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Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission (Korea)

Panmunjom Korea

by Jaume Ollé

See also:

South Korea

The Swiss embassy in Tokyo confirmed that the Swiss delegation to the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission in Panmunjom, Korea (NNSC) and the flag appears in the Korean movie titled "JSA" exists and is in actual use. The flag is per saltire of four colours : white hoist, yellow fly, red top , and blue bottom. The embassy sent me the flag information but written in German as follows.

Incidentally following are historical notes and the mission of NNSC.

Please note the Polish and Czech delegates had been withdrawn.

The NNSC was established by the Armistice Agreement (AA) signed 27 July 1953 and is thus with the Military Armistice Commission (MAC) part of the mechanism regulating the relations between the parties in the Korean conflict. According to the wording of the agreement, the NNSC shall be composed of four senior officers, two of whom shall be appointed by neutral nations nominated by the United Nations Command (UNC) namely Sweden and Switzerland and two of whom shall be appointed by neutral nations nominated jointly by the Korean People's Army (KPA) and the Chinese People's Volunteers (CPV), namely Poland and Czechoslovakia. The term "Neutral Nations" is defined as those nations, whose combat forces have not participated in the hostilities in Korea. The 1 August 1953, the first Swiss delegation consisting of 96 members for the NNSC arrived in Panmunjom. The first diminution took place in 1955 (reduced to 41 members) and in the following years, the delegation was successively reduced. Since 1982, there are six Swiss members in Panmunjom and until August 1987,exactly 700 Swiss soldiers have been working for the NNSC in Korea. The mission of the NNSC is defined in article 41 of the Armistice Agreement and reads as follows: "The mission of the NNSC shall be to carry out the function of supervision, observation, inspection, and investigation and to report the results of such supervision, observation, inspection and investigation to the Military Armistice Commission."

The main role of the NNSC today is to maintain and to build optimal relations with both sides and thus to keep a channel of communications open between them. "Offrir ses bons offices" -good offices have always been an important component of the Swiss foreign policy-and to be available at any time are focal points of the NNSC's mission. The promotion of detente and security in the Joint Security Area (JSA) falls also within the framework of the activities are the prerequisites for the accomplishment of these tasks.
Nozomi Kariyasu, 25 August 2001

Based on the colors of the flags of Poland (WR), Sweden (BY), Switzerland (RW) and Czechoslovakia (BWR) in the winter of 1952/53 this Flag design was proposed by Major Marguth in accordance with heraldic principles (frequency and choice of colors) to the representatives of the Swiss Military and Political Departments. This flag, which was later on approved, has therefore no particular symbolic meaning.
translation of document by Jarig Bakker,