Constitution of the APRCPRK
Article 1 - Organizational Title, Mission and Logo
1. Name of the Organization
The official name of the organization will be 'Asia-Pacific Regional Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea'. Its endorsed abbreviation is 'APRCPRK'
2. Character and Mission
The Asia-Pacific Regional Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea shall be a regional united-front coalition which embraces and enlists all the friendship and solidarity organization with the Korean people, the progressive organizations, anti-war & peace organizations in the region, interested in reunification of Korea. APRCPRK shall coordinately organize and conduct regional activities to render supports and solidarity to the just cause of the Korean people in their efforts to achieve the national reunification.
APRCPRK shall advocate and support the movement towards a formal end to the war with the signing of a Peace Treaty by the parties.
3. Logo of the Organization
APRCPRK shall have its official logo. Any formal document without the logo shall not be endorsed as an authentic and official document of the organization. An official interpretation of the logo shall be the one which was endorsed and adopted in the General Meeting or an Executive Bureau meeting where the need and reason for change is pressing and plausible.
Article 2 - Organizational Activities
1. APRCPRK shall promote the faithful implementation of the joint declarations adopted and signed by the north and the south Korea while proposing and initiating various activities and campaigns on a regional and international scale unremittingly in support of the independent and peaceful reunification of Korea.
2. APRCPRK shall initiate, in various forms and methods, the activities to demand the replacement of the Korean War Armistice with the peace mechanism while demanding the termination of all sorts of war drills threatening peace on the Korean peninsula and the withdrawal of all foreign forces from Korea.
3. APRCPRK shall push ahead with its activities to call for the lifting of on-going "sanctions" on the Korean people which impede their right of existence and development, while giving wide and objective publicity to the reality of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
4. APRCPRK shall function in league with progressive civic organizations in the region and the world, active in promoting the peace and reunification of Korea, and carry out multifarious joint activities in support of the independent and peaceful reunification of Korea and to ensure the sovereignty of the Korean people.
Article 3 - Convention and Operation of APRCPRK General Meeting
1. APRCPRK shall convene the General Meeting regularly at least once every five years.?If necessary, it can call for the General Meeting as a virtual meeting online through a relevant video-sharing conference facility.
APRCPRK Executive Bureau shall decide on the convention of the General Meeting and its method. The General Meeting can be called before five years if there is any special reason of urgency or when 2/3 of executive members request and endorse the necessity of holding the meeting.
2. APRCPRK General Meeting shall carry out the following functions:
a. Approve the report summing up the activities of the APRCPRK
b. Approve, amend and complete the Constitution
c. Discuss and adopt the activities and orientation of the APRCPRK
d. Elect the members of Executive Bureau
e. Elect the co-chairpersons
3. Upon the decision of the Executive Bureau, APRCPRK can call for a consultative meeting of its leading members, special meeting, plenary meeting or any other form of collective meeting of members of organization to discuss and adopt the decision on the raised agenda items.
Article 4 - Organizational Structure and Composition
APRCPRK shall have an Executive Bureau, Secretariat, and Public Information Bureau.?APRCPRK shall be composed of co-chairpersons, joint secretaries, and members.
1. Executive Bureau and Secretariat:
As a leading body of the organization, APRCPRK Executive Bureau shall consist of co-chairpersons, joint secretaries and executive members, and it shall have a right of decision, execution and supervision on every activity of the APRCPRK.
Director of the Executive Bureau shall be selected among the co-chairs of APRCPRK, and his/her tenure shall be five years.
a. Co-chairpersons: APRCPRK Co-chairpersons shall represent the organization, proposing the action plans, guiding its implementation, and calling for diverse meetings of the organization including the General Meeting and Plenary Meeting. Numbers of co-chairpersons shall be a minimum of four and a maximum of ten.
b. Joint Secretaries: APRCPRK Joint Secretaries shall assist the works of co-chairpersons, while being directly in charge of execution and implementation of projects and activities decided by APRCPRK Executive Bureau, and taking the lead in drawing the action plans of the organization.
APRCPRK Executive Bureau shall decide upon the increase or decrease of the numbers of joint secretaries. The Secretariat, is composed of the joint secretaries, who shall follow and execute the decisions of the Executive Bureau and work in co-operation with the Director of the Executive Bureau.
c. Executive Members: Members of Executive Bureau, who are not co- chairs or joint secretaries, shall be selected carefully from the ordinary or individual members (refer to Membership), one or two from each sub-region, abiding by the principle of the organization to ensure democracy in the decision-making and maintaining the inclusivity.
Executive members shall assist actions of the co- chairs and joint secretaries in their assigned sub-regions. Executive members, in the categories of membership, are the ones with highest responsibility and authority, and shall substitute the role of the joint secretaries when he/she is not in a position to discharge his/her duty for certain reasons.
2. Public Information Bureau:
1) APRCPRK Executive Bureau shall have Public Information Bureau under its guidance and supervision, in a form of a sub-committee, and shall appoint one from the Executive Bureau members as its director, empowering him/her to supervise and control the affairs related to the organization's official statements and promotional activities.
