At the outset, on behalf of the
delegation of the Democratic People’s Republic of
Korea, allow me to congratulate you, Sir, on your
election as President of the General Assembly at its
sixty-third session. I also wish to express confidence
that, under your able stewardship, the current session
will be a success.
It is a centuries-long aspiration of mankind to live
in a peaceful and prosperous world, free from war and
domination. Nearly 10 years have passed since the
General Assembly adopted the Millennium Declaration
(resolution 55/2), reflecting that common desire.
Nevertheless, a vicious circle of aggression and
intervention, conflict and terrorism still persists within
international relations, and, consequently, global peace
and security continue to face serious new challenges.
The military alliances in place throughout the
cold war era are being further intensified, and arms
races in new forms are taking place in the Asia-Pacific,
European and other regions. Attempts to justify
violations of the sovereignty of developing countries
under the pretext of human rights, non-proliferation
and the war on terror go ever-more undisguised.
Disparities in wealth and imbalances in the level of
development between the North and the South have
become further deepened, foreshadowing gloomy
prospects for the achievement of the Millennium
Development Goals in developing countries. The ever-
worsening energy, food and financial crises of recent
days are seriously affecting the already vulnerable
economies of developing countries.
Today’s realities require all Member States to
pool their efforts for the building of a just, peaceful
and prosperous world as a matter of priority, as they
pledged in the Millennium Declaration.
The building of a new world, free and peaceful,
without domination, subjugation, aggression or war is a
common aspiration of the world’s peoples and is now
the shared responsibility of humankind. Ongoing
efforts to reform the United Nations and enhance its
role should be directed towards that end. It is also
imperative to hold in check the attempts of some
individual countries to address critical international
issues related to world peace and security solely with a
view to their own interests. For that purpose, there is a
need to decisively enhance the authority of the General
Assembly, in which all Member States exercise their
equal rights.
Aggression and interference in the internal affairs
of sovereign States and acts committed under the cover
of human rights protection should be completely
rejected. Today, the worst peace-breaker and human
rights violator in the world is none other than the
United States, as evidenced by its armed invasion of
sovereign countries and its unhesitating massacre of
innocent civilians.
Human rights are sovereign and independent
rights. We urge Member States to remain vigilant in the
face of the constant clamouring by the United States
and other Western countries on the subject of human
rights protection and not to accept the politicization of,
or selectivity and double standards in human rights.
The main reason that the question of relations
between the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea
and Japan has been unresolved for over half a century
lies in Japan’s failure to liquidate its past, which is
stained with large-scale crimes. Japan is the only war
criminal State that whitewashes the history of
aggression and massacre of millions of innocent people
in Korea and other Asian countries and today attempts
to grab the sacred Tok Islet of Korea. Such a country
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should never be permitted to become a permanent
member of the Security Council.
No one aspires to peace more than the Korean
people, who suffered under Japanese military
occupation for almost half a century and since have
been in confrontation with the United States for over
60 years. Even now, a series of reckless military
manoeuvres destabilizing the region, including through
the strengthening of strategic military alliances,
massive shipments of state-of-the-art war equipment
and annual large-scale military exercises, are being
conducted in and around the Korean peninsula.
The Ulji Freedom Guardian joint military
exercise, staged by the United States and the Republic
of Korea this past August, under the pretext of what
they called “Preparation for an emergency on the
Korean peninsula”, was nothing more than a war drill,
for all intents and purposes mounting a pre-emptive
nuclear strike on the Democratic People’s Republic of
Korea.
Double-faced approaches, such as talking about
dialogue and resorting to war exercises against a
dialogue partner behind the scenes, are a clear
indication of the persistently hostile policy of the
United States against the Democratic People’s
Republic of Korea and the confrontational policy of the
present South Korean regime.
In the face of such military threats and danger of
war, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea has
been strengthening in every possible way its self-
defence capability in order to safeguard its national
sovereignty and peace. That choice and right of ours is
just and legitimate and cannot be subject to criticism
and blame by others. If the powerful deterrent to war
secured by the Songun policy of the respected General
Kim Jong Il had not existed, the Korean peninsula
would have already suffered catastrophes several times
over, which would certainly have led to the complete
disruption of regional peace and stability as a whole.
