Asia

North and South Korea Engage in ‘High-Level’ Talks

By Brian Lanciault
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

SEOUL, South Korea--North and South Korea have held their first “high-level talks” in almost seven years, in an apparent effort to improve strained relations at the suggestion of the North.

The talks, held Wednesday at a border village, came as South Korea and the United States prepared to engage in another round of military drills that have antagonized Pyongyang, Reuters reported.

The meeting was set up with unusual speed and great secrecy at the North’s suggestion last week. This is just the latest example of conflicting signals from Pyongyang, which abruptly cancelled an invitation for a US envoy to visit a few weeks ago.

Kim Jong-un, who requested the negotiations with the South, is believed to be using the talks as a jump-off for future plans to visit China. (Photo Courtesy Reuters)

The North is expected to repeat demands for the South and the United States to abandon their military drills. Both sides have numerous incentives to seek a deal that could break their long stalemate.

“For the North, if it comes back with an accomplishment in terms of improved South-North ties, it will mean a better atmosphere for Kim Jong-un to visit China and a justification to pursue high-level talks with the United States,” Cheong Seong-chang, an expert at the Sejong Institute outside Seoul, reported.

Kim is believed to be plotting a visit to China, Pyongyang’s largest ally and main benefactor, to reinforce his legitimacy as dictator in the eyes of a skeptical international community. Kim took power when his father died suddenly in 2010.

Al Jazeera’s Harry Fawcett, reporting from the South Korean capital Seoul, said while the atmosphere surrounding negotiations appeared “calm,” any major announcement was unlikely to be brought out in the near future.

“We’re all a bit in the dark” as to the content of the discussions, correspondents said.

Seoul officials told the Associated Press that the meeting was requested by the North, which has launched a recent “charm offensive” after raising tensions last spring with threats to fire nuclear-tipped missiles at Seoul and Washington.

Pyongyang, which has repeatedly vowed to expand its nuclear arsenal and further develop nuclear technology, is trying to build nuclear-armed missiles that can reach the continental US. Most experts say the country has yet to master the technology needed to mobilize an atomic bomb via missile.

In addition to demanding a halt to the military drills, North Korea was expected to demand that South Korea agree to restart a lucrative joint tourism project and increase humanitarian aid efforts.

South Korea, meanwhile, was looking to discuss ways to ensure that planned reunions of families separated a half-century ago in the Korean War went smoothly, Seoul’s Unification Ministry said.

The South Korean delegation is led by President Park Geun-hye’s deputy national security adviser, while North Korea has sent its second-highest ranking official in the ruling Workers’ Party department, who is also in charge of maintaining ties with the South.

The meeting is the highest level in years between the Koreas, which held a series of similar meetings in 2007.

For further information, please see:

ABC–Koreas Hold Senior-Level Meeting at Border Village–11 Feburary 2014

BBC News–North and South Korea hold rare high-level talks–12 February 2014

Al Jazeera–Koreas hold rare talks to ease tensions–12 February 2014

CNN–North and South Korea to hold ‘high-level’ meeting–11 February 2014

U.S. Poised to Table a Human Rights Resolution against Sri Lanka

By Brian Lanciault

Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka– State Department officials announced Saturday that the United States will table a United Nations human rights resolution against Sri Lanka, putting new pressure on Colombo to address war crimes allegations.

Assistant Secretary of State Nisha Biswal addresses reporters along with U.S. Ambassador Michele Sison (right) on Saturday. (Photo Courtesy of AFP/Getty Images)

The UN has already called on Sri Lanka to punish military personnel responsible for atrocities in the civil war that the government won in 2009.  Washington says the human rights climate on the island is worsening each day.

Nisha Biswal, the assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asia, held talks with Foreign Minister G.L. Peiris over a range of issues including allegations that government troops killed thousands of Tamil civilians during the final months of the war in 2009.

“Lack of progress in Sri Lanka has led to a great deal of frustration and skepticism in my government and in the international community,” assistant secretary of state Nisha Biswal told reporters in Colombo after her two-day visit.

“There hasn’t been sufficient action taken by the government to address the issues of justice and accountability. We heard from many people about people who are still unaccounted for, whose whereabouts and fates are unknown to their family members.”

