North Korea Should Listen to UN’s Voice in Unison

(unofficial translation)
※ Op-ed Article for The Hankook-Ilbo (September 29)

Kang Kyung-wha, Minister of Foreign Affairs

People have different perspectives, depending on their social position. I saw the world as a person in charge of human rights and humanitarian aid at the United Nations over the previous decade. This year, I saw the UN and the international community as Minister of the Republic of Korea at the UN General Assembly session. On the world’s largest multilateral diplomatic stage, I could clearly see the current state of North Korea’s nuclear issues.

A number of world leaders including President Moon Jae-in delivered condolences and sympathy to the Mexican people over the tremendous loss of human life and property stemming from the recent earthquake that occurred few days before and after the opening of UN General Assembly. The Mexican earthquake, however, was not the only one has sent shock waves across the international community. North Korea’s sixth nuclear test seriously challenged the UN General Assembly session’s theme of “Focusing on People.” This test may have been at least 5 times stronger than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima many decades ago. Under these circumstances, it was natural that high-level officials from the 193 UN member countries condemned in keynote speeches the North’s reckless and irresponsible challenge to global stability.

President Moon has implemented nuclear diplomacy with North Korea in earnest, at the UN General Assembly session. In his bilateral and mini-lateral meetings, he urged the international community to faithfully implement the relevant UN Security Council resolutions. In addition, he won broad support for his administration’s policy and philosophy, aimed at addressing the North’s nuclear issue in a peaceful way.

The Moon administration’s nuclear diplomacy, in particular, culminated on September 21. President Moon delivered a keynote speech at the General Assembly, followed by an ROK-U.S. summit and a luncheon with the US and Japanese leaders. Meanwhile, I attended the Security Council Thematic Meeting on the Denuclearization of the DPRK and had a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.

President Moon reminded us of the UN founding value of saving succeeding generations from the scourge of war and focused on explaining our efforts to ease tension peacefully on the Korean Peninsula, the only toxic legacy of the Cold War remaining on earth. In retrospect, while delivering a speech at the U.S. International Institution for Strategic Studies in June, the “Berlin Initiative” speech in July, an address celebrating our Liberation Day in August, President Moon had one theme across all of his speeches—namely, our leading role in building a stable peace and achieving the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in a peaceful way and our efforts in relation to the issues we are directly involved in. U.S. President Donald Trump also mentioned the North’s nuclear threat at the very beginning of his first speech at the UN General Assembly after his inauguration. He delivered a strong message by saying, “the denuclearization is its only acceptable future.” In addition, the international community including Europe, Southeast Asia, and Latin America asked North Korea to proceed along the path of denuclearization and respond positively to sincere proposals from the ROK government.

Nevertheless, North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un made a statement as Chairman of the State Affairs Commission for the first time ever immediately after Trump’s keynote speech. Kim uttered an unacceptable threat to take “the strongest measure in history,” and Minister of Foreign Affairs Ri Yong-ho said in his keynote speech that the North would continue to move toward its goal of nuclear armament.

Under these circumstances, the government of the Republic of Korea continues to strengthen the U.S.-ROK combined defense posture on the Korean Peninsula based on the bilateral alliance in order to deter North Korea’s provocations and, at the same time, step up the pressure on the North in all areas to encourage it to participate in dialogue. Most importantly, we need to ease tensions on the Peninsula as soon as possible. We must respond firmly to the North’s provocations while staying calm to ensure the current situation remains stable, with the aim of preventing tension from rising excessively and any abrupt military conflict that could threaten peace.

President Moon delivered in his speech at the UN General Assembly primarily the messages of peace, people, PyeongChang. This was a perfect match for the theme of the General Assembly session 2017 -- “Focusing on People.” A number of member countries supported our visions -- promoting public interest through a fundamental resolution of the North’s nuclear issue and developing the economy with a focus on people as well as the peaceful, successful hosting of the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games.

North Korea must place itself back on the right track of history as soon as possible and follow a path of peace and prosperity, in cooperation with the international community.