North Korea, 2002

I would like to

congratulate you, Sir, on your election as President of

the General Assembly at its fifty-seventh session. It is

our expectation that your able stewardship will enable

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the work of this session to result in tangible progress. I

also appreciate the efforts of Secretary-General Kofi

Annan towards international peace and sustainable

development.

I am going to contribute to the work of the

General Assembly by presenting a perspective on the

situation of the Korean peninsula, which remains a

major concern in terms of world peace and security.

More than 50 years have passed since the division

of Korea by outside forces. As the Korean people

undergo immeasurable pain and misfortune due to the

division of the country and the nation, the world

realizes that, as long as the homogeneous Korean

nation remains artificially divided, Korea will never be

peaceful, nor will peace and security be possible there.

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea

made reunification the supreme national task from the

first day of the division, and has since adhered to its

stand with respect to achieving reunification

independently, through dialogue and negotiation

between the North and South of Korea.

The fatherly leader of our people, President Kim

Il Sung, long ago set forth the principles and

programmes for reunifying the country independently

through peaceful national unity. He proposed achieving

reunification by means of a federation system where

different ideas and systems would continue to exist in

the North and the South. He devoted all his efforts to

national reunification up until the moment he died.

The respected General Kim Jong Il has defined

three main charters for national reunification as: the

three principles of national reunification; the 10-Point

Programme for the Great Unity of the Whole Nation;

and the proposal on founding the Democratic Federal

Republic of Koryo put forward by the fatherly leader.

These provide a basis for the country's reunification.

It is thanks to the ideas of national independence

and national unity of the respected General Kim Jong Il

that the historic inter-Korean summit meeting took

place in Pyongyang in June 2000 and that the North-

South Joint Declaration was adopted; this served as a

turning point in the efforts of the Korean people for the

country's reunification. The 15 June 2000 North-South

Joint Declaration is a declaration of national

independence and peaceful reunification calling for

opposing foreign interference and achieving

reunification by the concerted efforts of the Korean

nation. After the publication of the North-South Joint

Declaration, the North and the South held talks and

engaged in contacts in various fields, seeking ways and

means to achieve reconciliation and unity. They

discussed measures for cooperation, exchanges and

relaxation of tension in Korea; thus the spirit of

reunification on the Korean peninsula gained

momentum.

However, the positive development of inter-

Korean relations was frustrated by the interference of

external forces, and the North-South Joint Declaration

thus faced major obstacles.

It is fortunate indeed that inter-Korean relations

have now been put back on track through the dialogue

and contacts on implementing the Joint Declaration,

held in recent months at the initiative of the

Government of the Democratic People's Republic of

Korea. The ministerial-level talks were resumed.

Dialogue and contacts in other fields are under way,

and a national reunification meeting of compatriots

from the North, the South and overseas was held

successfully on the occasion of the 15 August Korean

restoration day.

The North and the South have jointly introduced

an agenda item entitled Peace, security and

reunification on the Korean Peninsula' at the current

session of the General Assembly and have agreed to

draw up and submit a draft resolution under that item.

Governments and peoples of many countries are

supporting and welcoming the emerging dÈtente on the

Korean peninsula as well as the trend towards

reconciliation and cooperation between the North and

the South.

The history of division for more than 50 years is a

serious lesson for all Korean people. If the

reunification of the country is to be achieved, the North

and the South should, above all, reject foreign

interference, which is a main obstacle to reunification,

and should join efforts on the basis of ideas of national

independence and great national unity.

The modern history of Korea serves as a clear

illustration of the high price paid and the great

sacrifices made in succumbing to foreign intervention

and relying on outside forces. The division of Korea

was imposed by outside forces after the Second World

War. It was neither the will nor a requirement of the

Korean people. It is none other than those same foreign

29

forces that continue to shadow inter-Korean relations at

every stage of their favourable development and that

undermine the interests of the Korean nation. Recourse

to foreign forces and complicit action with them

against fellow countrymen are inevitably destined to

lead to mistrust and confrontation in inter-Korean

relations.

We are firmly convinced that we can resolve all

problems in the interests of the Korean nation by

transcending the differences in ideologies and systems

existing between the North and the South, if the North

and the South sit together in the spirit of national

independence and the love of country and people.

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea will,

in the future, make every effort to achieve independent

reunification through a federation system that unites

the strength of the entire Korean nation in the spirit of

the North-South Joint Declaration.

In order to ensure peace and security on the

Korean peninsula and realize reunification, the hostile

policy of the United States against the Democratic

People's Republic of Korea should be terminated.

The United States defines the Democratic

People's Republic of Korea as its prime enemy' that

poses a threat' to it. It also designates us as the axis

of evil' and target of a pre-emptive nuclear strike' on

the pretext of anti-terrorism,' thus further aggravating

the situation.