Biswal declined to say what would comprise the resolution set to be tabled at the March session of the UN Human Rights Council, but US embassy officials have said it may call for a full-scale international investigation into Sri Lanka and their military affairs.

“We understand growing concern, frustration, and skepticism among many in my country and many in the international community that has led to increasing calls for international investigation and an international process.” Biswal said.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s government, which finally put down an exhaustive 26-year rebellion by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in 2009, has rejected UN calls for an international inquiry and said repeated requests from overseas were to please the large Tamil diaspora in the west.

A top Sri Lankan official announced last week that an international inquiry into war crimes would bring “chaos” and insisted that the government’s national reconciliation process must be given several more years to work.

Biswal acknowledged that the reconciliation process needed more time, but said credible steps had to be taken now.

“The culture of deterioration of human rights gives us great concern when churches and mosques are burnt down and people feel that they cannot practice their faiths freely and without fear. Then I believe the urgency that has gripped the international community is justified,” she said.

The British Prime Minister, David Cameron, has said he will push for the international inquiry into war crimes allegations if Sri Lanka does not conduct its own probe by March.

Some Sri Lankans who met with Biswal told reporters that they had told her an international process was essential.

“We do not have confidence in a local investigation because that would be done by the military, who are accused of war crimes,” one activist from northern Jaffna peninsula told Reuters, on condition of anonymity.

A UN panel indicated that about 40,000 mainly Tamil civilians died in the final few months of the war. Both sides committed atrocities, but army shelling killed most victims, it concluded. Separatist Tamil Tiger rebels renowned for the use of child soldiers and suicide bombings battled with government forces since 1983.

For more information, please see:

New York Times– U.S. Envoy to Visit Sri Lanka as Pressure Builds for War Crimes Inquiry— 30 January 2014

The Guardian– US to table UN human rights resolution criticizing Sri Lanka over ‘war crimes’— 1 February 2014

AFP– US envoy in Sri Lanka as pressure builds over war crimes— 31 January 2014

NDTV– US envoy to visit Sri Lanka as pressure grows for war crimes inquiry— 31 January 2014

Thailand Plans to Proceed with Sunday Election Despite Growing Violence

By Brian Lanciault
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BANGKOK, Thailand–Thailand’s government announced Tuesday that it will move forward with an election set to take place this weekend despite a violent opposition boycott, street protests, and the prospect of even greater violence in the country’s political crisis.

A man is carried away after being nearly beaten to death by anti-government protesters Tuesday afternoon. (Photo Courtesy of AP)

The announced its plan after Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra met with the Election Commission, which had plans to delay the election.

The decision to hold Sunday’s parliamentary balloting is expected to further inflame tensions and produce violence. One protest leader was killed and at least a dozen others were injured in a clash last Sunday as protesters swarmed polling stations in an effort to stop advance balloting. Since November 30, 10 people have died and at least 577 have sustained serious injuries.

Anti-government protesters occupying parts of Bangkok have demanded that Yingluck step down before the election. Protesters argue that she should be replaced by a non-elected interim government that would institute reforms to remove her family’s weighty influence from the political structures. The opposition Democrat Party, which backs the protests, is boycotting the election.

The crisis places followers and opponents of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra against one another. Thaksin, a billionaire and Yingluck’s older brother, was deposed by a military coup in 2006 after accusations of corruption and abuse of power. Since then the two sides have been engaged in a sometimes violent struggle for power.

Yingluck’s supporters, including many people in the countryside who benefited from Thaksin’s populist policies, are demanding that they be allowed to vote.

‘‘The longer this crisis goes on, the more dangerous it becomes,’’ said Chris Baker, a Bangkok-based political analyst and writer. ‘‘The economy is clearly suffering already. It will suffer more the longer it goes on. The chances of violence keep increasing because emotions are getting stoked up.’’

Several hundred protesters laid siege to Tuesday’s meeting between Yingluck and the Election Commission.

Election Commissioner Somchai Srisutthiyakorn said more violence was expected during the polls and would further damage the country.

‘‘I think Thailand has suffered enough and no one should be hurt or die from this election,’’ Somchai told reporters.

Somchai earlier said he would tell Yingluck about the problems enveloping Sunday’s election, including the lack of workers and meager equipment, which has yet to reach many provinces. The disruptions have been caused largely by the protesters, and some senior government officials have accused the Commission of supporting the anti-government side.

