Let me begin by congratulating Mr. Csaba Korosi on his election as President of the General Assembly at its seventy- seventh session. I am confident that, under his able stewardship, this session will be crowned with success.
I also expect that the current debate will serve as a meaningful occasion for all United Nations Member States to find common solutions through exchanges of useful experiences in overcoming the existing challenges and crises and building a sustainable world for ourselves and future generations.
Over the three years since the outbreak of a once-in- a-century pandemic, this malignant virus has taken the precious lives of more than 6.53 million people and still poses a threat to the existence of humankind with the emergence of subvariants that are strong in transmission and immunity evasion. To make matters worse, the global health crisis is compounded by newly emerging infectious diseases, such as monkeypox.
This year has seen immense human and material losses in all regions of the world, including South Asia, Western Europe and North America, due to the destructive effects of the disastrous abnormal weather resulting from the climate change. That has created yet another difficult problem for the international community. Moreover, the global security environment is plunging into its worst state since the Second World War, owing to the high-handedness and arbitrariness of some countries attempting to replace the current international order centred on the United Nations system with a “rules-based international order” governed by unilateral and exclusive Western values.
The United Nations was founded in reflection of the expectations and desire of humankind, which wanted to see no repetition of the scourge of the world wars that had inflicted indescribable misfortune upon them. More than ever before, the present reality urgently calls for the United Nations to promote cooperation, reconciliation, unity and solidarity among its Member States, and to discharge its righteous missions and role.
The world has been faced with challenges and difficulties of all sorts during the past year. The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea was no exception. Nevertheless, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea has had valuable successes in protecting the life and safety of the people from the threat of a malignant pandemic and in achieving overall development of the country, while persistently overcoming the difficulties and obstacles on its own. I hope that the successes and experiences gained by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea will make a positive contribution to the deliberation of the theme before the current session of the General Assembly on the international community’s overcoming interlocking challenges and finding transformative solutions.
The unprecedented crisis caused by the malignant virus spread throughout our State beginning late last April. It created a very critical ordeal and served as an occasion to test the national crisis-preparedness capacity of the country. But the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea Government made a correct analysis of the features of the malignant virus and the circumstances of its outbreak, together with the state of the public health of the country. On that basis, it lost no time in putting forward an anti-epidemic policy in a scientific, transparent and speedy manner so as to take the strategic initiative in preventing the infectious disease, and proceeded with its implementation with due care, thereby achieving a decisive victory in exterminating the malignant virus in a very short period of 100-odd days.
A high sense of organization and voluntary unity of action, along with a social ethos of helping and caring about each other, reflect the superiority of the political system peculiar to our country. That served as a fundamental guarantee for the successful implementation of the scientific anti-epidemic policy.
In terms of anti-epidemic and public health foundations, our country has been in a weaker condition than other countries, but it took the contagious disease under control in the shortest period of time. All in all, that brilliant result was achieved by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea Government’s correct anti-epidemic policy and superior socialist system. The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea Government is closely following the anti-epidemic situation in neighbouring countries and the world. At the same time, it is stepping up its work to build the national anti-epidemic capacity to actively cope with any public health crisis in the present and the future and to fully secure the life and safety of the people.
Upon authorization, I take this opportunity to express thanks to those countries and international organizations that have shown their deep interest and willingness to render assistance to the anti-epidemic work of our country.
Despite the inevitable difficulties and obstacles caused by the global health crisis and abnormal weather conditions, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea Government achieved new successes and progress by tirelessly propelling the efforts for national development and stabilization and the improvement of the people’s livelihood. Industry, agriculture and all other sectors of the economy are following a trend of steady and stable growth, while the efforts to supply the people with modern apartments free of charge and provide the children and students all across the country with nutritious food, new school uniforms and stationery materials at the State’s expense are being carried forward as planned.
The subjective and objective conditions and environment are still unfavourable, but visible and substantial progress and advances are being made in our country in a social atmosphere that is full of vim and vigour. That reality in our country substantiates the fact that we can successfully overcome any difficulty and challenge if we rely on the strength of the people to implement policies that suit the reality on the ground.
The successes of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in its national and social development were by no means achieved in a peaceful and quiet environment. The security environment on the Korean peninsula is now caught up in a vicious cycle of tension and confrontation due to the increasing hostility of the United States and its following forces against the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Recently, it has been heading towards a much more dangerous phase.
One of the foremost excuses of the United States and its servile forces to justify their hostile policy and military threats against the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is none other than the possession of our self-defensive nuclear weapons. A few days ago, the United States President attacked us from this very rostrum, saying that despite his country’s “efforts to begin serious and sustained diplomacy”, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea continues to blatantly violate United Nations “sanctions” (A/77/ PV.6, p. 23). To put it clearly, we have never recognized such United Nations resolutions that seek to pressure us because we do not abide by the rules made by the United States unilaterally. We will not accept them in the future, either.
In addition to our country, there is a number of countries in the world that possess nuclear weapons, but only the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea has been subjected to the most brigandish and brutal sanctions resolutions. That is because the United Nations connived at and allowed the high-handedness and arbitrariness of the United States in antagonizing the independent Democratic People’s Republic of Korea under an absurd rationale that it differs in its ideas and systems and opposes its unjust policy. The United States is even now planning to conduct joint military exercises, which arose serious concern in the surroundings of the Korean peninsula. Obviously, this is an extremely dangerous act of igniting the fuse to drive the situation on the Korean peninsula to the brink of war.
