North Korea, 2008

At the outset, on behalf of the

delegation of the Democratic People’s Republic of

Korea, allow me to congratulate you, Sir, on your

election as President of the General Assembly at its

sixty-third session. I also wish to express confidence

that, under your able stewardship, the current session

will be a success.

It is a centuries-long aspiration of mankind to live

in a peaceful and prosperous world, free from war and

domination. Nearly 10 years have passed since the

General Assembly adopted the Millennium Declaration

(resolution 55/2), reflecting that common desire.

Nevertheless, a vicious circle of aggression and

intervention, conflict and terrorism still persists within

international relations, and, consequently, global peace

and security continue to face serious new challenges.

The military alliances in place throughout the

cold war era are being further intensified, and arms

races in new forms are taking place in the Asia-Pacific,

European and other regions. Attempts to justify

violations of the sovereignty of developing countries

under the pretext of human rights, non-proliferation

and the war on terror go ever-more undisguised.

Disparities in wealth and imbalances in the level of

development between the North and the South have

become further deepened, foreshadowing gloomy

prospects for the achievement of the Millennium

Development Goals in developing countries. The ever-

worsening energy, food and financial crises of recent

days are seriously affecting the already vulnerable

economies of developing countries.

Today’s realities require all Member States to

pool their efforts for the building of a just, peaceful

and prosperous world as a matter of priority, as they

pledged in the Millennium Declaration.

The building of a new world, free and peaceful,

without domination, subjugation, aggression or war is a

common aspiration of the world’s peoples and is now

the shared responsibility of humankind. Ongoing

efforts to reform the United Nations and enhance its

role should be directed towards that end. It is also

imperative to hold in check the attempts of some

individual countries to address critical international

issues related to world peace and security solely with a

view to their own interests. For that purpose, there is a

need to decisively enhance the authority of the General

Assembly, in which all Member States exercise their

equal rights.

Aggression and interference in the internal affairs

of sovereign States and acts committed under the cover

of human rights protection should be completely

rejected. Today, the worst peace-breaker and human

rights violator in the world is none other than the

United States, as evidenced by its armed invasion of

sovereign countries and its unhesitating massacre of

innocent civilians.

Human rights are sovereign and independent

rights. We urge Member States to remain vigilant in the

face of the constant clamouring by the United States

and other Western countries on the subject of human

rights protection and not to accept the politicization of,

or selectivity and double standards in human rights.

The main reason that the question of relations

between the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea

and Japan has been unresolved for over half a century

lies in Japan’s failure to liquidate its past, which is

stained with large-scale crimes. Japan is the only war

criminal State that whitewashes the history of

aggression and massacre of millions of innocent people

in Korea and other Asian countries and today attempts

to grab the sacred Tok Islet of Korea. Such a country

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should never be permitted to become a permanent

member of the Security Council.

No one aspires to peace more than the Korean

people, who suffered under Japanese military

occupation for almost half a century and since have

been in confrontation with the United States for over

60 years. Even now, a series of reckless military

manoeuvres destabilizing the region, including through

the strengthening of strategic military alliances,

massive shipments of state-of-the-art war equipment

and annual large-scale military exercises, are being

conducted in and around the Korean peninsula.

The Ulji Freedom Guardian joint military

exercise, staged by the United States and the Republic

of Korea this past August, under the pretext of what

they called “Preparation for an emergency on the

Korean peninsula”, was nothing more than a war drill,

for all intents and purposes mounting a pre-emptive

nuclear strike on the Democratic People’s Republic of

Korea.

Double-faced approaches, such as talking about

dialogue and resorting to war exercises against a

dialogue partner behind the scenes, are a clear

indication of the persistently hostile policy of the

United States against the Democratic People’s

Republic of Korea and the confrontational policy of the

present South Korean regime.

In the face of such military threats and danger of

war, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea has

been strengthening in every possible way its self-

defence capability in order to safeguard its national

sovereignty and peace. That choice and right of ours is

just and legitimate and cannot be subject to criticism

and blame by others. If the powerful deterrent to war

secured by the Songun policy of the respected General

Kim Jong Il had not existed, the Korean peninsula

would have already suffered catastrophes several times

over, which would certainly have led to the complete

disruption of regional peace and stability as a whole.

