Crime Against the Peace -- Canada Extends "Operation Neon" Against the DPRK
Since 2019, the Canadian military has been deployed in enforcing the UN Security Council sanctions regime against the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) in what is called Operation Neon. It is said to build upon "previous ad hoc sanctions enforcement operations conducted in 2018." Operation Neon is not a UN-mandated operation but a U.S. attempt to impose a naval blockade against the DPRK with its own posse of “voluntary” enforcers on the high seas.[1] A recent press release from the Department of National Defence (DND) announced that Operation Neon has been extended until April 20, 2023. According to the DND, Operation Neon is "Canada's contribution to multinational efforts to monitor and deter North Korean maritime sanctions evasion activities and consists of Canadian Armed Forces air and maritime assets, as well as personnel." DND cites this operation as "a tangible and high-profile example of Canada's commitment to the Asia-Pacific region and to countering threats that challenge the rules-based international order."[2] The operation is said to involve about 300 personnel and "a naval frigate, a supply vessel, and long range patrol aircraft to monitor maritime areas where North Korean sanctions evasion activities are taking place, including the East China Sea." The East China Sea is bounded by China to the west, Korea to the North, Japan to the east and Taiwan to the south. DND further states that "These military assets and personnel work to locate, deter, and collect evidence on ship-to-ship transfers of sanctioned materials (primarily, refined petroleum products such as diesel)." The annual cost of the operation is said to be $8.3 million. Canada's appeasement of U.S. imperialist policy in Korea and elsewhere is nothing new and has been long opposed by Canadians from all walks of life who do not agree with making Canada subservient to the U.S. and its warmongering. The Canadian government to its shame participated in the Korean War to further the aims of the U.S. imperialists to enforce their takeover of the Korean nation and against the Chinese people's newly founded People's Republic. Through Operation Neon, amongst all the other measures Canadian governments have taken to integrate Canada into the U.S. war machine, Canada is enforcing the unjust sanctions regime which causes severe deprivations that constitute violations of the human rights of the people of the DPRK. Logic is turned on its head when the Canadian government claims that the enforcement of arbitrary and unjust sanctions imposed by the U.S. and others on the DPRK constitutes upholding a rules-based international order and defence of human rights, when in reality they violate international law. Canada has been part of imposing sanctions on the DPRK since 2006. Sanctions include ones against transfer of funds to the DPRK, export of materials deemed to be related to arms, petroleum and natural gas products, electronics, vehicles; the import of arms-related materials, construction materials, ore and minerals, seafood, agricultural produce and more. It should be kept in mind however, that despite Canada nominally establishing official diplomatic relations with the DPRK in 2000, it has effectively done nothing to realize relations in practice. All of it is to give legitimacy to the U.S. imperialists' disinformation about the DPRK. Canada's involvement in the enforcement of sanctions in 2018 goes back to a agreement signed on January 12 of that year in which 17 countries effectively declared an all-out naval blockade against the DPRK. The DPRK, which has not aggressed other countries but is only doing its utmost to affirm its right to be, called these sanctions an act of war. As TML Weekly pointed out at that time, "Since the 1909 London Naval Conference, it is an accepted principle in international law that a blockade is an act of war. As such, its use is only permissible between belligerents. There is no rule of international law to justify a so-called peaceful blockade, which refers to a practice of the colonial powers of the 19th century and early 20th century. In 1916 the United States government itself warned France: 'The United States does not recognize that right of any foreign power to obstruct the exercise of commercial rights of non-interested countries, resorting to blockade when there is no state of war.'"[3] In this way, through its participation in Operation Neon that constitutes an act of war, Canada is violating the terms of the Armistice Agreement that ended the fighting in the Korean War whose ultimate objective is to conclude a peace treaty between the DPRK and the U.S. This is a crime against the peace, considered the most serious war crime under international law. Criminal activities such as Operation Neon must not pass and underscore the necessity for Canada to have an anti-war government, in which Canadians can take part in setting foreign policy that upholds international law and peaceful relations between peoples and countries, and does not embroil Canada in the U.S imperialist war machine. Note1. According to the Department of National Defence, other countries involved include Australia, France, Japan, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States. 2. "The Conception of a Rules-Based International Order and the Role of Measuring, Standards and Human Agency to Advance from Opening to Opening," Ideological Studies Centre, TML Supplement, June 11, 2021. 3. "Sanctions Against the DPRK," Margaret Villamizar, TML Weekly Supplement, January 13, 2018.
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