Republic of Korea

I would like to extend my congratulations to His Excellency Mr. Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann on his election to the presidency of the General Assembly at its sixty-third session. I also wish to express my deep appreciation to His Excellency Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for his dedication to having the United Nations meet global challenges in a more effective and timely manner. I assure them of the Republic of Korea’s full support for their noble endeavours. As I stand here, I recall those turbulent days seven years ago when we stood shaken by the terrorist acts in the morning of 11 September 2001. Throughout my presidency of the General Assembly at its fifty- sixth session, all Member States were united in dealing with the grave challenges in the shadow of 9/11. On 12 September 2001, this Assembly began its fifty-sixth session by adopting resolution 56/1, strongly condemning the terrorist acts and calling for a concerted effort by the international community to combat terrorism. With the close cooperation that followed, counter-terrorist capacity has been strengthened at all levels. Nevertheless, as we are witnessing in many parts of the world today, terrorism continues to threaten and take the lives of innocent people. As the international community shares the concern over such an intractable trend, it is time for us to renew our commitment to completely root out terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. This year marks the sixtieth anniversary of the founding of the Republic of Korea. The Republic of Korea was the first country to have the establishment of its Government recognized by the United Nations 08-51851 32 through a General Assembly resolution, back in December 1948. Thanks to the Assembly’s continuous support, the Republic of Korea was able to step into the twenty-first century as a full-fledged democracy and vibrant economy. It is my sincere hope that this special relationship will further develop and strengthen in the years to come. Over the past six decades, the United Nations has strived for the common good of the international community and has become ever more relevant to the well-being of the present and future generations of humankind. It is currently leading the global efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and is demonstrating strong stewardship in addressing the global food and energy crises, as well as climate change. Standing at the midpoint to the MDG target year of 2015, we realize that, in order to achieve what we pledged, all Member States will have to redouble their commitments to the MDGs. But political commitment alone is not enough. We need solid economic growth and a coherent strategy to translate our commitment into reality. While the rapid growth experiences of Korea and other countries have served as a useful reference for many developing countries, we should move beyond the conventional economic growth approach of “grow first, clean up later”. Rather, what we need is green and pro-poor growth. Climate change, on which the future of humanity so critically depends, is now looming larger than ever as a global challenge. Adverse impacts of climate change are threatening the very foundation of the MDGs, inter alia, by affecting agriculture, upon which the livelihood of many in the developing world depends, and by increasing climate-related natural disasters, which are hitting hard the most vulnerable bottom billion, as in the case of Typhoon Nargis. The conventional growth approach based on cheap fossil fuel is among the factors driving up the prices of oil and food. As such, we need a new climate- friendly strategy for energy and development if we are to attain the goals of the MDGs while addressing climate change. I encourage all agencies of the United Nations to closely cooperate to develop a new road map. In that regard, I would like to express my full support for the energetic leadership of Secretary- General Ban Ki-moon, who has been working hard to place climate change as our top priority on the global agenda. The Republic of Korea recently embraced a low- carbon, green growth paradigm. We strongly believe that that is and should be the new paradigm for growth and development of the world in the future. We support the global vision of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 50 per cent by 2050 and plan to announce next year our voluntary midterm mitigation goal set for the year 2020. We will also launch the East Asia Climate Partnership, which will initiate programmes in the amount of $200 million over the next five years to support other countries in making their economic growth compatible with climate change concerns. In 2002, I attended the World Summit on Sustainable Development, held in Johannesburg, in my capacity as President of the General Assembly. Through that and other experiences, I have come to firmly believe in the importance of high-level commitments to strengthening our efforts and political momentum on issues concerning the environment and development. In that vein, I would like to emphasize that a new world summit focusing on climate change and sustainable development needs to be held in 2012, not least to ensure a strong take-off for a post-2012 climate regime. Given that the past three conferences were held in Europe, America and Africa respectively, it could well be Asia’s turn to host the next. Asia is the most populous region in the world and is undergoing vibrant economic transformation, which makes the sustainable development issue all the more relevant. As a country well-placed to play a bridging role between developed and developing nations, the Republic of Korea hopes to make a contribution by hosting that conference. The global food crisis is another factor contributing to instability by increasing the population affected by poverty and starvation. It is also threatening to reverse many of the gains we have achieved thus far in the development field. As the causes behind the current food crisis are complex and varied, our responses must be comprehensive as well as timely. The Republic of Korea has provided humanitarian assistance to countries facing food crises. I am pleased to inform the Assembly that the Republic of Korea, in addition to its assistance to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, has decided to offer 33 08-51851 $100 million over the next three years for emergency food aid and for assistance to strengthen the agricultural capacities of developing countries. With first-hand knowledge in agricultural