Historical Disarmament and International Security Committee (DISEC)
The First Committee of the United Nations General Assembly, or more commonly known as the Committee on Disarmament and International Security, deals with challenges in the international security regime. It considers all disarmament and international security matters within the scope of the Charter. It seeks to promote cooperation in the maintenance of international peace and security and put forth principles governing disarmament and the armament regulation. Topics that have been discussed in past DISEC sessions include: nuclear disarmament, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, tensions between the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and the Republic of Korea, cyber warfare and regional conflicts in sub-Saharan Africa. This year at JHUMUNC DISEC will take place in the early 60s in the heat of the Cold War.
Committee Topics:
Topic A: Installment of Nuclear Weapons in Cuba (1962)
Topic B: Disarmament in a Polarized World (1970)
Letter from the Chair
Dear Honorable Delegates of Historical DISEC,
Welcome to JHUMUNC 2017! My name is Sun Jay Yoo and I will be serving as your chair for the Historical Disarmament and International Security Committee (DISEC) of the General Assembly. I am incredibly excited for this round of JHUMUNC, as this year’s conference is poised to be the best one yet! Before we enter the specifics of the committee, I would like to give a short bio of myself to get us more familiar with each other.
I was born in South Korea, but spent all my life living in Singapore attending an American school. Currently, I am a sophomore at Johns Hopkins University majoring in Biomedical Engineering and Computer Science with a minor in Computational Medicine. On campus, I am on the competing Hopkins MUN team, a design team in the Center of Bioengineering and Design, Alpha Phi Omega, and I work as a computational biologist and programmer for the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Even if I am busy with all these things, I still love listening to music, playing music, going to festivals/concerts, and just chilling with friends.
This will be my second year staffing for JHUMUNC. Previously, I served on the United Nations Security Council and I hope to see some familiar faces once again! Prior to Hopkins, I have had a long history with MUN. I started MUN early in middle school and have attended conferences all over the world- well into the double digits. I have spent much of those conferences in your shoes, as delegates, but I have also chaired multiple committees and led many MUN teams (I now serve as Training Director for the Hopkins team). By far, Historical and DISEC committees have been my favorite, fueled with fervent parley in a lit environment. I will aim to deliver that same experience to you.
This committee, we will be turning back the clocks to historical conflicts that faced the United Nations. Your job is to throw yourselves into the characters of the age and draft solutions that best deal with these timeless periods of strife. The first topic we will be discussing is the Installment of Nuclear Weapons in Cuba in 1962. Who’ll shoot first? The United States, or the Soviet Union? How will their allies respond? The second topic will transition after the events of 1962 and look at the broader call to arms around the world during the Cold War in the 60s. This umbrella topic will include nuclear proliferation, the ongoing Vietnam war, the Portuguese include Indonesia’s transition to the “New Order”, the invasion of Czechoslovakia, the resulting Brezhnev Doctrine, and further Third World escalations.
Just remember, for each topic, any information after the set time is void and we will have to work hard to set the pace of time throughout debate! Prepare thoroughly before session and you will be sure to have an unforgettable experience that you can mark in your history. In the meantime, please feel free to contact me with any questions, concerns, memes regarding the conference or anything in general. I cannot wait to meet you all this year!
Regards,
Sun Jay Yoo
Chair of the Historical Disarmament and International Security Committee