The 1st Committee of the 63rd session of the United Nations General Assembly unanimously adopted a draft resolution on ‘Preventing and Combating Illicit Brokering Activities’ on October 30 in New York, introduced by Korea and Australia.

Korea has so far introduced four resolutions to the UNGA since its accession to the UN in September 1991. However, this is the first time Korea has spearheaded an effort that promotes a broad, worldwide security and peace initiative other than matters concerning the Korean Peninsula. In this sense, it is significant that this will serve as an opportunity to strengthen Korea’s competitiveness in multilateral diplomacy.

This resolution is one of the two new resolutions submitted to the 1st Committee during this UNGA, and it was approved by the member states when opinions divided on disarmament issues and the committee was inclining toward voting to adopt resolutions. Therefore the resolution is expected to have positive effects on the overall UN discussions on disarmament and non-proliferation.

61 countries including the United Kingdom, Japan, Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Turkey, Mexico and the Philippines co-sponsored the resolution, along with non-alignment members such as Egypt, Cuba, Indonesia, India and Pakistan participating in the consensus. This showed the close attention and the steadfast support of the international community to combat illegal brokering activities.

The resolution notes the threat to international peace and security posed by illicit brokering activities circumventing the international arms control and non-proliferation framework, and calls upon the member states to establish appropriate national laws and/or measures to prevent and combat the illicit brokering of conventional arms and or materials, equipment and technology that could contribute to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery, in a manner consistent with international law.