North Korea, 1994

Mr. President, allow me first of all, on behalf

of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, to convey

to you our congratulations on your election to the

presidency of the General Assembly. We hope that under

your presidency the General Assembly will bring its work

to a fruitful conclusion.

I wish to take this opportunity to express our

appreciation of the activities and efforts of the

Secretary-General, Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, to

strengthen the United Nations and enhance its

responsibility and its role.

Before I begin my statement, allow me also to

express our appreciation to the Secretary-General, to the

Secretariat of the United Nations, and to the specialized

agencies and other organizations in the United Nations

system for the deep condolences they expressed on the

demise of our respected leader, Comrade Kim Il Sung,

former President of the Democratic People’s Republic of

Korea.

May I also take this opportunity to extend our

profound thanks to the Heads of State or Government, to

the Governments and to the peoples of different countries

for their messages of deep condolence and consolation as

well as for their arrangement of services of mourning for

our great leader.

Our respected President Kim Il Sung devoted his

efforts, throughout his life, to ensuring the prosperity of

our motherland and to the freedom and happiness of its

people and to world peace and the progress of humanity.

Our leader’s passing is a very great loss and profound

grief for our nation. He performed immortal exploits,

which will go down in the annals of history through his

tireless and energetic activities from his early years to the

advanced age of over 80. Although the heart of our leader

has ceased to beat, his great exploits will be remembered

for ever. Our great leader Comrade Kim Il Sung will

always be with us.

Despite the greatest loss that our nation has suffered

in its five-thousand-year-long history, our people have

been able to turn their grief and sorrow into strength and

courage and they have been able to rise up again, because

they have another great leader, Comrade Kim Jong Il,

who has inherited the ideology, the qualities of leadership

and the lofty virtues of our paternal leader.

Our dear leader Comrade Kim Jong Il is the supreme

leader of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and

the Supreme Commander of its revolutionary armed

forces. A man of literary and military accomplishments,

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of loyalty and filial piety, a man perfectly endowed with

the qualities and traits of leadership, Comrade Kim Jong Il

enjoys the greatest respect and the absolute confidence of

our people, who have entrusted him with their destiny and

their future.

Our society is characterized by the close unity between

the leader and the people in a socialist system centred upon

the popular masses, a system which they have chosen and

which they have built on their own.

Our dear leader Comrade Kim Jong Il remains

committed to his life-long mission of carrying forward and

accomplishing the revolutionary cause pioneered by our

fatherly leader through generations and he is energetically

leading the overall affairs of our party, State and armed

forces. The Government of the Democratic People’s

Republic of Korea is firmly committed to fully carrying

forward and further building on the accomplishments of the

respected leader President Kim Il Sung, and the lifetime

teachings of the leader remain the guideline for our

activities. Our people will follow the wise leadership of

Comrade Kim Jong Il, more firmly as they arm themselves

with the Juche idea, the revolutionary idea of the respected

leader Comrade Kim Il Sung, and defend, safeguard and

glorify our socialism, which is their life and soul.

The lifelong desire of the great leader Comrade Kim

Il Sung was the reunification of our country, and he worked

energetically until the last minute of his life for its

realization. National reunification is the patriotic cause

related to the destiny of our nation and it is the supreme

task of our nation and one that can be delayed no longer.

It is indeed an intolerable tragedy that the division of

our nation that began in the 1940s has lasted until today, at

a time when humanity is preparing to usher in the twenty-

first century.

The Government and people of the Democratic

People’s Republic of Korea, being desirous of national

reunification, have long been exerting every effort to

achieve reunification on the basis of the three principles of

independence, peaceful reunification and national unity; the

proposal for the establishment of a confederal State; and the

Ten-Point Programme for Great Unity of the Whole Nation

for the country’s reunification, serves as the common

reunification programme of the nation.

As there exist different ideologies and political systems

in the north and the south of Korea, the establishment of a

confederation based on the concept of one nation and one

State, two systems and two governments, is the only way

to achieve reunification on the basis of the principle of

neither side conquering or being conquered by the other.

This is the cardinal principle for reunification that

corresponds to current reality existing in the Korean

peninsula.

The major stumbling-blocks to humanitarian

exchanges, dialogue and contacts between the north and

south are South Korea’s so-called “National Security

Law”, which defines fellow countrymen as enemies, and

the concrete wall, a symbol of division and confrontation.

All the legal and physical barriers must be removed at an

early date if we are to achieve our consistent goals of free

travel and contacts, cooperation and exchanges between

the north and the south and if we are to realize national

unity. This is not only the unanimous demand of the

entire Korean people and the world’s peoples but also the

trend of the times.