2) Responsibilities and authority of Director of Public Information Bureau:
a. Director of Public Information Bureau shall be in full charge of publicity and promotional work of the organization through various mass media outlets, and ensure, upon the authorization of the Executive Bureau, issuance of press releases, official statements, and other formal documents of the APRCPRK, in its name.
b. Director of Public Information Bureau is empowered to establish and launch a website, Facebook page, Twitter site of the organization on behalf of the APRCPRK, and shall be responsible to manage and run the social media accounts.
c. Director of Public Information Bureau should seek approval from the Executive Bureau or its Director, in case when he/she would like to issue important documents in the name of the organization or post articles on the social media platforms.
d. Director of Public Information Bureau is empowered to select bureau members from ordinary or individual membership of the organization, and to engage experts needed for technical operation and management of social media platforms. Experts may be ones who are not the members of the organization although in-house experts should be sought where possible.
e. Director of Public Information Bureau may have an adviser/mentor who can assist him/her in overall activities to operate the Bureau, and an Adviser to the Public Information Bureau, once approved by the Executive Bureau, shall be an Active Life Member of the organization, automatically with his/her acceptance of the role as an adviser.
3. Membership
Anyone in the Asia-Pacific region, who is of the age of 18 or above and accepts the constitution of the APRCPRK and desires to become its member, shall be eligible for membership of APRCPRK.
The membership shall be classified into four categories: Ordinary, Individual, Executive, and Life member.
1) Ordinary Membership
Eligible for Ordinary Member is a representative (or one who is capacitated to represent) of any friendship and solidarity organization with the Korean people, progressive organizations, anti-war & peace organizations active in the region that support APRCPRK's mission and aim. Ordinary member is obliged to faithfully carry out decisions and assignments of the organization while playing a role of coordinator who links the APRCPRK with the organization he/she represents.
2) Individual Membership
All the individuals in the region who render support to the independent and peaceful reunification of Korea are eligible for individual membership. Anyone, irrespective of political view and religion, social standing and party affiliation, is welcomed for membership as long as he/she aspires and wishes for the peace and reunification of Korea.
3) Executive Membership
The responsibility and obligation of the Executive member are as stipulated on 'c' of Clause 1 of Article 4.
4) Life Membership
Life Membership is to be an honorary title conferred by APRCPRK. It has two categories, namely Honorary Life Member and Active Life Member.
a. Honorary Life Member:
APRCPRK shall confer the title of Honorary Life Member to those who have made a significant contribution to the independent and peaceful reunification but can not be actively involved in the activities of organization, due to their age and health, or as he/she is fully retired.
b. Active Life Members:
APRCPRK shall confer the title of Active Life Member to prominent personages in the region from political, academic, and public circles, for their continued meritorious services to the independent and peaceful reunification of Korea, with common appreciation of and desire for Korea's reunification.
Article 5 - Membership Application & Deprivation of Membership
1) APRCPRK shall accept the application from organizations and individuals wishing for admission to APRCPRK, and finally decides the admission of applicant once it is reviewed and approved by its Executive Bureau.
Under special circumstances where a member of the Executive Bureau vouches for and nominates someone as an APRCPRK member, the membership application shall be approved. In this case, the nomination is valid only when the written or verbal acceptance of the person in question is provided.
2) APRCPRK Executive Bureau shall review and decide on the deprivation of membership from its member if it finds clear evidence that he/she has not observed the rules and Constitution and the primary support of the organization for the peaceful reunification of Korea.
May 31st, 2021
ADDENDUM (Amended on July 3rd, 2022)
Amendment No. 1
Article 4, last sentence of Clause 1. Executive Bureau and Secretariat reads:
"Director of the Executive Bureau shall be selected among the co-chairs of APRCPRK, and his/her tenure shall be five years".
To be revised to:
“Director of the Executive Bureau shall be selected among the co-chairs of APRCPRK, and his/her tenure shall be five years, however, if this position becomes vacant due to the demise, health/medical condition the new director should be by-elected upon the approval of majority of the Executive Bureau members. In case there is not a suitable nomination among the incumbent co-chairpersons with various plausible reasons, directorship shall remain vacant till the most eligible turns up. Instead, all the authority and power of Director of the Executive Bureau will be executed by the Secretariat in his absence."
Amendment No. 2
Article 4, last sentence of Clause 1. Executive Bureau and Secretariat, Point b, reads:
“The Secretariat, is composed of the joint secretaries, who shall follow and execute the decisions of the Executive Bureau and work in co-operation with the Director of the Executive Bureau.”
To be revised to:
“In case the Director of the Executive Bureau is absent owing to unavoidable circumstances, his/her power will be exercised by the Secretariat instead. Secretariat shall appoint its director among the joint secretaries, and this role of the Director of the Secretariat in principle shall rotate among the joint secretaries in every one year. However, in a special case when the majority of incumbent joint secretaries approve that the Director of Secretariat whose term is finished to continue at his/her post, one can remain in office up to three years successively."
Amendment No. 3
Article 4, last phrase of Clause 3. Membership, Section 4) Life Membership, Point a, reads:
“Or as he/she is fully retired.”
To be revised to:
"This title can be also conferred to meritorious figures dedicated to the activities of the organization and its strengthening and development even after their passing as a posthumous title. Their names shall remain forever in the APRCPRK Honour Roll with continuance of the organization, inspiring all its members. Public Information Bureau of APRCPRK shall be responsible for managing the Honour Roll by posting its on its official website."