It is quite unreasonable that the United States

antagonizes and threatens us with the use of force for

the sole reason that the Democratic People's Republic

of Korea firmly adheres to an independent policy and

holds different values and ideas. This also contravenes

the United Nations Charter and the norms of

international relations. It is entirely as a result of the

consistent peace-loving policy and efforts of the

Democratic People's Republic of Korea that peace is

maintained on the Korean peninsula.

Our position on relations between the Democratic

People's Republic of Korea and the United States is

ever principled and consistent. If the United States

respects our system and sovereignty and takes an

attitude of goodwill towards us, we can develop

relations with the United States based on the principles

of equality and mutual benefit. The Democratic

People's Republic of Korea considers that it is most

reasonable to solve pending issues between itself and

the United States through dialogue and negotiations.

We had therefore already agreed to the United

States suggestion that it send a special envoy with a

view to presenting its position on the resumption of

dialogue. Furthermore, during the conversation

between our Foreign Minister and United States

Secretary of State at the 9th meeting of the Association

of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Regional Forum

in July, we again welcomed the United States

willingness to send its special envoy to Pyongyang.

The point is that trustful dialogue can be resumed

only when the United States refrains from its hostile

policy against the Democratic People's Republic of

Korea and maintains a position of equality with us.

If the United States intends to have a substantial

dialogue with us on the principle of sovereign equality,

we will respond accordingly. This will facilitate

confidence-building between the Democratic People's

Republic of Korea and the United States and open up

the prospect for hammering out a fair solution to the

pending issues.

The United Nations should also do its due part for

the peace and security of Korea. In this regard, I wish

to remind you that immeasurable suffering and

misfortune were imposed on the Korean peninsula

under the name and flag of the United Nations. It is

highly expected that the United Nations will soon seek

to redress the abnormal circumstances under which its

name has been misused for over 50 years.

We take pride in contributing positively to peace

and security on the Korean peninsula, the Northeast

Asian region and the world in general, even under the

constant threats and confrontations that have persisted

for more than 50 years.

Our great leader, General Kim Jong Il, leads our

people wisely with his army-based policies aimed at

defending the country, building a powerful nation and

providing for a favourable environment for peace and

reunification in Korea, thanks to his energetic and

untiring external activities.

The respected General Kim Jong Il had a meeting

with President Putin in the Far East region of the

Russian Federation in August this year, and is holding

talks with Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi of Japan

in Pyongyang today, 17 September. These contacts

serve as turning points in the development of relations

30

between the Democratic People's Republic of Korea

and Russia, the normalization of relations between the

Democratic People's Republic of Korea and Japan, and

also serve as a great contribution to world peace,

security and the creation of a new and just world

structure.

Our people will, in the future, firmly defend our

socialist system and achieve peace and the

reunification of the Korean peninsula under the

outstanding army-based leadership of the respected

General Kim Jong Il, thus fulfilling our mission for

peace and security in the world.

Radical changes have taken place in the

international arena since the 11 September incident.'

Attempts to expand the war against terrorism' without

justifiable reasons continue and the policy of power

supremacy has emerged, openly advocating a theory of

pre-emptive nuclear attack beyond the doctrine of

nuclear deterrence, thus further challenging world

peace and security.

Hunger, poverty and external debts have become

worse, while the inequality in international economic

and trade relations and the gap between the rich and the

poor have widened further. All these actions and events

in international relations entirely contravene the spirit

of the United Nations Charter.

My delegation considers that the most pressing

task before United Nations Members today is to respect

and uphold the spirit enshrined in the United Nations

Charter. Above all, the sovereignty and equality of all

countries should be respected. The use of force, the

application of coercive measures and, in particular,

unilateral acts should not be allowed in international

relations.

To this end, the power of the United Nations

General Assembly should be decisively enhanced. The

General Assembly should be empowered to review the

issues concerning international peace and security and

to approve major decisions of the Security Council in

this regard. At present, the General Assembly is not

even properly carrying out its intrinsic power as

stipulated in the United Nations Charter.

International issues, such as conflict resolution,

disarmament, terrorism and sustainable development,

should be discussed and decided with the full

participation of all United Nations Members, in

conformity with the purposes and principles of the

United Nations.

It is also important that democracy and

impartiality be ensured in all United Nations activities

and the work of reforming the Security Council, in

particular, is undertaken to make it true to its main

purpose. The Security Council should be reformed in

such a way as to properly reflect present reality, where

almost all countries have become United Nations

Members, and fully ensure impartiality and democracy.

In order to achieve the purposes of the United

Nations, fair international economic and trade relations

should be established and the right to development

respected. Unless the present unfair international

economic system is redressed, poverty cannot be

eliminated, nor can the gap between the rich and the

poor be removed, nor sustainable development for all

be ensured.

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea will,

as ever, make all efforts to uphold and achieve the

purposes and principles of the United Nations on the

basis of the ideas of independence, peace and

friendship.