Our nation is firm in its will and intention to achieve

national reunification in the 1990s. Our people will

certainly open the door to national reunification by

achieving the unity of all Korean nationals in the north

and the south and abroad on the basis of national

patriotism and a spirit of national independence, thereby

promoting coexistence, co-prosperity and common

interests, dispelling the fears of northward invasion and

southward invasion and the fears of prevalence over

communism and of communization and by working

together to establish an independent, peaceful, neutral,

reunified State transcending the differences in doctrines

and views.

An important point in defusing the tensions and

bringing about peace on the Korean peninsula is to

replace the Korean Armistice Agreement with a peace

agreement and to establish a new peace arrangement to

replace the current armistice mechanism. The Korean

Armistice Agreement is a provisional step that envisages

the suspension of any military actions between the

belligerent parties and its subsequent conversion into a

peace agreement.

The Armistice Agreement states, in paragraph 60 of

article IV, that, in order to help establish a lasting peace

on the Korean peninsula, a political conference of both

sides should be held at a higher level. However, such a

political conference has yet to be convened and the

unstable armistice has lasted so far.

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Over the last four decades or so the Korean Armistice

Agreement and the armistice mechanism have proved to be

nominal and insubstantial, failing to prevent or restrain

arms reinforcement from outside Korea, a military build-up

and large-scale military exercises. Moreover, it is

anomalous in every way that the Armistice Agreement

signed in the 1950s should remain intact, even today when

the cold war is over. These facts highlight the urgent need

to replace the Armistice Agreement with a peace agreement

and the existing armistice mechanism with a peace

arrangement.

In April this year the Government of the Democratic

People’s Republic of Korea made a detailed proposal to the

United States that the two countries should begin

negotiations on an arrangement for a lasting peace to

replace the outdated armistice system. It subsequently took

the practical step of opening the representative office of the

Korean People’s Army in Panmunjom as our new

negotiating body. In late August this year the Chinese

Government announced its decision to withdraw the

delegation of the Chinese People’s Volunteers to the

Military Armistice Commission, in view of the urgent need

to substitute a new peace arrangement for the Korean

Armistice Agreement, and in consideration of the current

status of the malfunctioning Military Armistice

Commission.

These measures were taken as innovative, goodwill

steps to make a breakthrough in establishing a new security

arrangement on the Korean peninsula, taking into

consideration the recognized international practices under

which some countries terminated their belligerency after the

Second World War and declared peaceful relationships.

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea still

remains, in legal terms, in a state of belligerency with the

United Nations, of which it is a dignified Member State.

That is because the cease-fire has lasted so long. At its

thirtieth session the General Assembly, in 1975, adopted

resolution 3390 B (XXX), urging the dismantling of the

United Nations Command and the replacement of the

Armistice Agreement with a peace agreement, but that

resolution has not yet been implemented. The United

Nations should give due attention to the Democratic

People’s Republic of Korea’s proposal for the establishment

of a new peace arrangement and fulfil in good faith its own

obligations in this regard, thus making amends for its

unsavoury past vis-à-vis the Democratic People’s Republic

of Korea, a Member State of the United Nations, and

implementing its own resolution.

Another very important element in defusing tensions

and establishing lasting peace on the Korean peninsula

would be a fundamental resolution of the nuclear issue.

The nuclear issue on the Korean peninsula is a political

and military issue to be resolved bilaterally by the

Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and the United

States, in view of its origin and its nature and substance.

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea has

maintained its firm position that the nuclear issue on the

Korean peninsula should be resolved through dialogue

and negotiations between the Democratic People’s

Republic of Korea and the United States. Thanks to the

sincere and patient efforts of the Government of the

Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the Democratic

People’s Republic of Korea and the United States have

held several rounds of bilateral talks, leading to the recent

Agreed Statement by the Democratic People’s Republic

of Korea and the United States, both of which are now

working towards its implementation. This shows that if

the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and the

United States work together to resolve the issue with trust

in each other, and on the principle of impartiality and

equality, they will bring about a good and fruitful

outcome.

To demonstrate the transparency of our nuclear

activities, we took the bold decision to replace the

existing system of graphite-moderated reactors with a

system of light water reactors, at the sacrifice of our

independent atomic power industry. However, certain

forces, which are not happy with a possible resolution of

the nuclear issue, are still resorting to pressure and threats

against us, while peddling arguments about so-called

special inspections — arguments that are highly

provocative to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea

and have had a negative effect on the talks between it and

the United States. This is nothing but an attempt on the

part of these forces to wreck the talks by any possible

means as they enter a new stage, and to make the

situation on the Korean peninsula an extremely strained.

