On behalf of the delegation of the
Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, I should first
like to congratulate His Excellency Mr. Sam Kahamba
Kutesa on his election as President of the General
Assembly at its sixty-ninth session.
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea fully
endorses the main theme of this session, “Delivering
on and implementing a transformative post-2015
development agenda”. Development is one of the
core missions of the United Nations. With peace, it
constitutes one of the two pillars for the sustainable
development of humankind. During the first 15 years
of the new millennium, the world has seen the poverty
rate reduced by half. It is proof of success, illustrating
the correctness of the Millennium Development Goals,
adopted at the Millennium Summit, with the elimination
of poverty as the main target.
It has been a particularly difficult time for the
Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. However,
we too have overcome severe hardships. Despite
an unprecedentedly persistent economic blockade,
military threat and political obstruction, we have firmly
safeguarded national dignity, effectively deterred war
and put the stagnant economy on an upward track
under the leadership of the great General Kim Jong Il.
Today we have at last secured a reliable springboard to
leap into a powerful nation, following the guidance of
respected Marshal Kim Jong Un.
In the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea
today, a grand construction boom is in full swing, and
modern factories and enterprises befitting the era of
the knowledge economy are being built and founded at
record-breaking speed in many parts of the country. We
have observed a great leap in our fishing industry and
livestock farming, as well as a blooming new twenty-
first century civilization in the living environment and
cultural and welfare spheres for future generations and
the working masses.
The climate change Summit held just a few days
ago was a successful gathering that constituted part
of the active measures being taken across the United
Nations system to ensure the survival of humankind
and sustainable development by protecting the global
ecosystem and addressing climate change.
The United Nations and international relations
should be democratized further. The principle of
sovereign equality enshrined in the Charter of the United
Nations is exactly same as the principle of respect for
sovereignty and non-interference in the internal affairs
of other nations. However, acts of high-handedness and
arbitrariness — veiled under various disguises such
as democracy, humanitarian crises, counter-terrorism,
human rights protection and non-proliferation — are
committed brazenly in the form of sanctions, blockade,
military threat and armed intervention. That is the stern
reality we witness today.
Proceeding from its consistent position of opposing
interference and sanctions in all their manifestations
against sovereign States, our delegation holds that
the unilateral economic, trade and financial blockade
imposed by the United States against Cuba should be
immediately dismantled.
With respect to the issue of enhancing the central
role of the United Nations, we see its functions and
role regarding peace and security lagging far behind
others. As stipulated in the Charter, Member States
entrusted the Security Council with the maintenance of
international peace and security as its first and foremost
responsibility. Present reality shows that in lieu of the
Security Council — which is still mired in the paralysis
of the Cold War — a permanent member seeks to act as
the military police of the world through military blocs
or bilateral military alliances that have nothing to do
with the United Nations.
The anachronistic stereotypes and prejudices of the
Security Council find their most extreme expression
in the prevailing situation on the Korean peninsula.
The world remembers that the situation on the Korean
peninsula reached the touch-and-go brink of war last
year. It started with the United States-South Korea joint
military exercises aimed at occupying the capital city
of Pyongyang of the Democratic People’s Republic of
Korea.
In January, the Government of the Democratic
People’s Republic of Korea made a proposal to
stop hostile military acts on the Korean peninsula,
but provocative joint military exercises against the
Democratic People’s Republic of Korea were forcibly
conducted in March, April and August. The Government
of the Democratic People’s Republic officially referred
to the Security Council the issue of suspending such
war exercises, which seriously endanger the peace and
security of the Korean peninsula and the region as a
whole. However, the Council turned its back. As the
joint military exercises were led by one of its permanent
members, the Council was bound to close its eyes, block
its ears and shut its mouth, no matter how enormous in
scale, aggressive in purpose and dangerous in nature
they were.
Even in the Cold War period, measures were in
place between the East and the West to restrict the
number of military exercises in which more than 40,000
troops took part. We are obliged to ask why such war
exercises, with the participation of more than 500,000
troops at a time, are needed annually only on the Korean
peninsula, nearly a quarter of a century after the Cold
War ended.
At present, the Government of the Democratic
People’s Republic of Korea has set economic
construction and improvement of the people’s living
standards as its major task. Accordingly, a peaceful
environment is vital in allowing us to lead the recently
improving trend of the national economy to sustainable
development. A peaceful environment and the reduction
of tensions are more precious to us now than at any time.
The tense situation on the Korean peninsula does not
help us. On the contrary, it presents a serious obstacle
to our efforts to achieve economic development and an
improved living standard.
War exercises focused on landing, long-range
nuclear bombing and commando operations aimed at
occupying the capital city of another country can never
be viewed as defensive. The claim that they are annual
in nature is just a veiled attempt to succeed in a surprise
attack after creating chronic immunity to them.
The reform of the Security Council should no
longer be delayed. The Council’s current structure
and method of work have long been out of date, as
confirmed by the expressed general will of Member
States reflected in resolution 47/62, adopted in 1992.
