North Korea, 2012

Allow me to congratulate you, Sir,

on your election to preside over the General Assembly

at its sixty-seventh session. I expect your proficient

stewardship will guide the Assembly to success.

At the outset, I would like to express our profound

gratitude to the heads of State and Government and

peoples of the States Members of the United Nations,

the Secretary-General, the President of the General

Assembly at its sixty-sixth session, representatives

of United Nations bodies and of many countries for

deep condolences they extended to us at the demise in

December last year of the great leader of our people,

Kim Jong Il. General Kim Jong Il devoted tireless

efforts until the last moment of his life to firmly

safeguarding the dignity and sovereignty of our country

and the prosperity and happiness of its people, as well

as to accomplishing the cause of global independence

and world peace and stability.

Today, having hailed dear respected Marshal Kim

Jong Un as the Supreme Leader of the Party, State and

Army, our people are striving to build a prosperous

and powerful socialist State. Dear respected Marshal

Kim Jong Un safeguards the peace and stability of the

Korean peninsula by carrying forward the Songun

policy of General Kim Jong Il in good faith. He wisely

leads the general advance march for developing our

economy, improving people’s livelihood, and devising

a development strategy of our own style and innovative

methods with his insight into the world. Our dear respected Marshal Kim Jong Un is firmly

determined to make our people, who have overcome

manifold hardships, enjoy a happy life to their heart’s

content in a prosperous socialist State. Dear respected

Marshal Kim Jong Un is implementing independent

foreign policy and opening up a new chapter in the

development of relations with other countries that are

friendly to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,

not bound by the past. Our people are following dear

respected Marshal Kim Jong Un with absolute trust in

him and are vigorously advancing to the final victory

with full conviction in and optimism about the future,

single-heartedly united behind him.

The founding of the United Nations in the last

century gave hope to mankind following a tragic

world war — hope of achieving common prosperity

by ensuring peace and security and developing

cooperation among States based on the principle of

sovereign equality. Yet today, after the first decade

of the new century, that desire of the mankind has yet

to be achieved. At present in international relations,

high-handedness and arbitrariness are becoming ever

more undisguised, and the use of force and acts of

State terrorism aimed at infringing on sovereignty,

interference in internal affairs and effecting regime

change are being perpetrated under such pretexts as

non-proliferation and humanitarian intervention.

We are now witnessing the resurrection of the

outdated international relations of the first half of the

twentieth century, when a handful of great Powers

dominated the world by resorting to the use of force.

This resurrection tarnishes the credibility of the United

Nations, whose mandate is to ensure global peace and

security.

The fact that the theme “Bringing about adjustment

or settlement of international disputes or situations by

peaceful means” was chosen for the current session

shows the seriousness of the current international

situation. The most serious issue in the international

arena at present is a f lagrant violation of the principles

of respect for sovereignty and equality. Unless the

high-handedness and arbitrariness of certain countries

are thoroughly eliminated, it will be hard to say that

the United Nations is fulfilling its role and function as

a centre for coordinating cooperative relations between

States based on the principle of sovereign equality as

enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations.

The unjustifiable interference, pressure and use

of force that violate the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria and the right to self-determination

and existence of Palestine should be rejected.

Democratizing the United Nations and, in

particular, strengthening the authority of the General

Assembly are urgent issues for enhancing the central

role of the United Nations in international relations.

The Assembly resolution adopted long ago on

dismantling the so-called United Nations Command

stationed in South Korea and the resolution adopted

annually on ending the United States blockade against

Cuba remain unimplemented. These are typical

examples that show the need to strengthen the authority

of the General Assembly.

It is quite natural for the General Assembly, which

represents the general will of all Member States, to

supervise the overall activities of the Organization. In

particular, it should be given the authority to undertake

final review of Security Council resolutions related to

peace and security, such as sanctions and use of force.

The abuse of the Security Council as a tool for pursuing

strategic interests by a handful of countries should

never be overlooked. Last April, the United States took

issue with our legitimate and peaceful space launch,

which followed universal international law, and forced

the Council to adopt an unjust statement. That alone

shows how the Council has been abused.

Security Council reform, which is at the core of

overall United Nations reform, is a matter that should

no longer be delayed. It should be carried out in a

manner that guarantees responsibility, transparency,

impartiality and objectivity in its activities and ensures

full representation of developing countries in its

composition.

Other United Nations bodies in which double

standards and the theory of force are extremely evident

are the Third Committee of the General Assembly and

the Human Rights Council. Politicization, selectivity

and double standards in deliberations on human rights

should be put to an end. We should never allow the

continuation of the practice whereby human rights

situations of selected countries are either called into

question or simply ignored in accordance with the

political purposes and interests of the West and the

Western standard values.

In the field of sustainable development, which

is now one of the three targets set by the United

Nations, the agreement reached in the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, held last June

in Rio de Janeiro, should be implemented. Practical

measures should be taken to solve such issues as

establishing fair international economic and trade

relations, fulfilling official development assistance

commitments, transferring environmentally clean

technologies to developing countries and strengthening

financial support.

