Reaching Critical Will

Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)

Conference on Disarmament

General Assembly First Committee

UN Disarmament Commission

Special Session on Disarmament

Right of Reply by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea at the Conference on Disarmament on Jan. 24, 2007

Madame President,

My delegation rejects allegations of representative of Germany who, speaking on behalf of EU, referred to the situation of the DPRK.

We were disappointed by the representative’s remarks breaking constructive atmosphere of the CD whose urgent and priority task at this juncture is to agree on agenda and other important issues at hand.

Since the accusations were addressed to this delegation, it is our duty to respond to them.

The missile launch by the DPRK remains a full-fledged exercise of sovereign rights which nobody is entitled to criticize.

We have already categorically and resolutely rejected all UN Security Council resolutions relating to the DPRK and made it clear we are not bound by them.

DPRK is not a party to the NPT and therefore is not bound by it either. Our withdrawal from the NPT was a legitimate exercise of its sovereign rights.

Let me turn to nuclear issue.

We are very much concerned about German allegation because it questioned only our possession of nuclear weapons while making no mention of the fundamental causes and the ringleaders that compelled us to do so.

Over the last half a century, the DPRK has been subjected to the constant hostility by the United States aimed at isolating, stifling and imposing sanctions.

In particular, current US administration immediately after taking Office in 2001, called the DPRK as part of “Axis of Evil” and a target of “Nuclear Pre-emptive Strike” and has still been looking for every opportunity to invade it by deploying huge military striking forces in the air, sea and land, ready to fire at any time.

In a nutshell, this indicates a quick elimination of the DPRK.

The DPRK had no alternative but was driven by this situation to possess nuclear weapons just as a positive defensive countermeasure to safeguard itself.

If one has no defense capability strong enough to defend itself, it cannot avoid being stateless.

This is a bitter lesson drawn from the past history of the DPRK as well as the truth shown by the reality of today’s world where the jungle law is often prevalent.

Our nuclear weapons are not meant to “threaten” anyone at all, on the contrary, they are serving as a reliable deterrent to protect supreme security of the state and the life of people in the face of the nuclear war threat and sanctions imposed by the United States and to prevent a new war and ensure peace and security on the Korean peninsular.

We have reiterated on many occasions that we would neither use nuclear weapons first, nor allow any nuclear transfer and that it would continue to work towards its ultimate objective of denuclearization of the Korean peninsular.

We have done our utmost to ensure successful outcome of the 6 party talks. The delay in implementing September 19 statement is attributable to the United States which imposed sanctions on DPRK immediately after its publication.

Whether the 6 party talks will be successful or not depends wholly on the United States.

Now preparations are under way for the next round of 6 party talks, especially bilateral talks was held in Berlin recently between the DPRK and the United States in a positive atmosphere leading to certain agreements.

We shall watch future attitudes of the United States.

It is not fair for the EU to point fingers at self-defense actions of a victim, the DPRK, while deliberately ignoring unjust aggressive actions of an offender, the United States. This can be construed as nothing but a flattery to the super power.

There would be no other big mistakes if they believe they can shake our will by threatening us with such accusatory remarks such as this.

We shall continue to be uncompromising with any attempts aimed at provoking DPRK on the issue of our legitimate self-defensive military measures and take strong countermeasures accordingly. Thank you.