North Korea, 1997

Allow me first of all, on behalf of the

delegation of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,

to congratulate Mr. Hennadiy Udovenko, the Minister For

Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, on his election to the

presidency of the General Assembly at its current session.

We believe that his rich experience and diplomatic skill

in dealing with international affairs will lead this session

to fruitful results.

I also express my gratitude to the former President,

Mr. Razali Ismail, Malaysian Ambassador to the United

Nations, for his great contributions to the successful

conclusion of the fifty-first session of the General

Assembly. At the same time, I take this opportunity to

express appreciation to the Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi

Annan, for his efforts devoted to the activities of the

United Nations.

The fifty-second session of the General Assembly is

now being held just two years before we enter a new

century. The twenty-first century should be different from

the present century, characterized by a history of hot and

cold wars. It is the desire of humankind and the common

task of the international community to make the

forthcoming century peaceful and prosperous.

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Though we are at the end of the twentieth century, we

are still facing complex and intricate challenges. A

tendency towards domination continues to prevail in

international relations even after the abolition of

colonialism. Today the United Nations, which once

contributed to eradicating colonialism, has been placed in

danger of being converted into a tool that would allow

high-handedness and arbitrariness.

Though the cold war has ended, the nuclear stockpiles

remain as enormous as ever before, and the thinking of the

cold-war era dominates international relations. Today such

challenges are clearest in North-East Asia and, more

precisely, in the Korean peninsula. In the Korean peninsula,

national division, the legacy of the cold war era, continues,

the power and confrontation politics of the cold war era

persist and relations between the North and South of Korea

are ever worsening. The aggressive military alliances,

vestiges of the cold war, are being rearranged, and

provocative joint military exercises are being conducted

against the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea with

annually increased military expenditures amid the tense

situation in the Korean peninsula. In addition to the military

pressures, which have continued since the cold war era,

issues such as human rights, terrorism, economic sanctions,

food aid and so on are also being abused as tools for high-

handedness and interference in our internal affairs. All these

attempts are aimed at stifling our socialist system.

Like all other United Nations Member States, the

Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is a sovereign State

with the right to choose its own political system, and it

deserves respect for this. Our style of socialism is the one

our people have chosen by themselves, and it is not a

system doomed to collapse even though others may attempt

to bring this about. The single-hearted unity between the

leader, the party and the masses is the source of the

invincibility of our system.

On 8 July this year, which marked the third year of

the demise of the great leader President Kim Il Sung, all

our people became mourners and observed the memorial

service. Simultaneously with the end of the mourning

period, we instituted a Juche calendar with the year 1912

as the base year, and designated 15 April as the Day of Sun

in memory of the birthday of the great leader President

Kim Il Sung. This affords a good illustration of the

unanimous will of our people who are determined to hand

down, forever, the revolutionary life and the immortal

exploits of the fatherly leader who created the Juche idea

and built socialism centred on the popular masses. Today

is 2 October, Juche 86 in our country, according to our

Juche Calendar.

For our Korean people, the last three years have

been a period of severe trials during which our people

suffered the greatest loss of the nation, confronted the

persistent manoeuvres of the hostile forces to stifle our

socialist system and suffered from a series of natural

calamities.

Nevertheless, our people have been always optimistic

and able to continue their victorious advancement by

overcoming all sorts of challenges, because they hold in

high esteem another great leader, General Kim Jong Il, an

iron-willed and brilliant commander.

Currently, the nomination process is under way in

my country to elect the great leader Comrade Kim Jong

Il as the General Secretary of the Korean Workers’ Party,

and all our people are full of boundless joy and emotion

over their long-cherished desire being realized.

This clearly demonstrates the firm will and

conviction of our people to carry through the Juche cause,

holding in high esteem forever the great leader Comrade

Kim Jong Il as the head of our Party and our revolution.

This is the reality of socialist Korea, where the

people enjoy the blessing of the leadership and the leader

enjoys the blessing of the people through the generations.

I take this opportunity to reiterate our deep thanks to

the Governments, organizations and individuals of various

countries, and to the governmental and non-governmental

international organizations, including the United Nations,

for their deep sympathy and condolences, as well as for

the humanitarian assistance extended to our people who

suffered the deepest sorrow and natural calamities.

Korea’s reunification question is, in essence, a

question of regaining national sovereignty throughout the

country, which is being trampled by foreign forces and of

abolishing the legacy of the cold war era.

The Government of our Republic regards as its

Three Charters for National Reunification the three

principles of independence, peaceful reunification and

great national unity, the 10-Point Programme of the Great

Unity of the Whole Nation and the proposal for the

founding of the Democratic Confederal Republic of

Koryo.

