Korea (1951)

In the GA’s initial response to the military intervention of the People’s Republic of China in the Korean War in late 1950, the GA had condemned the aggression of the People’s Republic of China, calling on it “to cause its forces and nationals in Korea to cease hostilities against the United Nations forces and withdraw from Korea” (A/RES/498(V)) (for discussion of other GA responses to the Korean War, see case studies on the origin of the UFP resolution and recommendations related to the use of force). A few months later, the GA passed additional measures to respond to the situation, including (by 47 votes in favour and none against, with 8 abstentions), a resolution recommending a trade embargo on the People’s Republic of China and North Korea (A/RES/500(V)). Resolution 500 (V) recommended that “every State: (a) apply an embargo on the shipment to areas under the control of the Central People’s Government of the People’s Republic of China and of the North Korean authorities of arms, ammunition, and implements of war, atomic energy materials, petroleum, transportation materials of strategic value, and items useful in the production of arms, ammunition, and implements of war”, and that all States co-operate in supporting the embargo (ibid.). To encourage compliance, the resolution also established a reporting process to a body it had previously mandated (A/RES/498(V))¹ called the Additional Measures Committee. The Additional Measures Committee was to gather information on measures that Member States had taken to “deny contributions to the military strength of the forces opposing the United Nations and Korea”, as well as how economic measures taken by Member States “would assist in putting an end to the aggression” (A/RES/500(V)). It was then to report back on the effectiveness of the embargo, whether to extend or relax it, and to continue to report back on “additional measures” to be deployed (ibid., para. 2).