UN Security Council should act

By Jay Kim

Europe is suffering from an immense headache with the influx of refugees from the Middle East and Africa. The European countries that turn away these refugees are portrayed as inhumane, with the media reporting tragic stories of the refugees. The world watches with heartache as tens of thousands of impoverished refugees attempt to cross the borders of Greece, Macedonia, Serbia, Hungary and even Austria, but at the same time, the European nations face a dilemma as their choices to block the refugees comes down to their own economic circumstances.

There is also the demand for other Muslim countries, including oil-rich Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, UAE, and Iran, along with neighboring countries like Russia and Turkey, to join in the efforts to accommodate the refugees. Although recent EU meetings resulted in a measure to share refugees among the EU countries through imposing quotas, it is questionable whether such a policy can be successfully implemented.

A worldwide audience is demanding that the UN lead the efforts to protect the refugees at this critical time. The UN Security Council has a 7.5 billion-dollar annual Peace Keeping Fund (the US funds 29% of it) to operate an 82,000-person military in 15 countries.

The demand is to relocate the forces to lead in solving the refugee question. If the UN does not act quickly by using a percentage of this budget, something more massive with global consequences may arrive; the fact that the UN is unresponsive to this demand aggravates the situation. Now is the time for the five permanent member countries (US, China, Russia, France, UK) and ten member countries of the Security Council to come together to reach a resolution ― they should not just sit back and watch one of the greatest human tragedies in history unfold. To this end, think tanks in the U.S. came to two recommendations as fundamental resolutions: one, mobilize UN forces to defeat ISIS, recapture Syria and let the refugees return to their homeland, or two, restore peace to at least half of Syria under UN mediation and have the refugees return home under the surveillance of UN forces. I believe that returning the refugees to their homeland is the optimal solution for now. If Syria is divided in half, with one side occupied by ISIS terrorists, the UN can maintain peace at the border.

During Abe's April address to a joint meeting of the U.S. Congress, there was a discussion between Abe and Obama on Japan becoming a member of the UN Security Council. For the UN Security Council to be more politically effective, it is advisable for Germany to have a seat along with Japan, increasing the member countries to seven from the current five. Last year's contribution to the Peace Keeping Fund was led by the US at 29%, followed by Japan at 11%, Germany at fourth with 7%, China at sixth with 6.6% and Russia at eighth with a meager 3.8%. It is contradictory for Russia, which only contributed a little over 3%, to exercise the same veto power as the US, whose level of contribution far exceeds that of Russia's. If the member countries are increased to seven, China and Russia's veto power will be comparatively weakened, especially on matters relevant to North Korea, as five countries are bound to be favorable to South Korea while two (China and Russia) are likely to exercise an "Abstain" vote rather than vote "No." In this seven-member dynamic, we can try to solve North Korea's nuclear problem through the UN Security Council and further make steps towards a peaceful reunification of two Koreas, starting with economic cooperation under the UN surveillance.

Unification of the Korean peninsula still depends on the five permanent member countries of the UN Security Council, due to their veto power. With a nuclear deal with Iran soon to pass in the US Congress, the world's eyes will be focused on North Korea as the only nuclear weapon state. It will be an opportune time to work toward a peaceful reunification by borrowing the power of the UN Security Council. Once reunification is within sight, we are bound to become flooded with North Korean refugees, like the movements we've seen from the Middle Eastern refugees. Korea needs money desperately to accommodate them. I have repeatedly argued for the government to issue Reunification Bonds, similar to Franklin Roosevelt's War Bonds, which helped finance World War II and rebuild the US in the aftermath.

Jay Kim is a former U.S. congressman. He is chairman of the Kim Chang Joon U.S.-Korea Foundation. For more information, visit Kim's website at www.jayckim.com.

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