Head of Delegation of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) delivered a statement at the meeting of the First Committee of the 75 th Session of the United Nations General Assembly on October 9.

The statement reads as follows:

Mr. Chairman,

Allow me to congratulate you, on behalf of the delegation of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), on your election as Chair of the First committee. I am confident that under your able chairmanship, the work of the Committee will become successful.

Mr. Chairman,

It is a long-cherished desire of humankind to live a harmonious and stable life in a peaceful world free of war.

Despite of the international community’s call for disarmament, the swing of the pendulum is towards arms build-up and the destabilizing factors that endanger global peace and security are increasing.

The successive disruption of legal mechanisms for nuclear disarmament and the lack of cross-surveillance system of military activities are most likely to lead to miscalculations and erroneous judgment and accordingly, the risk of accidental conflicts is running higher. On top of it, arms race, sophisticated weapons tests and military exercises by the world powers are arousing serious concerns of the international community.

Last year, the INF Treaty prohibiting the possession of tactical nuclear weapons by the world’s biggest nuclear powers was scrapped, and the Treaty on Open Skies that has contributed to building confidence and ensuring transparency for decades after the Cold War is in jeopardy.

The NEW START Treaty, which is due to expire in February next year, has very little prospect for extension due to conflict of positions of the concerned parties and it is being exploited as a political tool, off the track of its intended objective of nuclear disarmament.

In order to achieve nuclear disarmament, the countries with the largest nuclear arsenals should take the lead in dismantlement and withdraw nuclear weapons deployed outside their territories.

Recently, show-down and rivalry aimed at extending military influence and gaining strategic edge in and around Asia are becoming increasingly fierce, which hampers peaceful development of the countries in the region.

Meanwhile, Japan is on the rush to turn itself into a military power while interpreting widely its current Constitution and seeking for arms build-up and overseas dispatch of troops beyond the bounds of its self-defense. Such reckless behaviour of Japan gives rise to due apprehension and vigilance of the neighboring countries.

The DPRK delegation hereby stresses that any attempt to bring about a new Cold War and trigger a global arms race should not be tolerated as it is an affront to the common aspiration of humankind for a peaceful world.

Mr. Chairman,

This year, even in the midst of turmoil caused by the spread of the pandemic, undisguised acts of hostility threatening peace continued in the southern half of the Korean Peninsula such as joint military exercises of provocative nature and steady introduction of modern military hardware from the outside.

Under the current circumstances, the fundamental guarantee for national security and development is strong self-defensive capabilities.

We possess a self-defensive deterrent to reliably defend ourselves against any form of high-intensity pressure, military threats or blackmail by hostile forces. We will not pause even a moment on the road of building up most powerful defense capabilities which no one would dare to challenge.

Mr. Chairman,

The DPRK government remains consistent in its position against biological and chemical weapons.

From the standpoint of using the outer space solely for peaceful purposes, we oppose arms race in the outer space and reaffirms the need to conclude a legally-binding treaty prohibiting militarization and weaponization of outer space at an early date.

The DPRK will work closely with all friendly countries of goodwill from its invariable position of contributing to maintenance of peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and in the rest of the world.

Thank you.