First of all, on behalf of the delegation of
the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, allow me
to congratulate Mr. John William Ashe on his election
as the President of the General Assembly at its sixty-
eighth session. I am convinced that his competent
leadership will lead this session towards success.
The Millennium Summit, held in 2000, advanced
peace and security, sustainable development and the
protection and promotion of human rights as the three
key objectives of the United Nations. Ever since the
inception of the United Nations, humankind has aspired
to build a new, peaceful world, free from war, while at
the same time aspiring to achieve common prosperity
and development based on cooperation among Member
States. That aspiration, however, is far from coming
true, even after a new century and the passage of the
first decade of the new millennium.
A high-handed and arbitrary approach is
becoming ever more rampant in international relations.
Infringements upon sovereignty, interference in internal
affairs and regime change continue unabated under
the pretexts of non-proliferation and the protection of
human rights, for which the United Nations is being
abused. Confrontation between forces with different
interests, States and civilizations, and wars large and
small, keep taking place in different parts of the world,
severely damaging the credibility of the United Nations,
whose primary mission is to ensure peace and security.
Those developments clearly demonstrate that
sustainable development and the real protection of
human rights will remain a figment of our imagination
as long as there is no peace and security as stipulated in
the Charter of the United Nations. International relations
should reject any State’s high-handed and arbitrary
approach on the part of a State that undermines peace
and security in order to achieve genuine cooperation
and development among countries based on the
sovereign equality of States. The unjust intervention,
pressure and use of force that is unfolding in Syria by
way of infringements on its sovereignty and territorial
integrity, which further breach peace and stability,
should not be allowed under any circumstances, and the
United States blockade against Cuba should be brought
to an end at the earliest possible date.
The international community unanimously
demands the elimination of all nuclear weapons and
encourages the building of a nuclear-weapon-free world
through nuclear disarmament. As agreed at a High-
level Meeting on Nuclear Disarmament held during the
current session, on the initiative of the Non-Aligned
Movement, negotiations on nuclear disarmament should
begin without further delay to work on universal legal
instruments that codify negative security assurances
and the prohibition of nuclear weapons, among other
things.
The choice of “The post-2015 development agenda:
setting the stage” as the theme for the current session
serves to highlight the importance of sustainable
development for world peace and our common prosperity.
We have little time left before the 2015 deadline for the
achievement of the Millennium Development Goals,
including poverty reduction in particular. However,
much to our regret, international efforts in that regard
have not produced the long-overdue results. By
identifying and successfully attaining the post-2015
sustainable development goals, practical measures
need to be taken to address issues such as establishing
fair international economic relations, transferring
environmentally sound technology to developing
countries and strengthening financial support.
Despite international efforts towards the protection
and promotion of human rights, high-handedness
and double standards are becoming ever more visible
in United Nations human rights forums, targeting
developing countries as selectively as in the past.
Politicization, selectivity and double standards should
be put to an end in such forums, and no one should be
able to justify or allow the continuation of a situation
where the human rights situation in some countries
is either called into question or simply ignored in
accordance with the political purpose and interests of
the West and Western values.
The reform of the United Nations is becoming an
issue that brooks no further delay in achieving the
major United nations goals to which I have referred in
the twenty-first century.
In addressing key international issues, the General
Assembly should be empowered to have the final
say, since it represents the overall will of the entire
membership. In particular, Security Council resolutions
pertaining to peace and security, such as those on
sanctions and the use of force, should be made effective
only under the authority and with the approval of the
General Assembly. Instances of the Council being
abused by a certain State as a tool of strategic interest
should never go unchallenged.
Last January, under the manipulation of the United
States, the forcible adoption of an unfair resolution on
sanctions took place (Security Council resolution 2087
(2013)) by making an issue of our legitimate satellite
launch for peaceful purposes — something that was
conducted and recognized under international law.
That represents a typical example of how and for what
purpose the power of the Security Council is being
abused. The reform of the Council, which is a key
component of reforming the United Nations, should
be undertaken on the basis of principles for ensuring
accountability, transparency and impartiality in its
activities, thereby ensuring the full representation of
developing countries in its composition.
Today in the Democratic People’s Republic of
Korea, the entire population is engaged in an all-out
campaign to build a thriving socialist State in the
nearest possible future, under the wise leadership of
the dear respected Marshal Kim Jong Un. Marshal
Kim Jong Un, the supreme leader of our people, gives
continuous on-the-spot guidance across the country,
offering direction and innovative ways for speeding
up economic development and the improvement of
people’s livelihoods.
