the situation and on the major role civil society has to play in addressing the tensions and help resolve the conflict. It was thus agreed it was necessary to maintain and enhance communication channels with North Korea and that the possibility that Northeast Asian civil society groups visit the country will be explored further.

The joint statement, adopted by the Korea Organizing Committee, the Global Network, and GPPAC Northeast Asia on 17 April 2009 at the issue of the Missile Defense conference pointed out that the rocket launch should be regarded "as a byproduct of both a divided Korean peninsula and the arms race in the Asia Pacific" and "reveals the utmost need and urgency for placing confidence building and normalization of relations among nations, as well as cooperative mutual disarmament, on top of our agenda."

Further, the document expressed concerns that "militaristic approach is a worn-out strategy obstructing prevention and peaceful settlement of conflict and a losing hand triggering a vicious cycle of global arms race" in the region and denounced how the "US missile defense system in the Asia Pacific...fueling an arms race in the Asia Pacific... [that] risks undermining the war-renouncing Article 9 of Japan's peace constitution, a key foundation for peace and security in the Asia-Pacific region."
 
Participants ended the statement by expressing their resolution to "act jointly against the missile defense system and the arms race which impede the peace and security of the Korean Peninsula, East Asia, and the international community."

To read more about the 2009 GPPAC Northeast Asia Regional Steering Group meeting, click here.

Also visit the International Conference against the Asia Pacific Missile Defense and for the End of the Arms Race's website run by the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, here.