development, Korea plans to assist in various areas, including farming infrastructure, technology and policymaking. This year also marks the sixtieth anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Over the decades, the United Nations has played an indispensable role in setting international norms and principles to ensure all human rights for all. This year saw further progress, with the implementation of the Universal Periodic Review by the Human Rights Council and with the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities taking effect. At the same time, we need to redouble efforts to stem the serious human rights violations that still continue in certain regions. The Republic of Korea urges those human rights violators to urgently respond to the international community’s call for dialogue and cooperation and to follow up with appropriate measures to enhance human rights. In the area of United Nations reform, it is more crucial now than ever that the United Nations operate efficiently, effectively and responsively. The Republic of Korea supports all efforts, in particular the initiatives taken by the Secretary-General, to make the Secretariat more accountable, efficient and responsive. As for the Security Council, in order for it to better fulfil its mandate of maintaining international peace and security, it needs to be reformed to ensure that it is more representative, accountable and efficient. Moreover, considering the importance of the Security Council, every effort should be made to acquire a general agreement among all Member States in steering the direction of the reform. It should be not an issue of division, but one that unites Member States. The new Government of the Republic of Korea has posited contributing to the international community as a trusted partner as one of the pillars of its foreign policy. To that end, we are strengthening our role in official development assistance and peacekeeping operations. Since 2000, our official development assistance has increased three times in volume, with assistance to Africa increasing threefold in the past three years. We plan to triple our current official development assistance to reach over $3 billion by 2015. To better coordinate our development cooperation policy with the international community, the Republic of Korea plans to join the Development Assistance Committee of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in 2010. The Republic of Korea is also seeking ways to strengthen its participation in United Nations peacekeeping operations. Currently, we have a 350- strong contingent dispatched to the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon and are considering legislation to facilitate our participation in peacekeeping operations. The proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their delivery systems poses a grave threat to international peace and security. We must strengthen the disarmament and non-proliferation regimes, including the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). In that regard, it is crucial that the North Korean nuclear issue be expeditiously resolved. That issue has remained for many years a threat to the security of North-East Asia while seriously undermining the very foundations of the NPT regime. The Republic of Korea is making every effort to resolve the North Korean nuclear issue within the framework of the Six-Party Talks, under which some progress has been made. However, Pyongyang’s recent move to suspend the disablement measures and attempt to reverse the process is highly regrettable. We urge the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to resume disablement measures immediately so that the positive momentum generated by the Six-Party Talks process can be maintained and the denuclearization process can move forward. With a view to developing more mature inter-Korean relations in a pragmatic and productive way, the Republic of Korea pursues a policy of mutual benefits and common prosperity. As progress is made in denuclearization, we stand ready to support economic development in the North. We are also willing to hold discussions with Pyongyang on how to implement properly all past inter-Korean agreements, including the Basic Agreement of 1992. President Lee Myung-bak, in his speech to the National Assembly in July, proposed to fully restore inter-Korean dialogue and emphasized that we are ready to render our cooperation to alleviate the food crisis in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. We look 08-51851 34 forward to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea accepting the offer for dialogue so that real progress can be made in inter-Korean relations. Eventually, I believe that we will see more peace and prosperity in North-East Asia. The region is already a major powerhouse for economic growth in the world. With the peaceful resolution of the North Korean nuclear issue, countries in the region will be able to accelerate cooperation to make North-East Asia more stable and future-oriented. Undoubtedly, that will in turn contribute greatly to the peace and prosperity of the world. Currently, the international community is grappling with the grave financial turmoil that threatens to spread worldwide. It has even been feared that the turmoil could lead to a recession of the magnitude of the Great Depression of the 1930s. Without a doubt, the current instability in the financial market could have a devastating, domino-like impact on the real economy of this globalized world. We have to be careful, however, not to rush into protectionist policies either for fear of uncertainty or out of self-interest. There are hard-learned lessons from the Depression of the 1930s: the “beggar thy neighbour” policy and the policy of raising tariffs to protect particular industries harmed the world economy. Therefore, I strongly believe that any solution should be based on an even closer cooperation within the international community and the open market economy. Today, the expectations placed upon the United Nations by the international community are higher than ever. However, what the United Nations can achieve cannot be greater than the sum of all our individual achievements unless there are synergistic effects. Therefore, all of us, each and every Member State, should not only do our best in carrying out our responsibilities, but should also be willing to help and reach out to others. Only by doing so can this global body live up to and even exceed the expectations of the international community. To that end, the Republic of Korea will faithfully do its part.