Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the International Relations topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
DPRK Representative Uses U.N. Right of Reply to Blame ROK and U.S. for Regional Instability
Summary
A representative of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea used a right of reply at the United Nations to accuse the Republic of Korea’s foreign minister of political provocation, blame U.S. nuclear threats and military drills for regional instability, and reject Security Council resolutions.
A representative of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea told the United Nations General Assembly it was exercising its right of reply to rebut what it called a ‘‘political provocation’’ by the Republic of Korea’s foreign minister. The delegate accused the ROK minister of abusing the U.N. platform and said the statement sought to tarnish the DPRK’s dignity and sovereignty.
The DPRK speaker placed responsibility for the peninsula’s tensions on long-standing U.S. policies, saying it is "an undeniable fact in history" that the U.S. nuclear threat lasting "for more than half a century triggered off the DPRK access to nuclear weapons." The delegate also alleged the presence of U.S.-led military blocs and a "nuclear consultative group" operating in the Asia-Pacific aimed at using nuclear weapons against the DPRK.
The representative charged that the United States and its partners continue "aggressive war drills" and that the U.S.-ROK military alliance is bringing a greater security crisis to the Korean Peninsula and Northeast Asia. The speaker described other governments’ human-rights criticisms of the DPRK at the U.N. as a "despicable smear campaign" and said those countries used human-rights rhetoric because they could not subdue the DPRK by force.
On the ROK specifically, the delegate said the country lacks "elementary qualification to talk about a human rights issue" and accused it of scattering leaflets and conducting political agitation aimed at defaming DPRK ideology. The remarks included an appeal to the ROK to read the U.N. Charter; the speaker cited Article 24, saying the Security Council must act in accordance with the Charter’s purposes and principles.
The DPRK also stated it would not acknowledge certain Security Council resolutions that it said "deny our right to existence and development" and pledged to "fully safeguard the sovereignty and security interests of the state" through "offensive and overwhelming" measures as described in the transcript.
No on-record response from the Republic of Korea, the United States or other delegations is recorded in this transcript. The representative’s right-of-reply remarks concluded with thanks to the president.