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The great leader General Kim Jong Il, in his

programmatic work published on 4 August of this year,

made clear our firm will and determination to clearly

reunify the country, holding aloft the Three Charters of

National Reunification set forth by the fatherly leader. The

three principles of national reunification constitute the great

common reunification programme for the Korean nation,

which was confirmed by the north and south through their

4 July Joint Statement and was supported by the twenty-

eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly as

well.

The 10-Point Programme of the Great Unity of the

Whole Nation for National Reunification is a political

programme aimed at attaining the unity of the whole nation

to strengthen the driving force of national reunification.

This programme indicates comprehensively the objective

and ideological basis, as well as the principles and methods,

for achieving the great national unity.

The proposed Democratic Confederal Republic of

Koryo is the blueprint which gives the full picture of a

reunified State and the ways for its realization as well.

More than half a century has passed since the north

and south of Korea have existed with different systems.

Under such circumstances, the establishment of a unified

national State through the confederation formula — based

on one nation and one State, two systems and two

Governments — becomes the most reasonable way of

efficiently resolving the issues pertaining to national

reunification.

The emergence of a unified national State —

independent, peaceful and neutral — in the Korean

peninsula will make a great contribution to lasting peace

and stability in North-East Asia, where the great Powers are

contiguous to each other.

No matter how the situation and circumstances may

change in the future, our people will remain unshakeable in

their will, and the Government of our Republic will adhere

to its consistent reunification policy in reunifying the

country, on the basis of the Three Charters for National

Reunification.

Improved relations between the north and south of

Korea are an urgent requirement for achieving the

independent and peaceful reunification of the country. If the

south Korean authorities give up their anti-national and

anti-reunification confrontation policies and make a positive

change in practice, we will meet them at any time to have

open-minded negotiations on the destiny of the nation and

make joint efforts for the country’s reunification.

For a correct solution to the Korean question, the

countries concerned must also play positive roles with a

sincere attitude about helping Korea’s reunification. The

United States, a State party which is directly responsible

for the Korean question, should make a radical change in

its anachronistic policy towards Korea and refrain from

laying obstacles in the way of the independent and

peaceful reunification of Korea. Japan, which imposed

immeasurable misfortune and disaster upon the Korean

people in the past, must sincerely reflect upon its past,

discontinue its hostile policy towards our Republic and

stop provoking Korea’s division and hindering its

reunification.

It is the consistent stand of the Government of our

Republic to prevent war and to ensure a lasting peace in

the Korean peninsula. This becomes our primary task in

the efforts to reunify the country peacefully, without

recourse to the armed forces. In order to ensure peace in

the Korean peninsula, it is imperative to oppose

aggression and war manoeuvres and to remove the danger

of war.

The prevailing situation in the Korean peninsula is

so tense that a war could break out at any moment, due

to the attempts of the United States, Japan and South

Korean authorities against our socialist Republic. In recent

years alone, the United States introduced over $3 billion

worth of war equipment into South Korea. At the same

time, it has been conducting joint military exercises more

frequently than ever before, and even directing the guns

of the United States forces in Japan and the Pacific fleet

towards the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

Of late, Japan is also accelerating its political, legal

and diplomatic moves with a view to legalizing its

engagement of the self-defence force in a possible Korean

war under the signboard of the “revision” of the

“Guidelines for United States-Japan Military

Cooperation”.

In addition, the South Korean authorities increased

their military budget up to $17 billion for this year and

again decided to increase next year’s military budget up

to $19 billion, while bolstering military “cooperation”

with foreign forces against their fellow countrymen.

Such moves, reflecting the policies of the cold-war

era, inevitably provoke self-defensive counter-measures

19

from our Republic, thus maintaining the present tense

situation in a vicious cycle of aggravation.

This situation of the Korean peninsula urgently

requires the establishment of a new peace arrangement. In

order to ease tension and avert the danger of a war in the

Korean peninsula, the United States should, before anything

else, abandon its hostile policy against our Republic and

sign a peace agreement with the Democratic People’s

Republic of Korea. The Democratic People’s Republic of

Korea and the United States are still in a state of temporary

ceasefire. The United States is in direct confrontation with

the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, maintaining

tens of thousands of its troops in and around South Korea.

Removing the danger of war and ensuring peace in the

Korean peninsula presupposes the withdrawal of the United

States troops and the conclusion of a peace agreement

between the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and

the United States. Hence, the resolution of the major issues

pertaining to the maintenance of peace and security in the

Korean peninsula falls under the responsibilities of the

Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and the United

States. We recognize that these issues should be the top

priority on the agenda to be considered at the proposed

four-party talks if the talks are to be held to discuss the

issues of ensuring peace and security in the Korean

peninsula.

If the United States is sincerely interested in ensuring

peace in the Korean peninsula, it should, inter alia, show

its credibility by taking practical steps to discontinue

military threats and lift economic sanctions against the

Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

The countries concerned should refrain from any acts

that would be likely to impede the withdrawal of the United

States troops from South Korea and the conclusion of the

Democratic People’s Republic of Korea-United States peace

agreement.

