Democratic People's Republic of Korea

 

PERMANENT MISSION TO THE UNITED NATIONS

 

 

 

 

Statement

by

H.E. Mr. Li Hyong Chol,

Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the

Democratic People's Republic of Korea

to the United Nations

 

To the 55th session of the UN General Assembly

 

New York, September 15, Juche89 (2000)

 

Mr. President,

 

On behalf of the delegation of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, I would like, first of all, to congratulate you, Mr. Harri Hermanni Holkeri, on your election to the Presidency of the 55th session of the United Nations General Assembly.

 

I believe that the present session will produce desired results under your leadership.

 

I pay a tribute to your predecessor, Mr. Theo‑Ben Gurrirab, who made a great contribution to successful conclusion of the 54th session of the United Nations General Assembly.

 

I wish also to highly appreciate the efforts made by the Secretary‑General Mr. Kofi Annan for strengthening the role of the United Nations.

 

Mr. President,

 

The central role of the United Nations in the new century should be to establish international relations and order for making the new century independent, peaceful and prosperous.

 

Any country can neither defend its national dignity nor achieve its social and economic development when its national sovereignty is violated. This is the lesson for mankind on the threshold of the 21st century.

 

It is the common aspirations of the world peoples that the 21st century should be a century of independence, peace and development.

 

Genuine peace and prosperity on our planet can be achieved only when the sovereignty of all countries is respected.

 

Mr. President,

 

We regard independence as our life and soul. The idea of independence runs through all domestic and foreign policies and lines of the Government of the DPRK. This is the brilliant embodiment of the independent policy of the great leader General Kim Jong II.

 

The reality prevailing on the Korean peninsula clearly testifies to the justness of the independent policies consistently carried out by the Government of the DPRK.

 

       It is unthinkable apart from independence that our country overcomes manifold difficulties and advances the building of a powerful nation convincingly along the road chosen by its people.

 

The independent foreign policy of the Government of the DPRK makes a tangible contribution to peace and stability in Northeast Asia. It can be said that it is entirely attributable to our firm adherence to independence that our country has been able to play a buffer-zone role effectively in the intersection of the divergent geopolitical interests of several countries.

 

We take pride in the independent foreign policy of our Government, as it contributes to maintaining the balance of power and preventing a war in Northeast Asia.

 

The independent policy of the Government of the DPRK also gives full play to its vitality in realizing the cause of peace and reunification on the Korean peninsula.

 

The United Nations General Assembly at its 28th Session in 1973 unanimously welcomed the three principles of independence, peaceful reunification and great national unity which had been agreed upon by the north and the south of the Korean peninsula.

 

These three principles of national reunification are the grand programme of reunification put forward by President Kim 11 Sung, the great leader of our people, and constitute the most essential component of the three-point charter for national reunification defined by the respected general Kim Jong II.

 

At the historic Pyongyang Meeting in June this year, the leaders of the north and the south reaffirmed these three principles of national reunification and on this basis, the North-South Joint Declaration was made public on solving the reunification question independently by the concerted efforts of our nation.

 

The Summit Meeting and the resulting Joint Declaration mark a historic milestone, opening a turning-phase in achieving the cause of independent reunification of our nation.

 

Amidst the increased spirit of national independence and reunification, the North-South Ministerial Talks for reconciliation and collaboration are held and the reunions of separated families realized. Mutual visits between the north and the south through, inter alia, direct flights between Pyongyang and Seoul are now commonplace and the project is underway to relink the railways between the north and the south of Korea.

 

This is the brilliant fruition of our independent policy and the result of warm love for the nation and strong desire for reunification.

 

It is none other than the Korean nation that is responsible for Korea's reunification question. Korea's reunification should be achieved independently by the concerted efforts of the Koreans in the north and the south, as stated in the North-South Joint Declaration.

 

Reunification will come true if both sides take realistic and practical measures for establishing a reunified state by making the most of common elements of the federation and the confederation proposed by the north and the south respectively.

 

The independent reunification of our nation will surely lead to a lasting peace on the Korean peninsula, and we do believe that this will, in turn, contribute to peace and security in Asia and the rest of the world.

 

Mr. President,

 

The turning point created on the Korean peninsula is a positive development of global significance.

 

We consider that the present trend towards the improvement of the north-south relations and the reunification is a process that should be valued for the sake of peace and security in Northeast Asia as well.

 

If this process is to continue to gain momentum, the countries concerned should work in support of the process, rather than disturbing it.

 

The United States is creating our non-existent "missile threats" in order to justify the establishment of its "Theatre Missile Defense" and "National Missile Defense" systems. Nevertheless, it gives rise to worldwide concern for its danger.

 

Our missile program is of peaceful nature, to all intents and purposes. All countries have an equal sovereign right recognized in the United Nations to conduct a research work on and make use of the outer space. It is, therefore, totally unfair for the United States to take issue only with our rockets, while there are many countries that launch their own space rockets.

 

If the hostile relations are removed and confidence is built between the DPRK and the US, there will be ways to address the concerns of both sides.

 

The recent incident that prevented the President of the Presidium of our Supreme People's Assembly from attending the Millennium Summit is, after all, the manifestation of the continued hostile policy pursued by the US against the DPRK, labeling our country as "a terrorism-sponsoring nation". In this regard, we note that the US has recognized its responsibility for the incident and assured that such incident would not occur again. We also pay attention to the recently stated US position that it has no reason to perpetuate its hostile relations with our country. If this position is put into practice, we will be ready to respond in a positive way any time.

