SG: Ladies and Gentlemen, good afternoon. It gives me great pleasure to visit my country once again. It's been eighteen months. And I feel it is very significant that I am able to deliver a press conference in a language that is not officially designated by the United Nations, but which is my mother tongue.

As the Prime Minister just indicated, I had discussions with him, and the Foreign Minister, Yu Myung-hwan, on ways, not only to take our cooperative ties to a higher level, but also we discussed various global issues, including climate change, the Millennium Development Goals, the food crisis, and we were able to engage in very extensive talks on these issues. I also sought ways for Korea to increase its contributions and cooperation in these areas.

Both the United Nations and the Korean Government share the view that the United Nations is the best-placed forum to deal with various global challenges, such as conflicts around the world, as well as the best-placed forum for mustering various leaderships, resources, and we also felt that Korea plays a very significant role in this process.

The Korean Government reaffirmed its determination to increase its concrete contributions to meeting these challenges.

I also expressed my support for the Korean Government's Global Korea Initiative.

I asked that Korea take a more active part in UN priorities, such as peacekeeping activities in Sudan, dealing with climate change and the food crisis, and helping to achieve the Millennium Development Goals through bold increases in its Official Development Assistance. I trust that Korea in particular will demonstrate an active leadership in the climate change negotiations under Prime Minister Han, who himself served as the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Climate Change.

I also explained the results of my visits to Japan and China and underscored the importance of active trilateral cooperation among Korea, China and Japan in confronting these global challenges, as members of the most dynamic region. In this context, I extended an invitation for a high level representative of the Korean Government to attend the high-level talks in the United Nations on September 25th.

Both sides noted very highly the Korean Government's active role in the Six-Party Talks, and its efforts to promote denuclearization on the Korean peninsula for peace and stability in North East Asia. I hope to see positive developments sustained.

I am also encouraged by recent efforts at trilateral relations among Korea, China and Japan, and express my best wishes for the success of the upcoming September trilateral summit.

I look forward to my meeting with President Lee.

In closing, I would like to thank the Government and the people of Korea for their confidence and support for ensuring the success of my visit, and I will seek to do my best to serve as a successful Secretary-General of the United Nations. Thank you.

Q: I understand that during today's discussions with the Prime Minister, that you discussed the issue of UN reform. What are your visions regarding the directions that the reform should proceed, and what do you feel are some of the obstacles that lie ahead in pursuing these reforms?

SG: I assure you that the issue of United Nations reform is one of the most important agendas as Secretary-General. I regret the fact that despite all its contributions to peace and development throughout the world throughout the course of its 60 years history, the United Nations has not been given fair credit for all its efforts and goals, and this is what we seek to rectify.

The United Nations has, throughout the past 18 months, undertaken numerous measures to transform itself to ensure greater efficiency, transparency and accountability. I do admit that we have made some progress and achievements in these areas. However, I must also admit that this is not a one-off effort, and in fact it requires sustained attention and efforts on our part.

In order to enhance the accountability of UN officials and UN employees, I have concluded a performance compact with senior officials of the United Nations to ensure their accountability.

And with regard to the area of transparency, I have made public my property for the first time in UN history, and senior officials and the senior leadership of the United Nations has also embarked on making public their properties as well. We have also taken measures to heighten the mobility of UN employees.

And in terms of institutional reforms that are required, there is generally widespread recognition of the need to undertake reforms of the United Nations Security Council. However, we have yet to reach consensus on the concrete formula under which we can expand the membership or the permanent membership representation on the Security Council. This is an area which requires further consultations on the part of the members of the United Nations.

We also see progress in institutional reforms in other areas as well. For instance, various issues have been raised with regard to the problems besetting the Human Rights Commission and so we established the Human Rights Council. Similarly, the Peacebuilding Commission has also been established. Thank you.

Q: Mr. Secretary-General. I understand that you have expressed a willingness to visit North Korea. Has there been a request for such a visit to take place? And if so, do you foresee any senior level mediation role for yourself? In light of the fact that inter-Korean ties have been at a standstill after the inauguration of the [inaudible] administration, do you foresee yourself playing any role in terms of facilitating and improving ties between south and north Korea?

