Impetuous and attention-seeking leader’s boy gazing at the enemies' location?
Ban concerned about provocations after latest DPR Korea missile test Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. UN Photo/Rick Bajornas
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has voiced his concern about provocations and tensions on the Korean Peninsula following reports that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) launched short-range guided missiles into the sea on Saturday, Vigilance can report.
The latest action comes despite repeated calls by the international community, including Mr. Ban and the United Nations Security Council, for DPRK to refrain from any actions that might exacerbate tensions on the Peninsula.
In February, the DPRK conducted its third, long threatened nuclear test, a move that was in violation of Security Council sanctions and drew widespread condemnation, including from the Secretary-General.
Vigilance learnt the test has prompted the Security Council to tighten sanctions on the country's trade and banking, as well as travel by targeted officials as well as learning the DPRK then reportedly said it was cancelling the 1953 Armistice Agreement that ended the Korean War.
Mr. Ban's spokesperson said last week that the Secretary-General remains concerned about provocations and tensions on the Korean Peninsula, “particularly given the risks of miscalculation and dangerous escalation.”Adding the Secretary-General stands ready to help facilitate the process of peace and trust-building on the Korean Peninsula, the spokesperson added.
In another development members of the Security Council last week ‘strongly condemned’ the looting of a UN observation post in the Golan Heights and the temporary detention of three peacekeepers, the third such incident in the past two months.
The Security Council, in a press statement released on 16 May, “strongly condemned the incident on May 15 in which a group of anti-government armed elements detained three United Nations military observers from UNTSO’s Observer Group Golan for several hours, and looted a United Nations observation post within the Area of Separation.”
The three observers from the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO) were held for approximately five hours and returned unharmed to UN Observation Post 52 where they were met by the UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) Head of Mission, according to a note from the UN Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General.
It will be remembered that earlier in the month, four UNDOF ‘blue helmets’ were seized by armed elements near Al Jamlah and later released; while in March, 21 Filipino peacekeepers were seized by armed elements of the Syrian opposition and released four days later.
At that time, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon reiterated to all parties the impartiality of UN peacekeepers and calling for respecting of the Mission's freedom of movement and the safety and security of its personnel.
Also, Vigilance reliably gathered the Security Council had called on all parties to cooperate with the UNDOF and UNTSO' s Observer Group Golan in good faith “to enable them to operate freely and to ensure full security of the UN personnel, and reiterated their unconditional support for UNDOF and UNTSO.”
Peacekeepers serving with UNDOF monitor the 1974 disengagement accord between Syria and Israel after their 1973 war. In December, the Security Council extended the mission's mandate for another six months, until 30 June 2013.