09-151.pdf

they did not give up their NNSC mandate but continued to work from
home. An important contact with the North was lost but, as with the
MAC, there was no provision in the Armistice Agreement to restore the
Commission.
On February 28, North Korea’s Foreign Ministry declared that
the US had from the beginning systematically demolished the Armistice
Agreement. Since the agreement only existed in name after the
withdrawal of the Czech and Polish NNSC delegations, the armistice
should be replaced by a peace regime. According to Lee (2001b), the
function of the NNSC afterwards consisted only in evaluating reports
submitted to the Commission without any inspection. In spite of
being a defunct agency, the NNSC constituted a stabilizing influence
on the activities of the opposing sides in the JSA. Jean-Paul Dietrich,
Swiss NNSC Member 1986-87 (1994), regarded the Commission as a
guarantee for the status quo unless the two Koreas would wish to
replace the Armistice Agreement.
After the Polish delegation had withdrawn, all NNSC meetings
had to be adjourned since at least one party from the other side had to
participate. From April 1995 until January 1999, the Polish member
and secretary travelled altogether 13 times via South Korea to
Panmunjom approximately every three to six months for five to ten
day visits to sign whenever possible the NNSC Summary Records,
evaluation reports and declarations as well as to approve the agendas.
The purpose was to “show the flag,” emphasizing that the Armistice
Agreement was still valid, not to sign documents which in the
meantime had lost their significance.
On April 24, 1995, the NNSC adopted a joint resolution stating
that the Armistice Agreement can be revised only by the consent of
North Korea Incapacitates the MAC and the NNSC in the 1990s
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