South Korea, 1999

On behalf of my

delegation, I offer Mr. Theo-Ben Gurirab my sincere

congratulations on his election as President of the General

Assembly at its fifty-fourth session. I also pay a tribute to

his predecessor, Mr. Didier Opertti, under whose leadership

the Assembly succeeded in achieving positive results at its

fifty-third session.

I have every expectation that this, the final session of

the Assembly of the twentieth century, will be as fruitful.

The rich experience and leadership Mr. Gurirab brings to

the presidency ensure the session's success. I assure him of

our full cooperation and support in his noble endeavours.

I warmly congratulate the three new Members, the

Republic of Kiribati, the Republic of Nauru and the

Kingdom of Tonga, on their admission to the United

Nations.

The new millennium is about to dawn, and we will

enter it with great hope for the new age, but also burdened

by numerous problems left unresolved from the passing

century. To realize the hope and mould the twenty-first

century into an era of global peace and stability, of

well-being and prosperity for all humankind, we must face

up to these problems, decide what our priority goals are and

seek measures to achieve them. So that the fifty-fourth

session may illuminate the way, let us gather the best of

our collective wisdom.

The defining character of our times is change and

the acceleration of change. The guiding precept of the

global actors is shifting from nationalism to

internationalism, and further to globalism. The whole

world is converging around shared values and behaviour

patterns. In economic affairs, the market economy is

becoming the global norm. In political matters,

reconciliation and cooperation have become the expected

mode of behaviour. The world is becoming a global

village of countries willing and eager to live with one

another in interdependence and integration.

A conspicuous exception to the tide of the times is

the Korean peninsula, where the confrontational structure

of the cold-war era still keeps the two divided sides in

mutual distrust and hostility. Decades have passed since

the end of the Korean war, but genuine peace has yet to

come to the Korean people. Despite the warm wind of

reconciliation blowing around the world, the Korean

peninsula has remained frozen in an icy time warp.

The Republic of Korea aspires to melt away the ice

and reconcile with the Democratic People's Republic of

Korea. It aspires to free the Korean peninsula from the

final legacy of the cold war and allow it to take its

rightful place in the grand march of history towards the

new era. To realize this aspiration, the engagement policy

of the Government of President Kim Dae-jung has been

sending warm winds of sunshine to the North, in hopes

that it will respond in kind. Inspired by the lessons of

history and the trend of the times, this sunshine policy

represents a bold shift in our thinking about South-North

relations.

Our engagement policy is not aimed at undermining

or absorbing the North. Instead, it is a policy of

cooperation, designed to help North Korea overcome its

economic difficulties and promote the co-prosperity of all

Koreans, so that we may finally be free from the threat of

another war. It is a policy of tolerance, envisioning the

peaceful coexistence of two systems along the road to

eventual unification.

The steady and consistent implementation of the

engagement policy during the past year and a half has

made meaningful and unprecedented openings in the thick

wall that divides South and North Korea. South Korean

businesses are investing in the North. In one such venture,

over 100,000 South Korean tourists were able to visit a

scenic mountain in the North for the first time since the

national division.

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Economic cooperation is also an important element in

the work of the Korean Peninsula Energy Development

Organization, a joint endeavour of the Republic of Korea,

the United States, Japan, the European Union and many

other countries to help resolve North Korea's energy-

shortage problem while keeping it free of nuclear weapons.

The engagement policy is being carried out in close

consultation with the United States and Japan. It also has

the full support of our neighbours in North-East Asia —

China, the Russian Federation and Mongolia — as well as

the G-7, the Association of South-East Asian Nations, the

European Union and other members of the international

community. South Korea is deeply grateful for their

understanding and support.

Still North Korea remains suspicious of our intentions.

It may perceive the engagement policy as a strategy to

bring about its downfall or to absorb it. Speaking in this

solemn Hall, I must reiterate the genuine, good-hearted

intentions of the engagement policy. The Republic of Korea

has no wish to undermine North Korea or to make it a part

of us. All we seek is peaceful coexistence.

I make this appeal. Let us, South and North Korea,

live in lasting peace. Let us together join the mainstream of

history: reconciliation, cooperation and interdependence. I

sincerely hope that North Korea responds to the warm

sunshine we have been sending it with some warm sunshine

of its own.

I also hope that the North Korean authorities will take

steps to fundamentally address the chronic food shortage

and other difficulties that have plagued the people in the

North for many years. The problems require the continued

interest and assistance of the international community.

Countless children in the North are suffering and dying

from starvation and malnutrition, stunted growth and

disease. With their right to food and life irrevocably

impaired, tens of thousands of North Koreans have fled the

country in search of food.

