Speech of DPRK Permanent Representative at Geneva Disarmament Session

Pyongyang, May 18 (KCNA) -- The DPRK permanent representative to the UN Office and International Organizations in Geneva made a speech at the 2nd session of the Geneva Disarmament Conference on May 15.

Noting that the situation of the Korean peninsula attracted global attention as a matter of great interest from the beginning of this year, he said:

Kim Jong Un, chairman of the State Affairs Commission of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, said in his New Year Address that the north and the south of Korea should improve the frozen inter-Korean relations and glorify this meaningful year as an eventful one noteworthy in the history of the nation.

The DPRK, firmly committed to put an end to the history of confrontation and make contribution to regional and global peace, took unprecedented measures to promote the improvement of inter-Korean relations and bring about a dramatic change in the situation of Korean peninsula.

This resulted in creating a good atmosphere for improving inter-Korean relations during the 23rd Winter Olympic Games in March, followed by a historic North-South Summit and an adoption of "Panmunjom Declaration for Peace, Prosperity and Reunification of Korean Peninsula" in April.

The eye-opening spectacular events which no one ever imagined a few months ago are unfolding one after another, and the inter-Korean relations which had been frozen for 10 years made a drastic U-turn within a short period of only four months, leading to a positive atmosphere of de-escalation of tension and confidence-building.

Such remarkable reality is the result of the DPRK's strong will to defend peace and its courageous determination for national reunification.

The DPRK declared in April that it will discontinue nuclear test and ICBM test-fire, and this was followed by the announcement of its plan to dismantle the test site this month in order to ensure transparency.

Discontinuation of nuclear test is an important process for global disarmament, and the DPRK will join international desire and efforts for total halt of nuclear test.

The DPRK will further make its effort to defuse the acute military tensions and substantially remove the danger of a war on the Korean peninsula.

The representative stressed that misleading the public opinion, arguing as if the DPRK's clarification of its intention for denuclearization of the Korean peninsula expressed through the Panmunjom Declaration is the result of so-called sanctions and pressure or talking about continued "maximum pressure" cannot be construed otherwise than a dangerous attempt to ruin the hardly-won atmosphere of dialogue and worsen the situation.

And he expressed expectations that the international community would extend its active support in encouraging the current positive climate on the Korean peninsula. -0-