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Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 18 Oct 1984

Vol. 352 No. 12

Ceisteanna—Questions Oral Answers. - UN Mandate in South Korea.

6.

asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if the Government approve of the continued use of the United Nations flag and mandate by the US forces in South Korea; if the Government have any plans to raise the matter at the United Nations; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

The United Nations Unified Command in Korea was established pursuant to Security Council Resolution 84 of 7 July 1959 which (i) recommended that all UN members providing military forces and other assistance in Korea under two earlier Security Council Resolutions "should make such forces and other assistance available to a unified command under the United States of America", (ii) requested the United States to designate the commander of such forces and (iii) authorised the unified command to use the United Nations flag.

The UN Unified Command in Korea continues to operate under Security Council Resolution 84 which remains in force.

Is the Minister aware that this mandate is 30 years old, that for 30 years there has been no conflict in the area, that the vast majority of the breaches that have taken place since 1954 have been carried out by the United Nations troops, by American troops in the name of the United Nations, under the United Nations flag? Is he further aware that at this moment there are United Nations military units in the demilitarised zone? Does the Minister not think that this constitutes a breach of the United Nations mandate and that it is degrading to the United Nations to be put in that position?

There have been efforts made. This is not a United Nations Generally Assembly Resolution. It is a Security Council Resolution under which they operate. There have been efforts made at the United Nations to get resolutions passed which would facilitate the withdrawal of the United States as a unified force from Korea. That has not yet happened because the two motions in question appeared to some members, including Ireland, to be contradictory. Even if they were passed it still would not give the authority to have the forces withdrawn from Korea because they operate under a Security Council Resolution and not under a General Assembly Resolution. Therefore it is the Security Council who would have to take the decision that they should come out.

I am aware of that but I am asking the Minister: what is that Irish position in relation to the credibility of the United Nations and our participation in the United Nations? Is he aware that, while it is done under a Security Council mandate, it is done in the name of the United Nations, in other words, in our name as well as that of everybody else, and under our flag as well as under the United Nations flag? What is the Minister's feeling on this? Does he agree with the other members of the United Nations who wish the United Nations troops to be withdrawn from the area?

We did not support both of those resolutions for the reason that we thought they were contradictory and were incapable of being jointly implemented. The point I was making — which I think the Deputy appreciates — is that no matter how many resolutions were passed by the General Assembly, it would not affect the actual position because the only way it can be changed is through a resolution passed by the Security Council. That is the point. It does not matter what would be the view of the General Assembly. Unless the Security Council itself took up a position on it and reversed their Resolution No. 84 of 7 July 1950, then no amount of passing of resolutions in the General Assembly would affect the position.

This is the same question but it has not been answered. I want to elicit from the Minister——

The Deputy has put me on notice that he is going to be guilty of repetition——

If the Deputy is going to ask the same question unfortunately I shall have to give the same answer.

That gets boring.

What is the Irish position at the United Nations Assembly? I mean is their influence a moral influence only on the Security Council? What is the Irish position at the United Nations on that?

I thought I had said that, in relation to both resolutions that have come before the General Assembly, we could not support both because we though they were contradictory. What I am saying is that we have all the time supported, in the United Nations and elsewhere, the reunification of Korea by peaceful means. That is still our position, that is what we want to see and we will support anything towards that end.

Is the Minister aware that there is a concrete wall right across——

That is not the only wall.

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