The Government of the Democratic People’s Republic

of Korea will continue, as in the past, to make every effort

to ensure peace in the Korean peninsula and to bring about

the peaceful reunification of the country, thus contributing

towards peace and security in North-East Asia and the rest

of the world.

In order to prepare itself for the demands of the next

century, the United Nations should make an early departure

from outdated structures that serve the interests of only a

few countries, allowing them privileges and high-

handedness. First of all, international society should be

democratized through the democratic reform of the United

Nations. The United Nations should be restructured so as

to reflect the will of developing countries, which make up

the majority of United Nations Members, and to enable

them to exercise their sovereignty on an equal footing.

The General Assembly, in which all United Nations

Member States are equally represented, has been

democratized, compared to the Security Council. Yet its

authority has been severely restricted. On the other hand,

the Security Council lacks democracy to a great extent,

although it enjoys powerful authority. The present

composition of the permanent membership of the Security

Council does not fully represent the developing countries,

which form the overwhelming majority of Member States.

Neither does the non-permanent membership reflect

geographical representation.

The end of the cold war has provided possibilities

for channelling more resources into the field of

development cooperation, but the present structure of the

United Nations system does not correspond to this

situation.

At this session of the General Assembly the

delegation of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea

will exert constructive efforts to resolve such problems

and seek active cooperation with other Member States,

including the non-aligned countries.

Despite the end of the cold war, the arms build-up

continues unabated in different parts of the world. The

United Nations has long called for comprehensive and

complete disarmament, especially nuclear disarmament.

However, some nuclear and military Powers are still

boosting their efforts aimed at the qualitative

modernization of military strength under cover of calls for

selective disarmament. As a result, in most cases

disarmament is now being replaced by the process of

replacing with more sophisticated weapons those that

have become obsolete as a result of technical

developments.

Today, after the conclusion of the Comprehensive

Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, the nuclear Powers are resorting

to subcritical nuclear tests to further modernize their

nuclear arsenals.

International society, and the non-nuclear-weapon

States in particular, should give due attention to taking

measures to overcome this phenomenon. It is in this

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context that we support the proposal to convene the fourth

special session of the General Assembly devoted to

disarmament.

In recent years there have been ample discussions on

human rights at the United Nations and in other

international forums. However, the desired results have not

yet been achieved. This is mainly attributable to the fact

that United Nations Member States are pursuing different

ends in their deliberations on human rights and have

conflicting views with regard to standards for human rights.

As long as human rights issues continue to be abused

as a political means to put pressure on and interfere in the

internal affairs of others, any deliberations on human rights

will only have adverse effects upon international relations,

as is the case today. Furthermore, the application of double

standards has not ceased with regard to other crucial issues

such as disarmament and terrorism.

In order to eliminate high-handedness and

arbitrariness, and also to ensure fairness and justice in

resolving international issues, international society should

be democratized at the earliest possible date.

The twenty-first century should be a century devoted

to development and cooperation. Development is directly

linked to international peace and security.

In recent years major conferences, such as World

Summit for Social Development, the United Nations

Conference on Human Settlements and the World Food

Summit, were convened under the auspices of the United

Nations. These conferences made significant contributions

to elaborating action programmes and providing guidance

for international society with regard to cooperation in the

field of economic and social development.

The role of the United Nations should be further

strengthened to translate these documents into tangible

results. The United Nations has an important role in

persuading developed countries fully to implement their

commitments concerning official development assistance

and should pay due attention to resolving the issue of

external debt.

We are of the view that the ongoing reform process of

United Nations-affiliated organizations dealing with

economic and social issues and of the United Nations

Secretariat should be carried out in such a way as to enable

them to make the best use of their potential for

development and cooperation.

Developed countries are urged to be wise enough to

foresee that replacing the present unfair international

economic relations with new ones that are more fair, will,

in the long term, be beneficial to them, and they should

cooperate fully with other Member States in enhancing

the role of the United Nations in that direction.

We appreciate and support the joint efforts of the

countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America to expand

and strengthen regional cooperation for political

sovereignty and socio-economic development in a spirit

of collective self-reliance.

We support Syria and other Arab countries in their

just struggle to seek a fair and comprehensive solution to

the Middle East problem based on the principle of land

for peace, and hold that Israel should withdraw from all

occupied Arab territories.

The Government of the Democratic People’s

Republic of Korea adheres to the main ideal of our

foreign policy of independence, peace and friendship in

conformity with the purposes and principles of the United

Nations Charter, and will continue to do so in the future.

The delegation of the Democratic People’s Republic

of Korea will make every sincere effort for the success of

deliberations on all agenda items that are before the

General Assembly at this session.