South Korea, 1995

Mr.

President, congratulations on your assumption of the

presidency of this historic fiftieth session of the General

Assembly of the United Nations. Leadership has never been

more critical to this Organization, and we are most grateful

for the able work of your predecessor, Foreign Minister

Amara Essy of Côte d’Ivoire, and of the Secretary-General,

Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali.

We stand at the threshold of a new era, a time of great

peril and magnificent promise. The choices that we make

in the coming weeks and months could rejuvenate the

United Nations for a new century of cooperation and

progress, or they could consign the world body to years of

stagnation, decline, and irrelevance. Neither path is

inevitable, and none of the United Nations shortcomings are

irreparable. The choice is ours.

The world, like the United Nations, is in a period of

transition and flux. Virulent local conflicts in several

regions are being met with global cooperation to contain the

violence, assist the victims and mend the political and

economic fabric of the shattered societies. During this past

week alone, patient and firm diplomacy has yielded

encouraging results in the Middle East and the former

Yugoslavia, two areas known more for conflict than

compromise. In some places, however, gross violations of

human rights and genocide are being committed, even as

great strides are taken globally by way of strengthening

international law and human rights standards, most recently

through the Fourth World Conference on Women. As the

fields of communications, trade and technology have

expanded to global proportions, interdependence has

become a fact of life.

In a world of change, no institution — least of all the

United Nations — can afford to stand still. The world body,

after all, is an experiment. Launched by leaders of vision,

foresight, and courage at another historic turning point half

a century ago, the United Nations has steadfastly stood for

change through peaceful means, for cooperation over

conflict, and for hope over despair. Today, we have been

called upon to reinvent the world Organization to meet the

challenges of the twenty-first century, while we recommit

ourselves to its founding, and enduring, principles.

There is little doubt that this is a time of testing for

the United Nations, but really it is the Member States — all

185 of us — that are being challenged as never before. It

is our collective will, commitment, and inspiration — or

lack thereof — that will determine the fate of history’s

greatest experiment in international organization. Our

responsibilities begin with paying our financial obligations

in full and on time, but they run much deeper and wider.

The Republic of Korea recognizes that the time has come

for far-reaching reform in the way the United Nations

conducts its business and structures its programmes.

Korea gladly joins the many other nations to make this

historic General Assembly session a time of reflection,

recommitment, and renewal.

No dimension of the United Nations work has been

more severely or dramatically tested than its far-flung

peace operations. All of us owe a debt of gratitude to the

men and women from 70 countries whose courage and

fortitude have kept the hope of peace alive under the most

difficult and trying circumstances. We have asked them

to accomplish a great deal with very little. If the United

Nations is to respond effectively to the new forms of

conflict that threaten peace and human security in today’s

uncertain world, it is imperative that its peace operations

be strengthened and renovated. We appreciate the ongoing

efforts to enhance the preventive diplomacy and rapid

reaction capabilities of the United Nations, both within

and outside the framework of the Organization.

One of the most promising avenues for bolstering

United Nations capabilities is the United Nations stand-by

arrangement system, and I would encourage the broadest

possible participation by Member States. Today, my

Government reaffirms its decision to take part in the

United Nations stand-by system and its willingness to

provide some 800 men for this effort, including an

infantry battalion, engineering units, medical units and

military observers.

Since Korea’s first participation in United Nations

peace-keeping operations in Somalia in 1993, when it sent

an engineering battalion to the United Nations Operation

in Somalia (UNOSOM II), it has dispatched a medical

unit to the Western Sahara and military observers to both

the United Nations Military Observer Group in India and

Pakistan (UNMOGIP) in Kashmir and the United Nations

Observer Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG). I am also

pleased to inform the Assembly that next week a Korean

bridging unit of engineers will arrive in Angola to take

part in the United Nations Angola Verification Mission (UNAVEMIII).

My Government is determined to expand its

contributions to the peace-keeping operations of the

United Nations at a level commensurate with our national

capacity.

5

As one of the troop-contributing countries to United

Nations peace-keeping operations, we feel a great deal of

concern over the fact that the number of casualties among

United Nations peace-keepers is sharply increasing and that

their safety is frequently endangered.

We firmly believe that hostile acts against United

Nations personnel, such as armed attack and hostage-taking,

are absolutely unacceptable and should not go unpunished.