 

Another factor that casts a shadow on the positive development on the Korean peninsula is the suspicious future of Japan.

 

Whether Japan revives its militarist specter or becomes a peace-loving country is a serious question directly linked to peace and stability in Asia and particularly, its neighboring Korean peninsula.

 

Continued evasion by Japan from settling its past with our country is the main factor that makes us suspicious of its future orientation. Moreover, such suspicion is increased as we witness the Japanese moves to find pretexts for justifying its rearmament by targeting our country as its "enemy".

 

Should Japan take the path of militarism, it will obviously strain its relations with other Asian countries and exert negative effects on the improvement of the north-south relations. We hope Japan will not go along this direction. Japan should find its future in sincere and earlier settlement of its past.

 

Now that the North-South Joint Declaration is being smoothly implemented, new sound international relations will be established in Northeast Asia once the hostile DPRK-US and DPRK-Japan relations are removed.

 

In conformity with this encouraging process, the United Nations should also take practical measures to dismantle the "United Nations Command", a legacy of the cold war, thus making a due contribution to this process.

 

Mr. President,

 

In order to establish fair international relations and international order that will properly represent the new century, it is important to successfully overcome the challenges to the UN Charter.

 

The most serious challenge posed in the international relations at present is the emergence of the concept of "humanitarian intervention."

 

The United Nations is based on the principle of sovereign equality. The United Nations Charter enshrines the principles of respect for sovereignty and non-interference in internal affairs as a cornerstone of the international relations.

 

These are the major principles based on the reality in which there exist big and small countries in the world. All countries aspire to independence and struggle to defend their national sovereignty.

 

Encroaching upon the sovereignty of small countries by big powers in exercise of power politics is an act of high-handedness, as already judged by the times. "Humanitarian intervention" is a dangerous concept that could beautify such act of highhandedness and eliminate essential spirit of the UN Charter.

 

International relations of the new century should be the one which could serve to terminate arbitrariness and high-handedness like threatening sovereign states by force and imposing sanctions on them and to fully implement the purposes and principles of the UN Charter.

 

International peace and security should be achieved by way of strengthening the role of the United Nations, not by arbitrariness, high-handedness and intervention of any individual big power.

 

The role of the United Nations in the field of disarmament, particularly, nuclear disarmament should be enhanced.

 

Despite ever-growing desire and expectation of the international society for disarmament after the end of the cold war, disarmament process stands still, faced with new challenges.

 

Reality requires that a nuclear disarmament process be turned into a United Nations process, instead of being left to the nuclear weapon states alone. We are of the view that the fourth special session of the United Nations General Assembly devoted to disarmament should be held as early as possible taking into due consideration the demand of a large number of countries.

 

Another challenge to be effectively countered by the United Nations in the international relations is an attempt to politicize the human rights issue.

 

Along with the use of force, the human rights issue constitutes one of the two factors straining the international relations. This can be found in the reality in which all the UN meetings that address human rights issues are often converted into arena of confrontation, not cooperation.

 

In fact, there is no more grave human rights violation than abusing human right issue for political purposes. The United Nations should enhance its role decisively to ensure that fairness is fully observed, not acquiescing in application of double standards in dealing with human rights issues.

 

The 21st century should be a century of development.

 

Durable international peace and security are inconceivable without the eradication of poverty eradication and solution of social and economic problems.

 

Fair international economic order, which is conducive to sustainable economic development of the developing countries, should be established as early as possible. In particular, it is imperative for the United Nations to further the analysis and assessment of the nature and danger of "globalization" as well as its impact on the developing countries and take necessary measures.

 

In this regard, we believe that the Declaration and Action Programme adopted at the South Summit held in Cuba last April can serve as an excellent basis for that purpose.

 

Mr. President,

 

In order for the United Nations to play its role commensurate with the requirement of the new century, it should be democratized through reforming its structure.

 

The main purpose of the United Nations reform is to ensure democracy and strict observance of the principles of justice and fairness in all its activities.

 

Now, the General Assembly has been relatively democratized, but it has not sufficient authority. On the contrary, the Security Council has authority and action capability, but falls short of desired degree of democracy.

 

In particular, the present structure of the Security Council leaves vacuum for the United Nations to be used as a tool of high-handedness, as the Security Council monopolizes decision-making power on such critical issues as enforcement action including use of force. The 20th century witnessed such cases on several occasions.

 

 We hold that the enhancement of the authority of the General Assembly becomes a prerequisite for ensuring democracy in the United Nations activities. The General Assembly has to be empowered at least to review the issues of international peace and security and to approve major decisions and resolutions of the Security Council on these issues.

 

In reforming the Security Council, priority should be given to the issue of increasing the number of non-permanent seats, thus correcting the present imbalance in regional representation.

 

It is also imperative that effective ways should be sought to ensure strict observance of the principles of justice and fairness in the United Nations activities.

 

We consider that one of those ways to this end will be to restore confidence of the international society in the United Nations by redressing those issues mishandled in the past by the United Nations in contradiction to the purposes and principles of its Charter by force of the arbitrariness and high-handedness.

 

Mr. President,

 

Independence, peace and friendship are the fundamental idea of foreign policy of the Government of the DPRK.

 

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea will remain true to this idea and faithfully discharge its obligations as a member state of the United Nations, so that the United Nations could become a truly effective organization that creditably serves the aspiration and requirement of the new century.

 

Thank you.