North Korea, 2025

I now give the floor to His Excellency Kim Sung-yong, Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Democratic Republic, Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Madam President, Mr. Secretary General, distinguished delegates, first of all, I'd like to express my expectation that the 80th session of the UN General Assembly, convened in the significant year of the 80th founding anniversary of the United Nations, will come to excellent fruition amid extraordinary interest of the participants. Taking note of the opening address of Mr. Guterres and the UN Secretary General on September 3, I commend his assertion that the role of the UN, the one-of-a-kind podium, should be enhanced since an individual state cannot address issues alone, and that the UN should be reformed to fit for the 21st century. As reflected in the theme of the current session, Better Together, 80 Years and More for Peace, Development and Human Rights, we are now at a crucial watershed where we all look back on the 80-year-long history of the United Nations and chart the future. Eighty years ago from now, humankind adopted the UN Charter on the Debris of the Disastrous War, thereby laying a cornerstone for the contemporary international relations and establishing the most inclusive international organization, the United Nations. Since its foundation, the UN has made remarkable successes in various fields, including peace and security and socio-economic development by accelerating decolonization worldwide and leading the codification of universal norms of international law. Despite many twists and turns, it is fortunate that a new world war has not broken out. It can be said to be a desired result of the main spirit of the UN Charter to save succeeding generations from the scourge of the world war, which twice has brought untold sorrow to mankind. We cannot underestimate the role that the UN played in promoting cooperation among nations and the socio-economic fields, such as poverty eradication and fight against communicable diseases, and in propelling sustainable development at a global level. However, in the annals of the UN history, disgraceful pages are also recorded where the title of the UN, overwhelmed by high-handedness and arbitrariness of the hegemonic forces, was abused in exerting pressure to deprive sovereign states of their lest-me-to-right normal development, quite contrary to the spirit of the Charter. We should not feel relieved nor congratulate ourselves on the non-occurrence of the World War III for the past 80 years. Instead, we should pay due attention to the fact that the inducible threat has persisted and is now becoming more serious. We should take measures accordingly. Madam President, The international community is now witnessing the most turbulent and violent world after World War II. The modern history has recorded many incidents and events. But today, the international norms and order established and consolidated along with the foundation of the UN are disregarded and the sovereignty of states is openly violated as never before. The indiscriminate tariff war vis-à-vis the entire world has plunged the global economy as a whole into the swamp of stagnation and instability. Even the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, committed to eliminating inequality and poverty and ensuring human dignity worldwide, is denied for the reason that it does not meet the interest of an individual country. This is the stark reality. The UN has served as a multilateral forum where all countries of the world, big or small, get together and discuss common responses to global challenges on an equal footing transcending differences in size, population and state power. That UN is now faced with an unprecedented severe crisis. All these turbulences and pains suffered by the world are fundamentally caused by high-handedness and arbitrariness and avarice of hegemonic forces in their attempt to subject the whole world to their interests and to place their exclusive interests above the common good of mankind. Madam President, Today the complicated international situation highlights the need to reconsider the role of the UN, responsible for maintaining international peace and security. As the world's most universal international organization comprising all sovereign states on the globe, the UN cannot be represented by a certain individual state or a small group of states. In particular, in order to prevent arbitrariness and high-handedness of specific forces, it is imperative to expand and strengthen the representation of developing countries that take up an absolute majority of the UN membership and to correct the Western-led inappropriate structure in the Security Council entrusted with an important mandate of maintaining international peace and security. Only when the UN puts an end to the arbitrary, high-handed, biased and double-dealing practices in all its activities and strictly adheres to the principles of sovereign equality, non-interference in internal affairs, impartiality and objectivity can it restore its image as an organization with full qualifications and capacity for realizing the purposes of the Charter. Madam President, Peace and security are long-cherished desires of humanity and the first agenda of the UN. Without peace and security, we can neither attain the SDGs nor think about a good future that ensures human dignity and prosperity. However, the present objective security situation of the Korean Peninsula is faced with serious challenges more than ever. The U.S.-ROK-U.S.-Japan military exercises and the U.S.