The Korean people are strongly independence-

minded, and independence means life for the Democratic

People’s Republic of Korea. No threat or blackmail, no

pressure or sanctions, will ever work on us. Our people

will never beg for peace at the expense of our national

dignity and sovereignty simply out of fear of war, and the

Democratic People’s Republic of Korea will never sell

out its supreme interests under pressure.

The nuclear issue on the Korean peninsula is one to

be resolved by the Democratic People’s Republic of

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Korea and the United States, and no other party is entitled

to intervene in this bilateral process. Intervention by any

other party in their talks will only create difficulties and

complications, and erect obstacles to the resolution of the

issue, rather than help in its resolution in any way.

Before the South Korean authorities talk about the

“nuclear issue”, they should refrain from creating obstacles

to the progress of the talks between the Democratic

People’s Republic of Korea and the United States, from

encouraging confrontation between North and South and

from aggravating the situation on the Korean peninsula.

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and the

United States have now set out on the path of dialogue and

negotiations and are moving towards implementing their

agreements on the final objectives of the peaceful resolution

of the nuclear issue and other outstanding issues. The

world welcomes this process and looks forward to

satisfactory results. The Government of the Democratic

People’s Republic of Korea will continue all its sincere

efforts to resolve the nuclear issue on the Korean peninsula

and to achieve the region’s denuclearization. I would like

to take this opportunity to express our profound thanks to

State leaders, Governments and peoples for their support

and encouragement for the principled position and sincere

efforts of the Government of the Democratic People’s

Republic of Korea to resolve the nuclear issue.

Humankind now has the shared task of building a

new, free and peaceful world, free from domination and

subjugation. In order to build the new world which

humanity wants to see, we must eliminate, once and for all,

the legacies of the discredited cold-war era and realize the

democratization of international society so as to enable all

countries and nations to exercise their sovereign rights on

an equal basis in international forums.

The most important element in this respect is the

democratization of the United Nations. Among the

Member States of the United Nations, there are, of course,

big and small countries, and there are also old Member

States and new Member States. However, there cannot be

any senior countries or junior countries, and there cannot be

any dominating countries or countries to be dominated by

others. All United Nations Member States are equal

Members of the United Nations, and all contribute jointly

to world peace and security.

There can be no place for individual Member States to

hold privileged positions within the United Nations.

Certain forces still try at international forums to trample

international justice and the principle of impartiality

underfoot. They are attempting to openly apply a double

standard in dealing with the nuclear issue, human rights,

terrorism and a number of other issues. They are

bringing unreasonable pressure to bear upon those

countries that they consider to be offending them, making

slanders and false charges concerning the “nuclear threat”,

“human rights violations” and “terrorist States”, while

they simply wink at the wrongful actions of those

countries considered to be obedient to their directives.

These phenomena still continue undiminished.

This is a clear indication that there still remain

outdated concepts and the mentality of the cold-war era,

when the strong-arm actions and high-handed behaviour

of a few countries were allowed to go unchallenged.

Such unfair and unreasonable acts and behaviour should

no longer be allowed any place in international relations.

Restructuring of the United Nations is important, in

order to meet more actively the changed reality and new

challenges.

The non-aligned and other developing countries

make up a majority of United Nations membership. For

a fair and proper representation of their demands and

interests in the resolution of major international issues,

there is every reason why developing countries should

become permanent members of the Security Council.

We believe that, despite any need for enlarged

membership of the Security Council, no permanent

member seat should be given to any country that has still

failed to wipe the slate clean with regard to its past as a

nation defeated in the Second World War. Japan is now

seeking permanent membership in the Security Council.

It must first make a full and unambiguous apology, and

provide compensation, for its past aggression and war

crimes. This would be the proper behaviour for Japan.

Disarmament — nuclear disarmament in

particular — is another task that must be undertaken

urgently. People throughout the Earth have long wanted

to live in a peaceful world free from nuclear weapons,

and they have been calling for the complete abolition of

such weapons. However, the nuclear-weapon States are

reluctant to scrap their nuclear arsenals totally, even in

the current post-cold-war era. They still seek to

perpetuate their monopoly in nuclear weaponry and to

justify legally the continued possession of these weapons.

This is anachronistic thinking, which only spurs the

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nuclear-arms race and blocks progress in meaningful

discussions on general disarmament.