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea has found another correct way to defend its sovereignty and fundamental interests from the persistent hostile policy and military threat of the United States and its following forces and to ensure peace and security on the Korean peninsula and in the region. At the recent seventh session of the fourteenth Supreme People’s Assembly of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, a law on the policy of the nation’s nuclear forces was adopted with unanimous approval, in reflection of the general will of all Korean people. In direct proportion to the increase of the hostile policy and military blackmail of the United States against us, our strength is bound to grow continuously to contain them.
The United States compelled the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to adopt the law on the policy of nuclear forces in defiance of the United States hostility. The United States should clearly understand that its heinous, hostile policy against the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea over the past 30 years is responsible for creating today’s reality, and ask and answer itself and ponder over how far it is prepared to take this situation in the future.
In his policy speech delivered at the seventh session of the fourteenth Supreme People’s Assembly, Comrade Kim Jong Un, President of the State Affairs of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, said that the current international situation shows that the contradictions between justice and injustice and between the progressive and the reactionary, especially the power structure surrounding the Korean peninsula, have become obvious and that the change from a unipolar world advocated by the United States into a multipolar world is accelerating significantly.
Today the world is faced with not a few severe crises and challenges, but the most fundamental danger is the high-handedness and arbitrariness of the United States and its followers, which are destroying the foundation of international peace and stability in order to maintain the hegemonic unipolar world. The “rules-based international order” advocated by the United States is no less than the United States-centred international order, permeated with unilateral and
hegemonic American values. It is also an imperialistic power structure that gives precedence to the interests of the United States over the common interests of humankind and international law, demanding other countries’ obedience. The United States, having divided the world into “democratic” and “authoritarian” States, is now forcing other countries to choose between the two and seeking bloc confrontation. It attempts to maintain world hegemony by expanding the bilateral and multilateral military alliance system that is a legacy of the Cold War.
The prevailing reality urgently calls on the United Nations, entrusted with maintaining global peace and security and safeguarding international justice, to fully discharge its missions and role enshrined in the Charter, strictly adhering to the principles of impartiality and objectivity. The United Nations is the most universal international organization, bringing together all sovereign countries. As such, an individual country or a minority group can never represent the United Nations. All the United Nations activities should be duly oriented to realizing the common interests and prosperity of the Member States. To that end, the basic formula for solving problems should be decision-making that reflects not the individual interests of a few countries, but the legitimate and just demands and opinions of all the Member States.
The Security Council is the very organ where impartiality and objectivity are not ensured in United Nations activities. The mere fact that the Security Council makes an issue of the exercise of the legitimate right to self-defence of a sovereign State is a contradictory act, as it denies the basic spirit of the Charter of the United Nations, which clearly stipulates sovereign equality and non-interference, as well as the recognized rules governing international relations.
The Security Council is not fully discharging its missions and responsibilities to safeguard international peace and security. The main reason for that lies precisely in the unjust and double-dealing acts of the United States and some United Nations Member States following in the footsteps of the United States. The Security Council does not say even one word about the high-handedness and arbitrariness, reckless arms build-up and war crimes of the United States, but only picks a quarrel with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea at every opportunity in its righteous efforts to bolster national self-defence capabilities. All of that reveals that the Security Council has lost its competency and authority to act on behalf of the United Nations Member States when it performs its duty to maintain international peace and security.
As long as the double standards, unfairness, highhandedness and arbitrariness of the United States are not removed, any decisions or resolutions adopted by the Security Council can neither have reasonable binding force nor contribute to ensuring global peace and security. In order to put an end to the highhandedness and arbitrariness of specific countries, including the United States and restore the confidence of the international community in the Security Council, urgent priority should be given to the expansion and strengthening of representation of developing countries, which account for the absolute majority of the United Nations membership. If the United Nations is to ensure impartiality and objectivity in its activities, it should adhere to the cardinal principles of respect for sovereign equality and peoples’ rights to self-determination.
The United States and some other United Nations Member States are trying to unilaterally impose Western values and the “rules-based international order” on sovereign States, behind the slogans of “safeguarding democracy” and “protecting human rights”. Such interventionist attempt constitutes a flagrant breach of the United Nations Charter, which gives precedence to the principle of sovereign equality. The partial acts and double standards favouring the unfair positions of some individual countries and specific forces should be thoroughly eliminated, and the core principles of the United Nations Charter — the sovereign equality and equal rights and self-determination of the peoples — should be strictly observed.
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea delegation takes this opportunity to extend firm support and solidarity to the Government and the people of Cuba in their struggle to safeguard the sovereignty and right to development of their country in the face of the high-handedness and arbitrariness of the United States in a move to interfere in its internal affairs. We also strongly demand that all the economic and financial embargoes imposed on Cuba by the United States be lifted immediately, as required by relevant resolutions of the General Assembly.
We also stand in firm support and solidarity with the peoples of the Syrian Arab Republic, Palestine and other independent countries that are struggling to repel the interference of foreign forces and safeguard their independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity.
It is the unwavering foreign policy of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea Government to maintain independence, peace and friendship. The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea will broadly cooperate with all countries and nations that oppose and reject aggression and interference, domination and subordination, and aspire to independence and justice, transcending differences in ideologies and systems. It will also develop multifaceted exchanges and cooperation even with capitalist countries that respect our country and take a friendly attitude to it.
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea sets great store by sovereign equality and international justice. Moreover, in the future it will actively join the international community in its efforts to maintain world peace and security and establish a fair and just international order. It will also fulfil its responsibilities and role in ensuring peace and security on the Korean peninsula.