-Japan-ROK trilateral military cooperation system directly targeting the DPRK rapidly evolve into a more offensive and aggressive military bloc with nuclear elements contained. Meanwhile, war exercises and military build-up against our state are breaking all the previous records in terms of scale, nature, frequency and scope. Nowhere in the world can we find such a place as the Korean Peninsula, where the world's biggest nuclear weapon state and its allied forces conduct bilateral and multilateral war exercises all the year round and even stage real-world drills simulating the use of nukes targeting a sovereign state by mobilizing massive multinational combined forces and latest strategic assets. Even a few days before the current session begins, the U.S. and its allied forces waged nuclear war drills such as Iron Mace and Freedom Edge aimed at mastering the procedure and methods of nuclear attacks against the DPRK under the fate-accomplished scenario, thus extremely straining the situation on the Korean Peninsula. Yet even in the face of the tremendous military threat directed against the DPRK and the dangerous security landscape, roaring guns of war are silenced and peace and security are firmly safeguarded on the Korean Peninsula. This is an undeniable reality. Thanks to our state's enhanced physical war deterrent in direct proportion to the growing threat of aggression of the U.S. and its allies, the will of the enemy state to provoke war is thoroughly contained and the balance of power on the Korean Peninsula is ensured. In order to permanently maintain this state of balance and ensure everlasting peace on the Korean Peninsula, we have stipulated nuclear in our Constitution as a sacred and absolute thing that can never be touched upon and tampered with. Imposition of denuclearization on the DPRK is tantamount to demanding it to surrender sovereignty and the right existence and violate the Constitution. We will never give up sovereignty, abandon the right to existence and violate the Constitution. Comrade Kim Jong-un, President of the State Office of the DPRK, made it clear at the 13th session of the 14th Supreme People's Assembly on September 21 that our Party and the Government would invariably and firmly safeguard, without the slightest vacillation, the Constitution of the DPRK and its basic law on the policy of nuclear forces, perpetuating the possession of nuclear weapons, and thoroughly guarantee the supreme interest of our state. The policy line of Comrade President of the State Office represents our state law and we will defend the state law without fear. We will never give up nuclear, which is our state law, national policy and sovereign power, as well as the right to existence. Under any circumstances we will never walk away from this position. Madam President, the DPRK is vigorously opening up the road to overall national prosperity on the basis of peace and security guaranteed by its powerful strength. Vigorous efforts are underway to further consolidate the driving force and potentials for development of a self-reliant national economy and the overall national economy, including industry and agriculture, and to meet the output target. As a result, the completion of the five-year plan of national economic development, set forth by the 8th Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea, is definitely within reach. Notably, construction of 50,000 residential houses in Pyongyang is carried out without fail on an annual basis well ahead of schedule. Meanwhile, creatures for welfare of the people, including rural dwelling houses, large-scale greenhouses and modern hospitals, are being built grandiosely. With a view to providing all people with a fluent and civilized new life and rapidly raising the level of development of all regions within a short period of 10 years, the newly adopted policy of rural development is dynamically executed, with tangible results one after another. The DPRK is confidently following the road of its own choice, without any fluctuation or vacillation, even under the political turmoil worldwide. This reality is a brilliant fruition of the unshakable spirit of independence and correct leadership of the Workers' Party of Korea and the government of the DPRK. Madam President, This year, marking the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, colorful political and cultural events have taken place in various countries commemorating the victory in the anti-fascist world war. It is an expression of the rock-form will of the righteous international community not to tolerate the attempts to deny the result of the anti-fascist world war and national liberation struggles achieved at a tremendous sacrifice. Eight years have passed since the end of World War II, yet genocide and crimes against humanity that can even overshadow Hitler are now openly committed in the Middle East, much to the consternation of the world. Israel, which massacred over 60,000 Palestinian civilians in the past two years, is seeking to occupy the whole area of Gaza by force and completely exterminate the Palestinian population. We strongly urge Israel to stop immediately crimes against humanity and withdraw from the Gaza Strip. Likewise, we fully support the establishment of an independent state of Palestine with East Jerusalem as its capital and Palestine's full-fledged membership of the UN. Independence, peace and friendship are the invariable external policy ideals of the D.P.R.K. The D.P.R.K. will, as in the past, so in the future, collaborate with all countries and nations that oppose and reject aggression, intervention, domination and subjugation and aspire after independence and justice, irrespective of differences in ideals and systems. The D.P.R.K. will promote multi-faceted exchanges and cooperation with the countries that respect and take friendly approaches towards it. I thank the Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.