The denuclearization of the Korean peninsula is

the lifetime instruction of President Kim Il Sung, the

great leader of our people, and the Government of the

Democratic People’s Republic of Korea remains

consistent in its position of resolving the nuclear issue

peacefully through dialogue and negotiations. The

adoption of the North-South Joint Declaration on the

Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in 1992 and

of the Agreed Framework between the United States of

America and the Democratic People’s Republic of

Korea in 1994 are a demonstration of the firm political

will of our Government to denuclearize the Korean

peninsula.

Thanks to our sincere endeavours, several rounds

of the Six-Party Talks have been held to date, enabling

the adoption of the Joint Statement of 19 September

2005, followed by the agreements on and

implementation of phased actions aimed at resolving

the nuclear issue on the Korean peninsula.

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea

honoured its commitments to the agreements of the

Six-Party Talks in good faith. Nuclear facilities were

disabled at the final stage, a nuclear declaration was

submitted and those measures envisaged for the

destruction phase were even implemented in advance.

That notwithstanding, the United States has laid

an artificial obstacle to implementing the 3 October

agreement by refusing to implement its obligations and

put forward such an unjust demand as verification of

an international standard never agreed on among the

six parties or between the Democratic People’s

Republic of Korea and the United States.

The international standard asserted by the United

States is nothing but the special inspection that the

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) called for

in the 1990s to infringe upon the sovereignty of the

Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, causing it

ultimately to pull out of the Treaty on the

Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.

The United States has now put on hold the

implementation of the procedure for de-listing the

Democratic People’s Republic of Korea as a State

sponsor of terrorism under the pretext of verification,

even after having officially declared that the

Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is not a State

sponsor of terrorism. That is little short of admitting

that the list is not actually related to terrorism.

As far as verification is concerned, it is a

commitment to be fulfilled by the six parties during the

final phase of the denuclearization of the entire Korean

peninsula, in accordance with the 19 September Joint

Statement. The United States insistence on unilateral

inspection of the Democratic People’s Republic of

Korea is a brigand-like demand to unilaterally disarm

the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the other

warring party, by discarding its commitment to the

39 08-53129

denuclearization of the entire Korean peninsula, the

core of which is the removal of the United States

nuclear threat, in accordance with the 19 September

Joint Statement.

Now that the United States has broken the

agreement, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea

is inevitably taking relevant countermeasures based on

the principle of action for action. If the six parties are

not true to their word in carrying out their respective

obligations because of their great lack of trust in one

another, no progress will be made at all. That is a

lesson drawn from the process of previous Six-Party

Talks. The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea will

continue to make every sincere effort to achieve the

denuclearization of the entire Korean peninsula, but we

will not be indifferent to an attempt to offend our

dignity and self-respect and to violate our sovereignty.

As members are well aware, inter-Korean

relations have been worsening ever since the

installation of the new regime in South Korea, which

rejects the North-South joint declaration of 15 June

2000 and the declaration of 4 October 2007.

Resolutions were adopted by consensus at previous

General Assembly sessions supporting the historic

North-South summits held in Pyongyang in 2000 and

2007 and the 15 June 2000 joint declaration and the

4 October 2007 declaration resulting from them. As

stipulated in those resolutions, the 15 June joint

declaration and programme of action and the 4 October

declaration constitute major milestones that could

shorten the process of improving inter-Korean relations

and achieving independent national reunification in the

new century, as well as a grand programme for Korean

reunification that clearly reflects the demands of the

times and the aspirations of the nation.

Those declarations enjoy the unanimous support

not only of the entire Korean people, but also of the

international community as a whole, as they are most

comprehensive and realistic in their content and

include all previous inter-Korean agreements,

including the joint statement of 4 July 1972, which

clarifies the three principles of independence, peaceful

reunification and great national unity.

It is intolerable that the declarations agreed upon

and adopted at the highest level in the North and the

South and supported unanimously by the international

community are now being disregarded simply because

of the changed regime in South Korea. The

Government of the Democratic People’s Republic of

Korea will continue to seek national reconciliation and

unity by fully implementing the 15 June joint

declaration and the 4 October declaration, launching a

new era of independent reunification, peace and

prosperity and doing its utmost to ensure durable peace

and stability on the Korean peninsula.