ROK's Moon wants DMZ replaced by peace zone

China Daily | Updated: 2019-09-26 08:06

UNITED NATIONS - President Moon Jae-in of the Republic of Korea on Tuesday proposed that the United Nations create an "international peace zone" to replace the Korean Peninsula's divide, saying the idea would both reassure the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and inspire the world.

The left-leaning leader, whose diplomacy paved the way for the historic summits between US President Donald Trump and the DPRK's top leader Kim Jong-un, laid out his rosy vision for the last Cold War frontier in an address to the UN General Assembly.

He asked the international community to commit to designating the international peace area to replace the 250-kilometer Demilitarized Zone, or DMZ, that has split the two neighbors for more than 60 years.

Moon said the zone would offer an added incentive for Kim to give up the country's nuclear weapons, the focus of more than a year of on-again, off-again talks between the DPRK and the United States.

"The establishment of an international peace zone will provide an institutional and realistic guarantee for the security of North Korea (the DPRK)," Moon said.

"At the same time South Korea (the ROK) will be able to gain permanent peace."

Moon voiced hope that the zone, which is 4 km wide, would become the home of UN agencies dedicated to conflict resolution and the environment and eventually be declared a world heritage site by UNESCO, the UN cultural body.

"The DMZ is the common heritage of humankind and its value must be shared with the whole world. Once peace is established between the two Koreas, I will work together with North Korea to inscribe the DMZ as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It can become an international peace zone in name as well as substance," Moon said.

About 380,000 anti-personnel mines have been placed in the DMZ, and it is expected to take 15 years for ROK troops to remove them on their own. However, cooperation with the international community, including with the United Nations, will not only guarantee the transparency and stability of demining operations, but also instantly turn the DMZ into an area of international cooperation, said Moon.

Despite the intense military buildups on each side of the DMZ, "paradoxically it has become a pristine ecological treasure trove", he said.

When the DMZ - which cuts across the midriff of the Korean Peninsula - is turned into a peace zone, the peninsula will evolve into a bridging nation that connects the continent and the ocean and facilitates peace and prosperity, he said. The vision of an East Asian Railroad Community in which six Northeast Asian countries and the United States take part could also become reality, Moon said.

He also said he had spoken to Kim about the restoration of Korea-wide railways that have been severed since the 1950-53 Korean War. The groundbreaking ceremony for their reconnection and modernization has already taken place, he added.

Meanwhile, Trump has insisted that he likes Kim and trusts him, saying that the DPRK top leader wrote him "beautiful" letters, including for his birthday.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said during the UN General Assembly on Tuesday that he is determined to meet Kim "face to face, without attaching any conditions".

Agencies - Xinhua