SG: With regard to certain media reports concerning my supposed willingness to visit North Korea, I would stress that it is merely an expression of a matter of principle, and it does not indicate in any way the materialization of any concrete progress towards that end.

I know that there have been various statements in the past. I do feel that there have been very positive developments with regard to the international affairs surrounding the Korean Peninsula. In particular, the United States has undertaken corresponding measures subsequent to the submission of the declaration of its nuclear programme by North Korea. In regard to this matter, I have also issued a statement which calls upon all members of the Six-Party Talks to further facilitate these efforts and to enhance efforts to bring about the expeditious denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, and to take full advantage of this opportunity.

At present, the role [inaudible] for the Secretary-General is to call upon the Six-Party Talks members to further facilitate their discussion, their dialogue and cooperation, and also to extend active support to these endeavours.

To be sure, let me just reassure you that if there is a request for me to do so, or if there is a need for me to do so, or if the situation progresses to such an extent that there is a need for appropriate action on the part of the Secretary-General, I would be more than willing to do so.

Q: Mr. Secretary-General, you have welcomed the steps that North Korea has taken in recent days towards disabling Yongbyon and submitting its declaration, but it is still a country that is believed to maintain its nuclear weapons, and in the words of the UN's Special Rapporteur on Human Rights, it “engages in serious and systemic abuses of human rights, including the widespread and everyday use of torture.” My question to you is this, is the world in danger of applauding small steps whilst ignoring big crimes?

SG: Of course, I mentioned about the ongoing process, the denuclearization process, among the Six-Party Talks. I have not mentioned anything about other issues pertaining to North Korea, including the human rights situation. I think that North Korea should also take the necessary measures to improve the human rights situation. This year we are celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Human Rights is one of three pillars of the United Nations Charter. As Secretary-General of the United Nations, I am very much committed to promoting and protect further human rights. There are still many areas in the world whose human rights are not properly protected or promoted, and are even abused. This is a very undesirable and unacceptable situation, and I will do my best and continue my role to promote human rights all around the world, including in North Korea.

The Human Rights Council has introduced the Universal Periodic Review, and under this newly introduced system, all the member states, including the DPRK, are subject to review of their human rights situation. The Human Rights Council will continue to monitor and try to improve the human rights situation all around the world.

Q: As you know, Mr. Secretary-General, you have been able to witness the considerable unrest in Korea domestically in light of the various candlelight vigils that have taken place recently. In a sense, this does pertain to an international issue, in that it pertains to the issue of food safety. Could you share some of your thoughts regarding this?

SG: As the Secretary-General of the United Nations, as a matter of principle, it is not customary for the United Nations Secretary-General to make reference to a domestic matter of a member state. But I do understand your question and the interest that you take in terms of whether I am interested in this matter as a Korean Secretary-General and the fact that it is a Korean issue.

It would be disingenuous of me to say that I have not been taking an interest in Korean domestic matters because I was living in New York. In fact, to be sure, I have taken a great deal of interest in watching Korean political and domestic developments.

I do feel that it is very important for the Government to be responsible for upholding public safety and the public welfare of the people. But at the same time I also feel that is very important for the people to support the policies of the Government, and to actively have trust in the Government, and to ensure and support the Korean Government's desire to act in accordance with international standards and agreements.

As I am sure all of you will agree, Korea has been able to achieve remarkable success and remarkable development within a very compressed period of time. The Korean people have accomplished democratization and have been able to accomplish political maturity and is a source of envy within the international community.

The Korean people should rightly take pride in these accomplishments. I also hope that the Korean people will undertake a role that is commensurate with such accomplishments, and the expectations of the international community are also [inaudible]

I sincerely hope that the Korean Government and people will overcome this issue wisely. Thank you.

[The Secretary-General presented the Prime Minister with a memento]

SG: The first memento is a poster to commemorate the holding of the Climate Change Summit meeting that was held last year, and it was titled “The Future in our Hands”.

As you all know, the Prime Minister has previously served as the Special Envoy to the Secretary-General for Climate Change, and you may or may not know that the annual salary for a Special Envoy of the Secretary-General is $1 per year. But he has not been able to complete his full year term. So as not to hear any complaining that the UN has been in arrears, we have brought him his one dollar cheque.