The primary responsibility for redressing the situation

lies with the North Korean authorities. They must face up

to the enormity of the problems. We also hope that the

international community will provide continued

humanitarian assistance to North Korea.

The Government of the Republic of Korea has actively

taken part in the humanitarian efforts to help the

Democratic People's Republic of Korea. We are prepared to

offer far more in terms of food and fertilizer, as well as

assistance to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's

agricultural restructuring. We urge the North Korean

authorities to join us in dialogue for cooperation on this

and other matters.

North-East Asia, where the interests of the major

Powers intersect, is an economic powerhouse and a region

vital to global peace and stability. With the market

economy taking root throughout the region, a new age of

stability, cooperation and mutual prosperity is sprouting

in North-East Asia. The countries of the region are

becoming bound ever closer together in economic ties and

interdependencies. Unhampered exchanges and

cooperation are expanding far beyond the trade in goods

and services to people-to-people contacts and other

interactions in the fields of culture, sports, education and

many others. Mutual understanding and appreciation is

deepening.

To further the trend, North-East Asia requires

adequate mechanisms to deal with transnational issues,

such as environmental pollution, drug-trafficking,

refugees, organized crime and public health. There is also

a need for a region-wide channel of dialogue and

cooperation to defuse tension and prevent conflict.

To enjoy a stable security environment and co-

prosperity in the twenty-first century, the countries of

North-East Asia must learn from the lessons of

region-wide cooperation and integration in many other

areas of the world. They must strengthen mutual trust by

upgrading the mode and calibre of their dialogue and

consultations. They should promptly set out to establish

a dialogue forum where they can all engage in earnest

exchanges of views and nurture the sense of community.

The Republic of Korea stands ready to cooperate

closely with the other countries of the region to launch

such a mechanism for dialogue and cooperation

encompassing all of North-East Asia. I urge the countries

of the region to join in the efforts to translate this idea

into reality.

Peace and co-prosperity in North-East Asia will

certainly gain from the global disarmament and

non-proliferation efforts, in which the Republic of Korea

has been an active participant. With the ratification of the

Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), my

country is now a party to all the key non-proliferation

treaties. We call upon other countries that have yet to sign

and ratify the CTBT to promptly do so, so that the Treaty

can soon go into effect. We call upon all States to join in

the non-proliferation efforts by acceding to all global

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regimes, such as the Chemical Weapons Convention, aimed

at combating the spread of weapons of mass destruction.

A priority task for the global community will be to

successfully carry out the review Conference of the Treaty

on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) slated

for next year and to revitalize the Conference on

Disarmament. I urge the Democratic People's Republic of

Korea, as a party to the NPT, to fulfil its responsibilities

under the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)

safeguards agreement and to cooperate with us to

implement the 1991 Joint Declaration on the

Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

We are living in a single global community.

Globalization has been good to the Republic of Korea.

Without the open markets, interdependencies and instant

information flow nurtured by globalization, we would not

have been able to achieve the rapid economic development

that we did. However, stuck in the expediencies fostered

during the years of Government-driven quantitative growth,

Korea neglected to strengthen the market rules in the

national economy. We failed to realize that globalization

requires constant efforts to reinforce the market rules —

transparency, accountability, efficiency and productivity. As

a result, Korea was struck by a severe economic crisis in

1997.

But now we are trying to make up for past neglect.

During the past year and a half, we have been undertaking

sweeping and intense reforms in the key sectors of society.

The reforms have required painful restructuring and

sacrifices, but we have been steady and firm in putting into

practice the belief that trade and investment liberalization

and the strengthening of market rules are the keys to

sustained economic growth and prosperity.

A year ago, from this same rostrum, I spoke about the

efforts of my Government and people to overcome the

crisis, guided by the conviction in the parallel development

of democracy and the free-market economy. Today, I am

happy to report that the efforts have begun to pay off and

the country is expected to achieve over 6 per cent economic

growth this year, a dramatic turnaround from the -5.8

percent of last year. Other economic indicators also speak

of a stable, recovering economy.

Korea has learned valuable lessons from the economic

crisis. We are now keenly aware that free and fair

competition and good governance are essential to

sustainable economic development. We also realized that a

system of social welfare based on human-resources

development must be established to mitigate the painful

consequences of the reforms. Applying those lessons in

the reform drive, we are on our way to becoming a

market economy with a human face.