While we appreciate efforts for the protection of United

Nations personnel, such as the conclusion of the

Convention on the Safety of United Nations and Associated

Personnel, we feel that it is the collective responsibility of

all Member States of the United Nations to ensure the

safety and security of United Nations peace-keepers.

The challenges before the United Nations, of course,

are hardly confined to traditional security concerns. Unrest

in many parts of the world serves to remind us of the

economic, social and political roots of conflict. Uneven

patterns of economic and social development are of

particular concern.

On the positive side, despite a slight decline in growth

since last year, the recent economic recovery of the

developed countries and sustained growth in a large number

of developing countries have helped boost the global

economy in 1995. Economies in transition have shown

encouraging signs of improvement. The overall economic

situation in Africa has also made headway, albeit slow and

modest.

However, developing countries, particularly those in

Africa, require the assistance of the international

community in their developmental efforts. Fostering a

favourable external economic environment for them is

essential. In this regard, my delegation believes that the

debate in the Economic and Social Council on the theme of

development in Africa this year was both timely and

appropriate.

In strengthening its cooperation with developing

countries, particularly with the least developed countries,

my Government places primary emphasis on human

resources development. We are implementing a plan, which

was announced by President Kim Young Sam at the World

Summit for Social Development in Copenhagen, to provide

technical training for over 30,000 people from developing

countries, particularly from the African continent, by the

year 2010.

We welcome the fact that the issue of development

is receiving renewed attention as a pre-eminent global

concern. My Government is actively participating in the

Working Group of the General Assembly on “An Agenda

for Development”. Although the primary responsibility for

development falls on the individual Government, we

believe that national development efforts also require the

assistance of the international community.

In that spirit, we vigorously support the multilateral

efforts to realize sustainable global development. As a

follow-up to President Kim’s announcement at the

Copenhagen Summit of our intention to increase our

official development assistance, we plan to enlarge our

voluntary contribution to the operational activities of the

United Nations by 65 per cent next year, and will

continue such efforts in the coming years.

In our view, the Copenhagen Social Summit was a

milestone, not only because it laid a sound foundation for

international assistance and cooperation in the area of

sustainable social development, but also because it charted

a clear direction for future action.

Women’s issues have also become a key part of the

global agenda. My Government welcomes the recent

discussions in Beijing on the enhancement of the status of

women and looks forward to the full and early

implementation of the plan of action adopted at the

Conference.

The protection and enhancement of human rights are

an enduring task. The inalienable and basic rights of

human beings must be faithfully protected and preserved.

As articulated in the Vienna Declaration, the primary

responsibility for protecting human rights should be borne

by the respective Government. However, it should also be

noted that the cooperation and attention of the

international community, including the United Nations,

are paramount to the efforts in this field.

Since the inauguration of President Kim Young Sam

in February 1993, the Government of the Republic of

Korea has placed an especially high priority on the

promotion of democracy and human rights. The

Government has ardently supported the democratization

process and has successfully taken various reform

measures to promote human rights in the country. I

should like to take this opportunity to express my

6

Government’s deep concern over the human rights situation

in North Korea. As my Government strongly believes that

the people in North Korea, as our kindred, should enjoy the

fundamental human rights to which all of us are entitled,

we urge Pyongyang to respond positively to the

international calls for the protection of human rights,

especially through opening its society.

An outstanding and emotional dimension of this issue

is the division of families on the Korean Peninsula. During

the Korean War, in 1950 to 1953, 10 million people were

separated from their families. Most were never to hear from

each other again, because even the exchange of letters was

prohibited between the two Koreas. Even after the war,

hundreds of South Koreans were forcibly taken to North

Korea against their will, leaving behind families grieving

over separation and anguished by the uncertainty of whether

the other members were still alive. I believe that it is high

time for the community of nations, particularly the United

Nations, to render its assistance and do its part for these

divided families so that they may at least hear from each

other until they are finally reunited.

Turning to the issue of disarmament, I would like to

take this occasion to declare, on behalf of my Government,

a one-year moratorium, which may be extended, on the

export of anti-personnel land-mines. We hope that our

decision will strengthen the international efforts to limit the

proliferation of land-mines and to end their indiscriminate

use.

Considering the continued importance of the

Conference on Disarmament as a unique negotiating forum

for disarmament, my delegation welcomes the decision on

expansion of membership of the Conference, adopted by

consensus at its plenary meeting a week ago. We hope that

the countries of the Group of 23 that wish to participate in

the Conference will be given full-fledged membership at

the earliest possible date.

