North Korea, 2007

On behalf of the delegation of the Democratic People's Republic of

Korea, I should like at the outset to congratulate you,

Sir, on your election to the presidency of the General

Assembly at its sixty-second session. I am confident

that your able leadership will ensure the success of our

work.

I wish to begin my statement by reiterating the

principled and just position of the Democratic People’s

Republic of Korea and to emphasize its sincere effort

to resolve the nuclear issue on the Korean peninsula,

which continues to draw the attention of the

international community. That issue, as has been made

clear time and again from this very rostrum, is no more

than a product of the deep-rooted and hostile policy of

the United States towards the Democratic People’s

Republic of Korea a policy that has lasted for more

than half a century.

Peace and stability on the Korean peninsula is

directly linked to the peace and security of the North-

East Asian region and of the world as a whole. It is

regrettable, however, that there has never been lasting

peace and stability on the Korean peninsula. Rather,

there has been a recurring cycle of tension and détente

whose principal cause is nothing other than the current,

hostile relations between the Democratic People's

Republic of Korea and the United States.

As history has proved, no issue can be resolved

by resorting to sanctions and pressure. There has been

no other option for the Democratic People’s Republic

of Korea whose territory and population are

small but to strengthen its military power for self-

defence, on the basis of Songun politics, to protect its

national sovereignty and dignity in the face of the

United States’ threats of nuclear strikes and harsh

economic sanctions.

It is the Songun politics of the respected General

Kim Jong Il and our active efforts that guarantee peace

and stability on the Korean peninsula and a strategic

balance in the North-East Asian region. Our Songun

politics is a source of great pride and self-confidence

for us, because it deters military conflict and ensures

peace on the Korean peninsula and in North-East Asia.

Our national military power has a self-defensive

nature, since it is intended solely to safeguard our

sovereignty and to fulfil the aspirations of the countries

in the region for peace, security and stability.

Denuclearization of the Korean peninsula was the

lifelong teaching of our fatherly leader President Kim

Il Sung, and it has been our consistent position that the

nuclear issue must be resolved peacefully through

dialogue and negotiation. Thanks to our sincere efforts,

several rounds of the Six-Party Talks have been held to

date. That made possible the adoption of Joint

Statement of 19 September 2005, followed by the

13 February 2007 agreement on initial actions to

denuclearize the Korean peninsula. The Joint Statement

sets out the obligations of all parties in the

denuclearization of the Korean peninsula on the basis

of the principle of words for words and actions for

actions.

Denuclearization of the Korean peninsula will not

lead to our unilateral disarmament, but can be achieved

by ending the hostile relations between the Democratic

People’s Republic of Korea and the United States and

by eliminating all nuclear threats on the Korean

peninsula and in the surrounding region.

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea

suspended the operation of the Nyongbyon nuclear

facilities and allowed monitoring by the International

Atomic Energy Agency, thus fulfilling its obligations

under the 13 February agreement in a sincere manner.

The Nyongbyon nuclear facilities are the parent body

of our independent nuclear power industry, built with

tremendous human and material resources.

Accordingly, it is a courageous political decision to

halt their operation and now pass to the stage of

disabling them prior to eventual dismantlement.

As we clarified again at the Six-party Talks

recently held in Beijing, the successful implementation

of the 19 September Joint Statement requires all parties

to fulfil their respective obligations in accordance with

the principle of “actions for actions”. Specifically, it

depends on what practical measures the United States

and Japan will take to end their hostile policies towards

the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. The

United States should take steps to change its policy

towards my country and to normalize bilateral

relations, while Japan should make a clean break with

its past policy of aggression and crimes and set aside

its hostility towards my country, as it has pledged to

do. We will watch closely every move on the part of

the United States and Japan at this stage, the stage that

requires actions.

