On behalf of the delegation of the Democratic People's Republic of
Korea, I should like at the outset to congratulate you,
Sir, on your election to the presidency of the General
Assembly at its sixty-second session. I am confident
that your able leadership will ensure the success of our
work.
I wish to begin my statement by reiterating the
principled and just position of the Democratic People’s
Republic of Korea and to emphasize its sincere effort
to resolve the nuclear issue on the Korean peninsula,
which continues to draw the attention of the
international community. That issue, as has been made
clear time and again from this very rostrum, is no more
than a product of the deep-rooted and hostile policy of
the United States towards the Democratic People’s
Republic of Korea a policy that has lasted for more
than half a century.
Peace and stability on the Korean peninsula is
directly linked to the peace and security of the North-
East Asian region and of the world as a whole. It is
regrettable, however, that there has never been lasting
peace and stability on the Korean peninsula. Rather,
there has been a recurring cycle of tension and détente
whose principal cause is nothing other than the current,
hostile relations between the Democratic People's
Republic of Korea and the United States.
As history has proved, no issue can be resolved
by resorting to sanctions and pressure. There has been
no other option for the Democratic People’s Republic
of Korea whose territory and population are
small but to strengthen its military power for self-
defence, on the basis of Songun politics, to protect its
national sovereignty and dignity in the face of the
United States’ threats of nuclear strikes and harsh
economic sanctions.
It is the Songun politics of the respected General
Kim Jong Il and our active efforts that guarantee peace
and stability on the Korean peninsula and a strategic
balance in the North-East Asian region. Our Songun
politics is a source of great pride and self-confidence
for us, because it deters military conflict and ensures
peace on the Korean peninsula and in North-East Asia.
Our national military power has a self-defensive
nature, since it is intended solely to safeguard our
sovereignty and to fulfil the aspirations of the countries
in the region for peace, security and stability.
Denuclearization of the Korean peninsula was the
lifelong teaching of our fatherly leader President Kim
Il Sung, and it has been our consistent position that the
nuclear issue must be resolved peacefully through
dialogue and negotiation. Thanks to our sincere efforts,
several rounds of the Six-Party Talks have been held to
date. That made possible the adoption of Joint
Statement of 19 September 2005, followed by the
13 February 2007 agreement on initial actions to
denuclearize the Korean peninsula. The Joint Statement
sets out the obligations of all parties in the
denuclearization of the Korean peninsula on the basis
of the principle of words for words and actions for
actions.
Denuclearization of the Korean peninsula will not
lead to our unilateral disarmament, but can be achieved
by ending the hostile relations between the Democratic
People’s Republic of Korea and the United States and
by eliminating all nuclear threats on the Korean
peninsula and in the surrounding region.
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea
suspended the operation of the Nyongbyon nuclear
facilities and allowed monitoring by the International
Atomic Energy Agency, thus fulfilling its obligations
under the 13 February agreement in a sincere manner.
The Nyongbyon nuclear facilities are the parent body
of our independent nuclear power industry, built with
tremendous human and material resources.
Accordingly, it is a courageous political decision to
halt their operation and now pass to the stage of
disabling them prior to eventual dismantlement.
As we clarified again at the Six-party Talks
recently held in Beijing, the successful implementation
of the 19 September Joint Statement requires all parties
to fulfil their respective obligations in accordance with
the principle of “actions for actions”. Specifically, it
depends on what practical measures the United States
and Japan will take to end their hostile policies towards
the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. The
United States should take steps to change its policy
towards my country and to normalize bilateral
relations, while Japan should make a clean break with
its past policy of aggression and crimes and set aside
its hostility towards my country, as it has pledged to
do. We will watch closely every move on the part of
the United States and Japan at this stage, the stage that
requires actions.
