Samenvatting

This research is an attempt to find an answer to the question “How can the EU and UN encourage de-escalation in the Korean Peninsula?”. Each chapter will be divided in a part on the European Union (EU hereafter) and a part on the United Nations (UN hereafter). During the first part, the research will look at the roles from each organization from the Korean war until today. Then current developments by experts are discussed in a chapter together with the Six Party Talks, which is the most relevant diplomatic track referred to by both the EU and UN. In the Analysis, the effectiveness of both questions will be analysed. This will finally lead to the answer of the thesis in the conclusion, followed by recommendations for each organization based on the current developments and the analysis together. The research has found that the UN has been effective in maintaining the international regime of non-proliferation, while the EU has been able to develop a diplomatic relationship due to their strategy of critical engagement. However, both organizations have failed to pursue an effective mediation strategy in the sense that they were not able to convince the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK hereafter) to abandon their nuclear weapons. The main reason for this is that both the UN and EU were not able to offer a suitable diplomatic track next to their sanctions for the DPRK to discuss the abandonment of the nuclear programme of the country. The Six Party Talks are too tense because the actors all have very different demands and these talks have been abandoned since 2008. In addition to this, the sanctions lack in effectiveness due to a failure in implementation. Therefore, both organizations should try to focus on the implementation of the sanctions
by the member states. Furthermore, the EU should offer a neutral setting for the disputing parties in order to encourage de-escalation. Finally, the EU should uphold their nuclear deal with Iran to set an example to the DPRK that the US is not in the position to decide to abandon any nuclear deal. The UN should ensure the International regime of non-proliferation by upholding the principles of the NPT and sanction countries violating the treaty.

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