Nothing is more urgent or important than the

reunification of the nation, which has had to live with a

territorial division imposed by outside forces for more

than half a century. Ever since the early days of the

division, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea

has consistently sought to reunify the nation through

independent dialogue and negotiations between the

north and south of Korea, as it sees reunification as the

supreme national task. The historic North-South Joint

Declaration of 15 June 2000, a declaration of national

independence and peaceful reunification, sought to

achieve reunification through concerted efforts in

accordance with the ideal of “by our nation itself”,

thereby rejecting interference from outside forces.

The north-south summit now under way in

Pyongyang opens a significant new phase that augurs

well for peace, joint prosperity and reunification,

taking Korean relations to a higher level, in accordance

with the historic Joint Declaration and the spirit of “our

nation itself”. With the north and the south sitting face

to face in a spirit of national independence and love for

country, all problems can surely be resolved in the

interests of our nation, regardless of differences in

ideas and systems.

In order for the objectives of the North-South

Joint Declaration to be achieved and for peace and

reunification to return to the Korean peninsula, the

United States policy of hostility towards our country,

and its interference in our nation’s internal affairs,

should be brought to an end. In any case, the

Government of our Republic will make every effort to

bring about national reunification as soon as possible

by emphasizing the concept of one nation, defending

peace, realizing unity under the ideal of “by our nation

itself”, and upholding the banner of the North-South

Joint Declaration.

I would also like to draw the Assembly's

attention to Japan’s recent attempt to use militarization

to cast a dark shadow across the future development of

the Korean peninsula and its neighbours. In addition,

Japan’s discriminatory and repressive acts deny the

national rights of Koreans in Japan, in violation of

international law.

Japan's recent manoeuvres against the

Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the

General Association of Korean Residents in Japan

(Chongryon), have driven relations between Japan and

our country to the lowest possible level. In an open

challenge to the international community’s

denunciation and condemnation of Japan’s treatment of

Koreans, Japanese authorities have not hesitated to

distort history, even going so far as to try to conceal

Japan’s bloody past crimes, while turning the “self-

defence force” into a regular army with a mandate that

permits pre-emptive strikes against other countries by

changing the “Peace Constitution” into a war

constitution.

Indeed, Japan's attempt to eliminate by force the

Chongryon, the legitimate overseas organization of

compatriots from my country, constitutes an

infringement of the sovereignty of the Democratic

People's Republic of Korea as serious as any financial

sanction could be and a massive human rights violation

according to the provisions of existing international

human rights instruments.

We therefore hope that Japan will truly follow the

path of friendship and peace rather than revive its

unsavoury past. Unless it makes a clean break with its

past crimes, Japan is not entitled to a future.

Although the first decade of the new millennium

is already nearing its end, our planet has yet to be

peaceful, even for a day. Indeed, world peace and

security are now confronted with serious challenges of

ever-increasing intensity. Principles of respect for

national sovereignty and equality the foundation of

modern international relations are threatened by

attempts to extend and expand the “war against

terrorism” for self-serving reasons, and by the high-

handedness and arbitrariness of forces that advocate

pre-emptive nuclear strikes and accelerated the

modernization of nuclear weapons.

The present international situation requires the

United Nations to strengthen its central role and

functions in resolving such issues as global peace and

security and sustainable economic and social

development, in conformity with the purposes and

principles of the Charter of the United Nations.

Unilateralism and high-handedness should never be

tolerated, as they violate principles of international law

and the Charter, as well as collective efforts to build a

new and just world order, based on respect for

sovereignty, territorial integrity, equality and mutual

benefit.

Disputes should be resolved peacefully through

dialogue and negotiations. Collective sanctions and the

use of force in the form of armed aggression against

sovereign States must never be tolerated on any

account.

The Security Council should be a responsible

organ that truly ensures international peace and

security. It should not be used by certain countries to

promote their own strategic interests.

The peaceful and prosperous new world desired

by humankind must have as its basis fair international

relations in which the sovereignty of all States

Members of the United Nations is respected without

differentiation and the principles of equality and

mutual benefit are observed.

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea will

continue to strive for the creation of a just and equal

world order based on the ideals of independence, peace

and friendship.