The extension of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation

of Nuclear Weapons is now a matter of worldwide interest

and concern. The existing Treaty defines the rights and

obligations of the nuclear-weapon States and of the

non-nuclear-weapon States respectively on an unequal basis.

If this Treaty is to be fair it should contain unconditional

negative security assurances from the nuclear-weapon States

to the non-nuclear-weapon States; a commitment by each

nuclear-weapon State not to be the first to use nuclear

weapons; provision for a total ban on the use of these

weapons; and a timetable for the complete abolition of

nuclear weapons. These would be the first steps towards

rendering meaningless the existence of nuclear weapons on

our planet.

We are witnessing the disturbance of peace and

security in some regions of the globe. No small number of

countries are suffering severe calamities. It is indeed

heartbreaking to see how national sovereignty is trampled

underfoot and how regional conflicts and religious and

ethnic conflicts continue unabated, only to escalate into

wars. It is our view that disputes between countries and

nations should be resolved through peaceful negotiations

between the parties concerned, in the interests of those

parties and for the sake of world peace.

Social and economic development is an important

matter directly related to international peace and security.

It is common knowledge that social and economic

development has been greatly hindered, and the worldwide

phenomenon of the rich getting richer and the poor getting

poorer is becoming even more intense. A fair and just

international economic order should be established to free

the people of the developing countries from famine, disease

and disasters and to narrow the widening gap between the

developed and the developing countries.

The United Nations should give priority to the

development of the developing countries and strengthen its

own role in their economic and social development. We

hope that the Agenda for Development proposed by the

Secretary-General will make a substantial contribution to

the economic development of these countries.

The summits of non-aligned countries and other world

conferences have emphasized the need for the establishment

of a new, fair international order and have adopted

resolutions calling for practical measures to this end. The

non-aligned and other developing countries are working

hard to achieve South-South cooperation and to establish

the South-South economic order, starting in the fields of

food and agriculture, education and health, which are

priority areas in the drive to accelerate social and

economic development and to shake off economic

poverty.

The developed countries should pay due attention to

this matter. They should move to resume dialogue with

the developing countries and to join in establishing a fair

international economic order, and should refrain from any

actions that would hinder the economic development of

the developing countries.

People in many countries are currently engaged in a

vigorous struggle to reject all foreign domination and

interference, to defend national independence and

sovereignty and to achieve national stability and

prosperity.

We express our solidarity with the Cambodian

people, whose cause is the promotion of national

reconciliation and unity and the country’s post-war

rehabilitation. We fully support the peoples of the States

members of the Association of South-East Asian Nations

in their efforts to secure peace in their respective

countries and common prosperity, and all other Asian

peoples in their efforts to build a new, independent and

prosperous Asia.

We support the struggle of the Arab people for a fair

and comprehensive solution of the Palestinian question

and other Middle East problems, and we support Libya’s

efforts to secure a peaceful resolution of the Lockerbie

crisis through dialogue and negotiations, as well as the

Arab League’s proposal in this regard.

We are gratified by the establishment of the

multiracial, democratic Government in South Africa

following the eradication of racist rule, and we support

the African peoples in their struggle to achieve the

independent development of their respective countries

despite their socio-economic difficulties.

We express our firm solidarity with the just cause of

the Cuban people, who are resolutely defending the

sovereignty of their country and the gains of socialism,

and with the struggle of the Latin American peoples for

peace and prosperity in their countries.

The Government of the Democratic People’s

Republic of Korea and the Korean people will continue

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their full support for and firm solidarity with all the peoples

in the world in their struggle to oppose all forms of

domination and subjugation, to build a new society and to

promote the common cause of mankind.

Independence, peace and friendship have been the

constant cornerstone of the foreign policy of the

Government of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

The concept of independence, peace and friendship as the

cornerstone of our foreign policy, established by our

respected leader Comrade Kim Il Sung during his lifetime,

reflects the unanimous desire and aspiration of our people

and of peoples throughout the Earth to build a new,

independent, peaceful and friendly world. It is the principle

by which the Government of the Democratic People’s

Republic of Korea, in its external activities, is constantly

guided.

The Government of the Democratic People’s Republic

of Korea will continue to join with the world’s peoples who

are seeking independence, will strengthen the ties of

friendship and cooperation and will undertake in good faith

its own duties in the interests of the common cause of

mankind - the safeguarding of a just world peace and

security and the building of a new, independent and

prosperous world.

The delegation of the Democratic People’s Republic

of Korea will work sincerely with other delegations for

success in the discussion of the items on the agenda of the

current session of the General Assembly.