Statement
H.E. Yun Byung-se
Minister of Foreign Affairs

Conference on Disarmament
February 28, 2017

Mr. President,
Distinguished Delegates,

At the outset, let me congratulate Ambassador Alexey Borodavkin on his assumption of the Presidency of the CD. I would also like to take a moment to express my sincere condolences to the late Russian Ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin who was also a good friend of Korea.

Mr. President,

It is my great pleasure and privilege to be back at the High-level Segment of the Conference on Disarmament (CD) following last year. It always feels like homecoming.

But at the same time, I feel daunted by the many challenges facing us. The international security environment is graver than ever since the end of the Cold War. Global challenges including WMD proliferation, terrorism, refugees, climate change and pandemics, are coming simultaneously. Most importantly, the rules-based international order is under threat in an unprecedented manner.

How best we can shape the future of the rules-based international order is a matter of great concern to all stakeholders including the UN, G20 and the CD, etc. In particular, the G20 had in-depth discussions on this topic two weeks ago in Bonn.

Now the CD, as the single multilateral disarmament negotiating forum, has a special responsibility as a norm-setter. To our dismay, not only the landmark achievements of the CD such as the CWC and CTBT but also its key objective for nuclear disarmament and denuclearization are being seriously challenged by its own member. That is North Korea.

Last year, when I spoke at this august body, I elaborated why North Korea is a norm-breaker par excellence, unparalleled in the history of the UN. I stressed at the time that:
- North Korea is the first country which has conducted nuclear tests in this century;
- It is the first country which has developed nuclear weapons programs within the NPT regime and announced its withdrawal from both the IAEA and the NPT;
- It is the first country which has officially declared itself as a “nuclear-armed state” in its constitution;
- And it is also the first CD member state which declared itself as “the youngest nuclear weapons state,” at this very Conference.

Just a few hours after my statement last year, the UN Security Council adopted the strongest-ever resolution 2270 further tightening sanctions and pressure against repeated violations by North Korea. North Korea ridiculed this resolution by conducting its fifth nuclear test in six months time. During the course of the last year, it also launched 24 ballistic missiles. It means that last year alone, North Korea violated UN Security Council resolutions at least 26 times. Not only that: North Korea over the last year violated wide range of international norms including the UN Charter, UN Security Council resolutions, NPT and CTBT.
And just two weeks ago, North Korea launched another IRBM. IRBM is a prelude to the development of ICBM which can target North America, not to mention East Asia and Europe. Now, no country is safe from the threat.

But while we were occupied with North Korean nuclear and missile threats over the past years, we inadvertently lost sight of another serious threat which is the chemical weapons programme of North Korea.

Earlier this month, the brother of the current leader of North Korea was brutally assassinated at an international airport on Malaysian territory. According to the Malaysian authorities, a North Korean diplomat and seven other North Korean official passport holders were behind the scene. A member of the CD, North Korea, is suspected of violating the sovereignty of another member of the CD, Malaysia.

Most alarmingly, Malaysian authorities revealed that the victim was killed with VX nerve agent, a chemical weapon classified as a weapon of mass destruction by the UN and also strictly banned by the Chemical Weapons Convention.

VX is 100 times more lethal than sarine, the nerve agent that was used to kill and injure several thousand civilians at the 1995 Tokyo subway attack. Just a few grams of VX is sufficient for mass killing. To our disbelief, North Korea is reported to have not just grams but thousands of tons of chemical weapons including VX all over the country. In this sense, the recent assassination is a wake-up call to all of us to North Korea’s chemical weapons capability and its intent to actually use them.

Last year, I warned that North Korea possesses not only nuclear capability but the intent to actually use them. This is now becoming a reality in the area of chemical weapons as well.

Many international media pointed out that North Korea’s use of chemical weapons for the targeted killing in a third country sent a very clear message to the world: Namely, this impulsive, unpredictable, trigger-happy and brutal regime is ready and willing to strike anyone, anytime, anywhere.

For us, it is clear why North Korea has not joined the CWC. You may recall that in 1993 North Korea announced its withdrawal from the NPT after it was caught red handed with a nuclear weapons programme that it had clandestinely developed in violation of the NPT regime. You see the parallel.

Year after year, the UN General Assembly has adopted strong resolutions emphasizing that any use of chemical weapons anywhere, at any time, by anyone, under any circumstances is unacceptable.

In the wake of this heinous act of using chemical weapons in Malaysia, we have to seriously consider what steps we should take in the coming weeks and months. In this era of greater accountability, we must hold those rule-breakers accountable under the principle of no impunity.

Once the Malaysian government releases its final investigation results, the Security Council and CWC Meeting of the States Parties should take up this case as a high priority agenda.

Already the UN Security Council adopted sanctions through relevant resolutions including 2270 deciding that North Korea shall abandon all chemical and biological weapons and weapons related programmes. Now specific action is in order.

CWC States Parties could also invoke Article 12 of the Convention and take collective measures and bring the issue to the attention of UN General Assembly and the Security Council.

Considering that the use of VX nerve agent endangers the safety at airports, effective countermeasures should be taken against such offence in accordance with relevant international convention.

And now is the time, I believe, for us to seriously consider taking more fundamental measures on their membership in relevant regional and international fora including the UN as well as the CD. It could take the form of suspension of North Korea’s rights and privileges as a UN member as stipulated in Security Council resolution 2321. If Malaysian government conclusively finds that North Korean authorities are behind this criminal act, the CD might need to question the membership of North Korea. Serial rule-breakers should not be granted a seat in this august rule-making body.

Distinguished delegates,

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists recently advanced the Doomsday Clock to just two and a half minutes to midnight. The chilling announcement was in part due to the increasing threat posed by North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme.

I also believe that the stalemate at the CD is not free from blame. To illustrate, the few hundred grams of nuclear material North Korea possessed around the time of the first nuclear crisis in 1993 has grown exponentially since then.
North Korea’s fast growing WMD and missile capabilities including chemical weapons has become gravest threat to the international peace and security. I urge all of you to join the international efforts to achieve CVID for nuclear weapons programme and abandonment of all chemical and biological weapons in North Korea.

I look forward to the full support of the CD members to this end. We have to take the first step to stop the Dooms Day Clocknow. Thank you. /END/