Deputy Prime Minister Pongthep Thepkanchana said the Commission and the government had different views and the election would therefore move forward as scheduled. A court ruled last week that the election could only be postponed by mutual agreement between the prime minister and the Election Commission.

‘‘If we postpone the election, will the problems go away? The people who are causing trouble didn’t say they would stop if it’s postponed,’’ Pongthep said. ‘‘The longer it is postponed, the more damage it will cause the people and the country.’’

For more information, please see:

The Hindu–200,000 police to be deployed for Feb 2 snap polls in Thailand— 29 January 2014

Times of Oman–Thailand to deploy 10,000 police in capital to secure voting— 29 January 2014

Channel News Asia–“No” option valid political choice in upcoming Thai election— 29 January 2014

The Boston Globe–Thai government says no delay in Sunday election— 29 January 2014

Peace Agreement Reached Between Philippines and the MILF

By Brian Lanciault

Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

MANILA, Philippines– Representatives from the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front on Saturday signed the final piece of the four annexes to the Framework Peace Agreement, completing a vital cornerstone to a more than decades-old peace process.

Philippines chief negotiator, Miriam Coronel Ferer, shake hands with Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) chief negotiator, Mohagher Iqbal, as they exchange peace agreements between both parties at the GPH-MILF Formal Exploratory Talk in Kuala Lumpur. (Photo Courtesy of Reuters)

Representatives led by Presidential Peace Adviser Secretary Teresita Deles, government chief negotiator Miriam Coronel-Ferrer and her counterpart in the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), Mohagher Iqbal, met late in the afternoon Saturday and affixed their signatures to a several page document, the annex on normalization and addendum on Bangsamoro waters.  The resolution came at the end of four days of negotiation in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

“Today the government and the MILF jointly signed the annex on normalization, the last of the four Annexes to the GPH-MILF Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro (FAB), which was completed on 15 October 2012. This paves the way for the signing of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB). This is indeed a long-awaited moment that is a gift to our people at the start of a new year of renewed hope and commitment,” Deles said.

Earlier, negotiators from both sides signed the annexes regarding transitional arrangements and modalities, revenue generation and wealth and power sharing.

“Long live peace,” those witnessing the signing of the landmark document during the 43 exploratory talks in Malaysia cheered. Video footage of the event was streamed live across the nation.

Malaysian facilitator Datu Abdul Gaafar Tengku said: “I am very proud to be part of this process. I’ve witnessed in 1986 the People Power and now this.”

Malaysia has played the role of a third party facilitator of the talks since 2004.

Iqbal said the signing of the normalization annex had been an emotional matter.

“All these documents that we had signed are important, but the annex on normalization and addendum on Bangsamoro waters is vital because it is the last of the four annexes that completes the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro signed in October 2012,” he said.

Presidential Spokesman Edwin Lacierda, who was in Kuala Lumpur to witness the event, said in his twitter post immediately after the signing of the last annex: “After more than a year of hard work, the peace panel in a moment of joy!”

A substantial portion on the annex on normalization includes the decommissioning of weapons from members of the MILF.

Coronel, during a video streamed press briefing, said the decommissioning and demobilization will be carried out in a multi-phase process.

“It will be gradual,” she said.

The MILF boasts some 12,000 fighters and the normalization process would involve the “decommissioning” of the firearms used by the rebels.  Provisions provide for  the absorption of a number of them into the police force of the yet to be created Bangsamoro.

With the completion of the four annexes, Coronel said negotiators can now proceed to crafting the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) in order to complete the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro.

The BBL is set to be drafted by the Transition Commission which Iqbal also heads, but would also have to pass through a congressional vote, and would be subjected to a plebiscite in areas covered by the FAB.

The conflict in southern Philippines has cost the lives of an estimated 150,000 combatants and civilians over the last four decades.

For more information, please see:

The Australian– Philippines peace deal nears for Muslim south–26 January 2014

Gulf News– Philippines steps closer to Moro peace–25 January 2014

Inter Aksyon– Lacierda: Annex on Normalization signing is President Aquinoas defining moment–26 January 2014

The Wall Street Journal– Philippines, Rebel Group Step Closer to Peace–25 January 2014