The denuclearization of the Korean peninsula is
the lifetime instruction of President Kim Il Sung, the
great leader of our people, and the Government of the
Democratic People’s Republic of Korea remains
consistent in its position of resolving the nuclear issue
peacefully through dialogue and negotiations. The
adoption of the North-South Joint Declaration on the
Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in 1992 and
of the Agreed Framework between the United States of
America and the Democratic People’s Republic of
Korea in 1994 are a demonstration of the firm political
will of our Government to denuclearize the Korean
peninsula.
Thanks to our sincere endeavours, several rounds
of the Six-Party Talks have been held to date, enabling
the adoption of the Joint Statement of 19 September
2005, followed by the agreements on and
implementation of phased actions aimed at resolving
the nuclear issue on the Korean peninsula.
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea
honoured its commitments to the agreements of the
Six-Party Talks in good faith. Nuclear facilities were
disabled at the final stage, a nuclear declaration was
submitted and those measures envisaged for the
destruction phase were even implemented in advance.
That notwithstanding, the United States has laid
an artificial obstacle to implementing the 3 October
agreement by refusing to implement its obligations and
put forward such an unjust demand as verification of
an international standard never agreed on among the
six parties or between the Democratic People’s
Republic of Korea and the United States.
The international standard asserted by the United
States is nothing but the special inspection that the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) called for
in the 1990s to infringe upon the sovereignty of the
Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, causing it
ultimately to pull out of the Treaty on the
Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.
The United States has now put on hold the
implementation of the procedure for de-listing the
Democratic People’s Republic of Korea as a State
sponsor of terrorism under the pretext of verification,
even after having officially declared that the
Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is not a State
sponsor of terrorism. That is little short of admitting
that the list is not actually related to terrorism.
As far as verification is concerned, it is a
commitment to be fulfilled by the six parties during the
final phase of the denuclearization of the entire Korean
peninsula, in accordance with the 19 September Joint
Statement. The United States insistence on unilateral
inspection of the Democratic People’s Republic of
Korea is a brigand-like demand to unilaterally disarm
the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the other
warring party, by discarding its commitment to the
39 08-53129
denuclearization of the entire Korean peninsula, the
core of which is the removal of the United States
nuclear threat, in accordance with the 19 September
Joint Statement.
Now that the United States has broken the
agreement, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea
is inevitably taking relevant countermeasures based on
the principle of action for action. If the six parties are
not true to their word in carrying out their respective
obligations because of their great lack of trust in one
another, no progress will be made at all. That is a
lesson drawn from the process of previous Six-Party
Talks. The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea will
continue to make every sincere effort to achieve the
denuclearization of the entire Korean peninsula, but we
will not be indifferent to an attempt to offend our
dignity and self-respect and to violate our sovereignty.
As members are well aware, inter-Korean
relations have been worsening ever since the
installation of the new regime in South Korea, which
rejects the North-South joint declaration of 15 June
2000 and the declaration of 4 October 2007.
Resolutions were adopted by consensus at previous
General Assembly sessions supporting the historic
North-South summits held in Pyongyang in 2000 and
2007 and the 15 June 2000 joint declaration and the
4 October 2007 declaration resulting from them. As
stipulated in those resolutions, the 15 June joint
declaration and programme of action and the 4 October
declaration constitute major milestones that could
shorten the process of improving inter-Korean relations
and achieving independent national reunification in the
new century, as well as a grand programme for Korean
reunification that clearly reflects the demands of the
times and the aspirations of the nation.
Those declarations enjoy the unanimous support
not only of the entire Korean people, but also of the
international community as a whole, as they are most
comprehensive and realistic in their content and
include all previous inter-Korean agreements,
including the joint statement of 4 July 1972, which
clarifies the three principles of independence, peaceful
reunification and great national unity.
It is intolerable that the declarations agreed upon
and adopted at the highest level in the North and the
South and supported unanimously by the international
community are now being disregarded simply because
of the changed regime in South Korea. The
Government of the Democratic People’s Republic of
Korea will continue to seek national reconciliation and
unity by fully implementing the 15 June joint
declaration and the 4 October declaration, launching a
new era of independent reunification, peace and
prosperity and doing its utmost to ensure durable peace
and stability on the Korean peninsula.