The Republic of Korea, as one of the original

signatories to the Chemical Weapons Convention in 1993,

has taken steps to ratify the Convention with a view to

supporting the international endeavours to prohibit and

eliminate all types of weapons of mass destruction. As we

all recognize, universal adherence to the Convention is an

essential step towards securing an effective non-

proliferation regime in this area. The Republic of Korea

therefore strongly urges those countries, including the

DPRK, which have not yet joined the Convention to do so

as soon as possible.

In our efforts to curb the proliferation of nuclear

weapons, the indefinite extension of the Non-Proliferation

Treaty (NPT) by consensus last May was a watershed

event. We urge the nuclear-weapon States to fulfil their

responsibilities under the NPT to make the world nuclear-

free. In this regard, my delegation joins the call of many

other countries for the early conclusion of a

comprehensive test-ban treaty, a global agreement which

would undoubtedly help facilitate the eventual elimination

of nuclear weapons as envisaged in the NPT.

In the same spirit, it is deeply regrettable that some

countries with nuclear weapons are still engaged in

nuclear testing. On behalf of the Government and people

of the Republic of Korea, I would like to urge those

nations with future plans for testing to cancel them

without delay.

My delegation strongly endorses the efforts to

strengthen the safeguards system of the International

Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). We believe that the

future of the NPT also depends upon cooperation between

States in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy. In this

regard, we believe that the legitimate demands of the non-

nuclear States to promote the peaceful uses of nuclear

energy should be duly respected and that resolute

measures should be taken against those States that fail to

fulfil their obligations under the IAEA safeguards system.

The North Korean nuclear issue remains a

paramount security concern for North-East Asia and the

world. The Republic of Korea urges North Korea once

again not only to comply with its NPT obligations and

IAEA safeguards in a full and complete manner, but also

faithfully to implement the Geneva Agreed Framework

between the United States and the DPRK of October

1994. Furthermore, North Korea should live up to its

commitments and obligations under the Joint Declaration

on Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

Maintaining peace and stability on the Korean

Peninsula is not just an issue affecting 70 million

Koreans, but also a strategic issue with critical

implications for the North-East Asia region and the world

at large. Accordingly, we believe that the current

armistice agreement must be kept in force until a

permanent peace mechanism is set in place. With a view

to dealing with all inter-Korean issues, my Government

earnestly hopes that the North Korean leadership will

respond positively to our call for inter-Korean dialogue

and cooperation.

7

As I noted at the outset, the fiftieth anniversary of the

United Nations provides a unique opportunity for the

international community to revitalize, strengthen and reform

the United Nations system. To this end, a number of

proposals, studies and reports have been put forward. My

Government is closely following the constructive

discussions which have been conducted thus far in the

working groups of the General Assembly seeking ways to

augment the effectiveness, efficiency and democracy of the

Organization.

As for the Security Council, we are of the view that

in reforming it account should be taken first and foremost

of the need for equitable geographical representation in its

membership and enhanced transparency and efficiency in its

working methods. Given the utmost importance of the issue

and its implication for other issues, we will remain flexible

and open-minded to various ideas and suggestions and

make due contributions to the process of consensus-

building. We also believe that the coordinating role of the

Economic and Social Council should be strengthened,

particularly in the area of operational activities.

On the financial aspect of the United Nations, it is

alarming to note that the total amount of unpaid

assessments is well over $3.5 billion. An effective solution

to the current financial difficulties should be found in order

to meet the increasing demands of the United Nations and

to strengthen it. It is in this context that we again urge all

Member States to pay their assessed contributions on time

and in full.

In order for reform to be successful, however, it is

crucial to secure a broad consensus among Member States.

We must not forget that consolidated political will, mutual

confidence and a sense of common interest and benefit

among Member States are key elements in the process of

reform. In this spirit, reform begins at home, in

rededicating ourselves to the community of interests and

principles that serve to unite the disparate nations of the

world.

In three weeks, in this Hall, the leaders of more than

150 nations — three times as many as met in San Francisco

a half-century ago — will reaffirm their commitment to the

ideals and purposes enshrined in the Charter of the United

Nations.

As the nations and peoples of the world reflect upon

what the United Nations has achieved in its first half-

century and what it should aspire to in the years ahead, the

Republic of Korea wishes to renew its determination to

render full and unswerving support for the revitalization

of the world body in the years ahead. We believe in the

collective ability of nations to build a safer, more

prosperous and just world, and we are committed to do

our part.