United Nations Temporary Commission on Korea
The United Nations Temporary Commission on Korea (UNTCOK) was a body that oversaw elections in South Korea in May 1948. The commission initially was composed of nine nations, and Australia, Canada and Syria played a dissenting role, resisting US plans to hold separate elections in South Korea. That position was in line with Korean moderates Kim Ku and Kim Kyu-sik.[1]
In Soviet-controlled North Korea, the body was not even recognized, with the Soviets arguing that the commission would break the 1945 Moscow Accords.[2] The Soviets also argued that it violated Articles 32 and 107 of the UN Charter. Article 32 requires that both sides of the dispute be consulted, but Korean representatives from North and South Korea were never invited to address the UN. Also, Article 107 denied jurisdiction to the UN over postwar settlement issues.[3]
See also
- Dr. George Patterson Canadian representative for UNTCOK
- 1948 South Korean general election
References
- ^ Cumings, Bruce (2005). Korea's Place in the Sun: A Modern History. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. pp. 211–212. ISBN 0-393-32702-7.
- ^ infoKorea
- ^ Hart-Landsberg, Martin (1998). Korea: Division, Reunification, & U.S. Foreign Policy. Monthly Review Press. p. 85.
- Leon Gordenker (1959). The United Nations and the peaceful unification of Korea: the politics of field operations, 1947-1950. M. Nijhoff.