Today, due to the ongoing hostile policy of

the United States towards the Democratic People’s

Republic of Korea, a vicious cycle of confrontation

and aggravation of tension continues to afflict the

Korean peninsula, which has become the world’s most

dangerous hotspot, a place where a spark could set off

a thermonuclear war. At the root of that hostile policy,

which has lasted for more than half a century, towards

the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea lies the

intention of the United States to destroy the ideas and

system our people have chosen and to occupy the entire

Korean peninsula, in order to use it as a stepping stone

in realizing its strategy of dominating all of Asia.

Since the day the Democratic People’s Republic of

Korea was founded, the United States has designated it

an enemy and refused to recognize its sovereignty. Since

then, it has pursued every kind of sanction, pressure and

military provocation against the Democratic People’s

Republic of Korea for more than half a century. Its

hostile policy is most deeply rooted in the military field.

No precedent can be found in modern history for the

situation whereby the Democratic People’s Republic of

Korea and the United States have continued as warring

parties after hostilities ended and for more than 60

years altogether.

With a view to eliminating the Democratic People’s

Republic of Korea by force, the United States has

already finalized various war scenarios, and is waiting

for a chance to implement them, as it has outlined in a

contingency plan to impose military rule after a military

invasion. In accordance with those plans for military

operations, the United States has staged various joint

military exercises under different names in and around

the Korean peninsula for several decades. A typical

example was a combined military exercise named Ulji

Freedom Guardian, staged at the end of last August and

involving huge numbers of armed forces, which pushed

the situation on the Korean peninsula to the brink of

war.

It is only the patience and military deterrent self-

defence capacity of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea that have prevented the continued military

provocations of the United States from turning into all-

out war on the Korean peninsula. However, this does

not mean that the patience of the Democratic People’s

Republic of Korea is inexhaustible. Our people value

peace and stability in pursuing their overall goal of

building a prosperous and powerful State. But the

dignity of our nation and the sovereignty of our country

are even more valuable.

Our principled stand is based on reacting to an

aggressor’s reckless provocations with an immediate,

corresponding strike in defence of our nation’s dignity

and sovereignty, and to respond to a war of aggression

with a just war of reunification of the country. The

realities of the situation on the Korean peninsula

prove that we have been absolutely right to have built

a military deterrent capacity for our self-defence, by

tightening our belts in order to pursue the path of

Songun and independence. Our military deterrent is a

mighty weapon that defends the country’s sovereignty

and a powerful means of preventing war on the Korean

peninsula, as well as a strong guarantee that enables

us to focus our efforts on economic construction and

improving people’s livelihoods.

The only way to prevent war and ensure lasting

peace on the Korean peninsula is to put an end to

the hostile policy of the United States towards the

Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. That policy

is the root cause that has made the Korean peninsula

the world’s most dangerous hotspot, and it is the chief

obstacle to lasting peace and security. The nuclear

issue on the Korean peninsula is also a product of that

policy. None of these problems, including the Korean

peninsula nuclear issue, can be resolved without first

ending the hostile policy of the United States, which

views the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea as an

enemy target and tries to stif le it at any cost. That is the

essence of the process of our dialogue with the United

States and a lesson we have drawn from practical

experience.

Since the turn of the new century, North-South

summit meetings have been held twice, amid the joyful

enthusiasm of all our fellow countrymen. They resulted

in the adoption of the 15 June North-South Joint

Declaration and the 4 October Declaration, and created

an atmosphere in which the desire for reconciliation,

cooperation and reunification between North and South

reached a peak. Soon after taking office, however, the

new South Korean authorities annulled all inter-Korean agreements, including the 15 June North-South Joint

Declaration and the 4 October Declaration, which had

been warmly welcomed and were fully supported by the

entire Korean nation and the international community,

including the United Nations. Furthermore, the

confrontation between fellow countrymen and systems

have caused an extreme deterioration in inter-Korean

relations. The South Korean authorities rubbed salt in

the wounds of our people, who had suffered such a huge

national loss, even insulting our supreme dignity with

acts of political terrorism, and leaving inter-Korean

relations totally bankrupt. History will bring them to

justice.

The Government of the Democratic People’s

Republic of Korea will join hands with anyone who

truly desires the country’s reunification and national

reconciliation and prosperity. With responsibility and

patience, and relying on the nation’s concerted efforts,

it is making every effort to realize the historic cause

of national reunification by preventing interference by

outside forces and any attempt by anti-reunification

forces to achieve permanent national division.

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea will

continue to further strengthen and develop the relations

of friendship and cooperation with all countries that

respect its sovereignty, pursuant to the principles

of independence, peace and friendship on which its

foreign policy is based, and will actively cooperate with

the efforts of United Nations Member States to secure

world peace and stability and to achieve sustainable

development.