Nothing is more urgent or important than the
reunification of the nation, which has had to live with a
territorial division imposed by outside forces for more
than half a century. Ever since the early days of the
division, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea
has consistently sought to reunify the nation through
independent dialogue and negotiations between the
north and south of Korea, as it sees reunification as the
supreme national task. The historic North-South Joint
Declaration of 15 June 2000, a declaration of national
independence and peaceful reunification, sought to
achieve reunification through concerted efforts in
accordance with the ideal of “by our nation itself”,
thereby rejecting interference from outside forces.
The north-south summit now under way in
Pyongyang opens a significant new phase that augurs
well for peace, joint prosperity and reunification,
taking Korean relations to a higher level, in accordance
with the historic Joint Declaration and the spirit of “our
nation itself”. With the north and the south sitting face
to face in a spirit of national independence and love for
country, all problems can surely be resolved in the
interests of our nation, regardless of differences in
ideas and systems.
In order for the objectives of the North-South
Joint Declaration to be achieved and for peace and
reunification to return to the Korean peninsula, the
United States policy of hostility towards our country,
and its interference in our nation’s internal affairs,
should be brought to an end. In any case, the
Government of our Republic will make every effort to
bring about national reunification as soon as possible
by emphasizing the concept of one nation, defending
peace, realizing unity under the ideal of “by our nation
itself”, and upholding the banner of the North-South
Joint Declaration.
I would also like to draw the Assembly's
attention to Japan’s recent attempt to use militarization
to cast a dark shadow across the future development of
the Korean peninsula and its neighbours. In addition,
Japan’s discriminatory and repressive acts deny the
national rights of Koreans in Japan, in violation of
international law.
Japan's recent manoeuvres against the
Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the
General Association of Korean Residents in Japan
(Chongryon), have driven relations between Japan and
our country to the lowest possible level. In an open
challenge to the international community’s
denunciation and condemnation of Japan’s treatment of
Koreans, Japanese authorities have not hesitated to
distort history, even going so far as to try to conceal
Japan’s bloody past crimes, while turning the “self-
defence force” into a regular army with a mandate that
permits pre-emptive strikes against other countries by
changing the “Peace Constitution” into a war
constitution.
Indeed, Japan's attempt to eliminate by force the
Chongryon, the legitimate overseas organization of
compatriots from my country, constitutes an
infringement of the sovereignty of the Democratic
People's Republic of Korea as serious as any financial
sanction could be and a massive human rights violation
according to the provisions of existing international
human rights instruments.
We therefore hope that Japan will truly follow the
path of friendship and peace rather than revive its
unsavoury past. Unless it makes a clean break with its
past crimes, Japan is not entitled to a future.
Although the first decade of the new millennium
is already nearing its end, our planet has yet to be
peaceful, even for a day. Indeed, world peace and
security are now confronted with serious challenges of
ever-increasing intensity. Principles of respect for
national sovereignty and equality the foundation of
modern international relations are threatened by
attempts to extend and expand the “war against
terrorism” for self-serving reasons, and by the high-
handedness and arbitrariness of forces that advocate
pre-emptive nuclear strikes and accelerated the
modernization of nuclear weapons.
The present international situation requires the
United Nations to strengthen its central role and
functions in resolving such issues as global peace and
security and sustainable economic and social
development, in conformity with the purposes and
principles of the Charter of the United Nations.
Unilateralism and high-handedness should never be
tolerated, as they violate principles of international law
and the Charter, as well as collective efforts to build a
new and just world order, based on respect for
sovereignty, territorial integrity, equality and mutual
benefit.
Disputes should be resolved peacefully through
dialogue and negotiations. Collective sanctions and the
use of force in the form of armed aggression against
sovereign States must never be tolerated on any
account.
The Security Council should be a responsible
organ that truly ensures international peace and
security. It should not be used by certain countries to
promote their own strategic interests.
The peaceful and prosperous new world desired
by humankind must have as its basis fair international
relations in which the sovereignty of all States
Members of the United Nations is respected without
differentiation and the principles of equality and
mutual benefit are observed.
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea will
continue to strive for the creation of a just and equal
world order based on the ideals of independence, peace
and friendship.