Of course, in a globalized economy, crisis knows no

borders and the efforts at preventing and coping with

crisis must also extend beyond borders. In this regard, we

welcome the discussions concerning the restructuring of

the global financial architecture. For the discussions to be

productive, the crisis-stricken countries and other

emerging market economies should have extensive

participation. Keeping track of the discussions for

meaningful progress, we count on the continued

cooperation between the United Nations and the Bretton

Woods systems.

One consequence of globalization has been the

widening gap between the developed and the developing

countries and the increasing marginalization of the least

developed ones. Unattended, the disparity will only grow

in the twenty-first century of unlimited competition,

becoming a risk factor that could endanger global stability

and peace. There is a pressing need for a new paradigm

of international development cooperation, whereby the

chronic poverty and excessive debts besetting the

developing countries and other related issues are taken as

challenges to be overcome with the active input of all

members of the global community.

Development is meaningless without a healthy

population to reap the fruits. Thus, we welcome the joint

initiative of the United Nations Children's Fund and the

World Health Organization to establish the Global

Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization and the

Children's Vaccine Initiative. Doing its share in the efforts

to save the 9 million children of the world who are dying

every year from diseases that can be prevented, the

Republic of Korea has hosted the International Vaccine

Institute since 1994. We hope the Institute will be able to

work in close cooperation with the Global Alliance and

the Vaccine Initiative.

In the half century since the Universal Declaration

of Human Rights was adopted in 1948, the United

Nations has taken the lead in forging global mechanisms

for the protection and advancement of human rights

around the world. The principles of universality,

indivisibility and interdependence of all human rights are

now widely upheld. Human rights violations, wherever

they may take place, are now considered a legitimate

concern of the international community. Human rights has

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become a priority agenda of the post-cold-war global

community. In the Republic of Korea, the Government of

President Kim Dae Jung has made significant advances in

the field of human rights. We have also been an active

participant in the efforts of the United Nations and the

global community to resolve concrete cases of human rights

violations.

While we note the advances in human rights, we must

not forget that a quarter of the world's population still

struggles to survive in abject poverty. Poverty undermines

human dignity and human rights. Poverty is fertile ground

for conflict and dictatorship. Poverty alleviation should be

incorporated as a key goal in the United Nations

endeavours to advance human rights around the world. We

wish to see the mainstreaming of human rights in all the

programmes and activities of the United Nations further

expanded and deepened. Furthermore, we believe this

global body should strengthen its capacity for early warning

and preventive action so as to forestall massive human

rights violations and the outflow of refugees.

The task of advancing human rights has always

benefited from the push and pull of civil society. It will be

even more so in the new century as Governments and the

United Nations work in closer alliance and cooperation with

non-governmental organizations, research organizations and

advocacy groups. Next month, some 3,000 non-

governmental organization representatives will gather in

Seoul to take part in the 1999 international conference of

non-governmental organizations. Exploring the role of the

non-governmental organizations in the twenty-first century

global community, the meeting from October 11 to 15

should bring the United Nations system and civil society

closer together.

Let us turn our attention to the situation in East Timor.

The Republic of Korea applauded the Government of

Indonesia for making the decision to let the people of East

Timor choose their own fate. The will of the people, as

unequivocally registered on 30 August, must be upheld. The

violent repression of that will is a grave challenge to the

basic principle of democracy and human decency. The

atrocity must not be left unpunished and law and order

must be restored in East Timor. The Indonesian

Government has again shown wisdom and courage in

accepting the multinational peacekeeping forces under the

auspices of the United Nations. We hope that peace is soon

returned and that the will of the people for independence is

fully implemented through the conjoined efforts of the

Indonesian Government and the United Nations. The

Republic of Korea will take part in the peacekeeping

operations and will continue to do its share in the efforts

to safeguard regional and global peace and stability.

The United Nations has much work to do in the

twenty-first century. The Republic of Korea deeply

appreciates the reforms introduced by the

Secretary-General to enhance the responsiveness of the

global body to new challenges. We welcome the

designation of the fifty-fifth session next year as the

Millennium Assembly to identify the challenges awaiting

the global community in the twenty-first century. We

hope the Millennium Assembly strengthens the global

leadership of the United Nations for the new age.

In this regard, such thought-provoking concepts as

global public goods, human security and global

governance may serve to frame the discussions at the

Millennium Assembly.

I look to the twenty-first century as the era of the

United Nations. I sincerely hope to see the global body

renew itself and fulfil its missions through continuous

reforms and to enhance its effectiveness and democratic

character. Recalling the lofty spirit that gave birth to the

United Nations half a century ago, on behalf of the

Government and people of the Republic of Korea, I

pledge our abiding support for the global body in its

noble mission for peace and prosperity around the world.