The Security Council should no longer be an exhibition
showcase for the extreme manifestation of the double
standard. We must put an end to the unjust practice
whereby the military exercises waged by a permanent
member of the Council are covered up with no regard
to their serious threat to peace and security, whereas
those conducted by a Member State in response are
called into question, although they are inevitable and
self-defensive in nature.
Likewise, the Security Council simply ignores
the killing of Palestinian civilians by Israel under the
patronage of a permanent member, yet selectively takes
issue with the actions of the Syrian Government in
defence of the sovereignty and stability of its country.
This unjust practice cannot be tolerated. In particular,
no act should be allowed to encroach on the sovereignty
and territorial integrity of Syria under the guise of
counter-terrorism.
The Security Council should no longer serve as
a forum for the spreading of lies. Eleven years ago,
we heard with our own ears the accusation made at a
Security Council meeting by a permanent member
that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq
(see S/PV.4701). A military invasion followed, and
tragic bloodshed resulted. Only then did the world
come to realize that it had heard the big lie of the
century. However, because the big lie had come from
a permanent member, the Security Council kept silent
again. As a result, the bloodshed continues even today,
after 11 years.
The Security Council should not be abused as a
tool to justify high-handedness and arbitrariness. The
United Nations Charter stipulates that the Security
Council should act in conformity with the principles
of justice and international law. The Security Council
has no authority to adopt a resolution that prohibits the
peaceful launch of a satellite by a Member State, as that
is in contravention of international law, in particular the
Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States
in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including
the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies.
The reform of the Security Council would,
in essence, democratize the United Nations and
international relations. The United Nations is not a
monarchy and the Security Council is not a senate.
The reform of the Security Council will not be possible
unless its members decide in good faith to give up their
prerogatives in the interests of democracy. Given the
changing times and the demands of the majority of
Member States, the permanent member that is most
vociferous about the export of democracy should reflect
on whether or not its preaching is just hypocrisy. Should
the Security Council fail to reform itself and remain
out of step with the times, Member States may well opt
for a United Nations without such an anachronistic and
undemocratic Council.
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea
maintains that all problems pertaining to international
relations should be resolved not by high-handedness and
arbitrariness, but in strict accordance with the principles
of sovereign equality enshrined in the United Nations
Charter. The nuclear issue is a matter of the sovereignty
and the right to exist of a Member State and must take
precedence over peace and security. The hostile policy,
nuclear threat and stifling strategy pursued by the
United States for more than half a century inevitably
prompted the decision of the Democratic People’s
Republic of Korea to become a nuclear-weapon State.
The nuclear deterrent of the Democratic People’s
Republic of Korea is neither intended to threaten or
attack others, nor a bargaining chip to be exchanged
for something else. The nuclear issue will be resolved if
and when the substance of the threat to our sovereignty
and right to life is removed through the termination
of the hostile policy of the United States towards the
Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
Politicization, selectivity and double standards are
out of place when dealing with human rights issues. The
abuse of human rights for political purposes is in itself
the biggest human rights violation. The Democratic
People’s Republic of Korea is firmly opposed to all
attempts and actions to force regime change on specific
countries by alleging abuse of human rights. The United
States does not recognize the national sovereignty that
safeguards the human rights of our people. That being
the case, it is hypocritical of it to find fault with our
human rights issues. It is all the more preposterous
that the United States should talk about a human rights
dialogue when it adamantly prevents the Democratic
People’s Republic of Korea — the party directly
involved — from participating in the meeting on the
latter’s own human rights situation.
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is
always open to dialogue and cooperation in the case of
genuine human rights issues that are devoid of any form
of political motivation or hypocrisy. The Government of
the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is willing to
promote human rights dialogue and cooperation on an
equal footing with other countries that are not hostile to
it. It is also willing to facilitate technical cooperation,
contact and communication with the United Nations
and other international organizations in the human
rights field.
The reunification of the fatherland is the supreme
desire of the entire Korean nation. The Democratic
People’s Republic of Korea maintains that national
reunification should be achieved not through a
confrontation of systems but by a confederation formula
whereby two systems coexist in a single country. It
is the only way to prevent war and safeguard peace.
The Government of the Democratic People’s Republic
of Korea is sincerely striving by both word and deed
to develop inter-Korean relations and to orient them
towards reunification through confederation.
As South Korea has relinquished its military
prerogatives to the United States in their entirety, it
has no idea how many weapons of mass destruction of
various kinds — capable of destroying the Korean nation
more than hundreds of times over — are now deployed
and hidden on its own soil. It should therefore refrain
from prattling and dreaming about the unrealistic and
fictitious proposal for reunification copied from the
formula of other countries.
I should like to assure members that the Democratic
People’s Republic of Korea will constructively
participate in delivering on the post-2015 development
agenda at the current session and thus make an active
contribution to the work for the successful adoption
of the development agenda next year on the occasion
of the seventieth anniversary of the founding of the
United Nations. Independence, peace and friendship
are the foreign policy ideals of the Democratic People’s
Republic of Korea. As in the past, the Democratic
People’s Republic of Korea will fulfil its responsibilities
and discharge its role as an independent Member
State by steadfastly adhering to these ideals in United
Nations activities.