Practical measures are being taken, one after
another, to revitalize the overall national economy,
bringing about success in the fields of economic
development and improving people’s welfare. Nothing
is more precious than creating a stable and peaceful
environment for the Government of the Democratic
People’s Republic of Korea and the Korean people,
who helped build economic power and improved
people’s livelihoods as part of the Government’s
overall objective. Although our efforts for peaceful
development are faced with grave challenges, the
Korean people will surely bring about the day of
final victory by advancing with full confidence and
optimism, united single-handedly around Marshal Kim
Jong Un and under his wise leadership.
Sixty years have passed since the gunfire that
ended a fierce three-year-long war and the signing
of the Armistice Agreement in the Korean peninsula
last century. Yet there is still no mechanism in place
to guarantee peace, resulting in the continuation of
the unsustainable situation — one of neither war nor
peace — on the Korean peninsula.
With the aim of achieving military domination of
North-East Asia, the United States, using the Korean
peninsula as a stepping stone, has designated the
Democratic People’s Republic of Korea as its primary
target of attack and is beefing up its military presence
in South Korea and the vicinity. Furthermore, it stages a
series of war exercises against the Democratic People’s
Republic of Korea every year, with massive build-ups
of hundreds of thousands of troops and modern military
equipment, continuously escalating confrontation and
fuelling tensions.
The United Nations Command, the outdated legacy
of the Korean War, continues to serve the United States
military strategy by abusing the name of the United
Nations. The United Nations Command, which has
nothing to do with the United Nations, continuously
conducts military actions threatening the Korean
peninsula and its surrounding area in the name of the
United Nations under the baton of the United States. That
shows that resolution 3390 (XXX), which the Assembly
adopted at its thirtieth session and which calls for the
dissolution of the United Nations Command, remains
nothing more than a piece of paper. It also shows to
what extent the credibility of the United Nations has
been undermined.
The repeated vicious cycle of mounting tensions on
the Korean peninsula has its roots in the hostile policy
of the United States towards the Democratic People’s
Republic of Korea. The United States designated
the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, with its
different ideology and system, as its enemy from the
very day of its foundation and has refused to recognize
its sovereignty and has imposed all sorts of sanctions,
pressure and military threats on the Democratic People’s
Republic of Korea for more than half a century.
The only way to ensure lasting peace on the
Korean peninsula is to bring the hostile United States
policy to an end. The United States should abolish its
hostile policy by, among other things, respecting the
sovereignty of the Democratic People’s Republic of
Korea, replacing the Armistice Agreement with a peace
mechanism, dismantling the United Nations Command
without further delay and lifting all sanctions and
military threats.
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea
remains consistent in its stance and in its efforts to
put an end to the tensions on the Korean peninsula by
peaceful means through dialogue and negotiations,
and to contribute to ensuring peace and security in
the region. In order to achieve genuine peace and ease
tensions on the Korean peninsula, we are making every
possible effort and displaying maximum patience.
Reunifying the country is a long-cherished desire
and the most pressing task of the Korean nation. As
we entered the new century, North-South summit
meetings were held on two occasions, with joyful
enthusiasm shared by all our countrymen, adopting
the 15 June North-South joint declaration and the
4 October declaration, thus providing a milestone for
reconciliation, collaboration and reunification between
the North and South of Korea.
Thanks to the active and generous efforts of the
Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, a window of
opportunity has opened for improving North-South
relations after a long period of deadlock. However, the
outdated confrontational approach we are coming up
against from the South Korean authorities risks driving
relations back into a destructive stage.
As clarified by the 15 June joint declaration and
the 4 October declaration, the only way to achieve the
peaceful reunification of the country and to open the
way forward for the nation is to promote dialogue and
cooperation between the North and South of Korea by
joining hands in the spirit of the Korean nation itself.
We will work hand in hand with anyone who
truly seeks reconciliation and the reunification and
prosperity of the nation. We will strive to accomplish
the historic cause of national reunification through the
concerted efforts of the nation under the 15 June joint
declaration and the 4 October declaration.
In conclusion, the Democratic People’s Republic of
Korea will continue to strengthen and develop friendly
and cooperative relations with all States Members of
the United Nations, support the placing of the situation
on the Korean peninsula under stable management as
a member of the international community, and fully
exercise its responsibility and role in ensuring world
peace and the common prosperity of humankind,
pursuant to its foreign policy of ideals, independence,
peace and friendship.