Delegation from around the world meets in Mongolia for the Mongolia Forum on Northeast Asia Peaceful Development and Korean Unification.
Global Peace Foundation (GPF) co-sponsored a forum in Mongolia to address inter-Korean issues and environmental challenges in the region. Mongolia has maintained diplomatic relations with both North and South Korea, making it a pertinent platform for a discussion on Northeast Asia regional security.
GPF has convened expert forums on Northeast Asia regional security, economic development, human rights, and Korean reunification in the United States, South Korea, India, and Mongolia, as well as in Europe and Latin America. These comprehensive convenings and grassroots initiatives affirming the shared identity and cultural heritage as a bridge between the two Koreas are building international support for a free and unified Korea and advancing a roadmap for a nuclear-free, democratic Korea that enhances peace and prosperity in Northeast Asia.
The following is an excerpt from an article by Michael Marshall for UPI on the most recent forum held in Mongolia.
Mongolia already has a One Billion Trees National Campaign in progress and will host an international conference on combating desertification in 2026. Companies and organizations have pledged to plant more than 600 million trees by 2030.
The Gobi desert, which straddles the China-Mongolia border, has been expanding, absorbing agricultural areas and grasslands. This has generated more-intense dust storms that have affected the Korean peninsula and even Japan.
North Korea also has suffered extensive deforestation as a result of poor agricultural practices. This has resulted in topsoil erosion and landslides, further reducing agricultural production. The government wants to reverse this trend and sent a delegation to the U.N. Environmental Assembly in Nairobi last February, a rarity for North Korea.
The conference participants viewed environmental cooperation as a potential path to open engagement with tightly controlled North Korea. They were attending the 6th Mongolia Forum on Northeast Asia Peaceful Development and Korean Unification. Policy experts, environmentalists, civil society leaders, diplomats and legislators took part from Korea, China, Japan, Russia, and America, as well as from the host country.
Former president of Mongolia, Punsalmaagiin Ochirbat, noted the growing tensions across Northeast Asia, saying that a “Cold War atmosphere and partisanship are spreading and the relations between the two Koreas are becoming more and more confrontational.”
He said that Mongolia and its civil society organizations are working closely with similar organizations throughout the region and from the United States to promote greater regional cooperation in a variety of fields, including trade, transport, communications and the environment.
