YouSaid · the spoken record

Joonkook Hwang

lines on the record: 32
first: 2023-07-13
most recent: 2023-08-25
sittings or episodes: 3
sources: un-security-council

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“We urge the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to stop provocative actions, which endanger not only the world, but also itself, and to respond positively to our call for dialogue. Our united action is essential to de-escalate the tension on the Korean peninsula and change the course of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.”
2023-08-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9406 (2023) · source
“It is our duty, as a responsible Government, to protect the lives and safety of our people from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s increasingly menacing threats by maintaining a robust combined defence-and-deterrence posture. As stated in the Camp David principles last week, the Republic of Korea, the United States and Japan will remain committed to the complete denuclearization of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and to dialogue and diplomacy with no preconditions. Under the current circumstances, the unified voice of condemnation by the international community and the faithful implementation of all relevant Security Council resolutions by all the States Members of the United Nations are the only way to pressure Pyongyang into reconsidering its ill-advised behaviour and policy.”
2023-08-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9406 (2023) · source
“As we have repeatedly pointed out, for more than three decades the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea has developed its unlawful nuclear and ballistic missile programme based on its own playbook. It is astonishing to see some delegations repeating the false claim of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea that the root cause is the so-called hostile policy of the Republic of Korea and the United States. There is no such thing. The Republic of Korea and the United States have, time and again, provided numerous security assurances to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in various forms. Pyongyang’s ever-growing threats are the very reason we are strengthening extended-deterrence cooperation with the United States, not the other way around.”
2023-08-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9406 (2023) · source
“Railroad and maritime traffic are slowly increasing, and several North Korean commercial flights Beijing to Pyongyang took off from for the first time in three years. In the light of those new developments, there should no longer be any excuse for not repatriating all workers from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in other Member States’ jurisdiction, as stipulated in article 8 of resolution 2397 (2017). All such workers should have been repatriated by the end of 2019, but tens of thousands still remain overseas. All of them need to be returned without further delay. It is regrettable that some Council Members are still confusing the cause and effect of the situation unfolding in the Korean peninsula.”
2023-08-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9406 (2023) · source
“It is also the only country that explicitly targets specific countries as it continues to test various types of ballistic missiles, including intercontinental ballistic missiles. Moreover, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is the only country in the world that continues to develop nuclear- weapon and missile programmes while blatantly ignoring the great suffering of its own people. I need not remind the Security Council that the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is funding its weapons of mass destruction programmes through illegal activities, such as malicious cyberactivities, including hacking and theft in cryptocurrency markets, and forced labour by exploited workers dispatched overseas. We have noticed in recent days that, after a long lockdown, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is opening its borders.”
2023-08-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9406 (2023) · source
“A few days ago, the top leader of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea reportedly rebuked his own Prime Minister and other senior officials for their irresponsible handling of the recent flooding that inundated farmlands. Yet their scarce resources continue to be diverted to the development of weapons of mass destruction. These resources would have been better spent if they had been used to address humanitarian needs and help the country’s undernourished people, which North Korea failed to do again with this launch. The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is the only country to have conducted a nuclear test in the twenty-first century. It is also the only country that joined the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and then openly developed nuclear weapons in defiance of its obligations under the Treaty.”
2023-08-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9406 (2023) · source
“Together, these two agenda items accurately capture the very nature of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea issue. A holistic approach is needed to better understand the true nature of these agenda items and, accordingly, effectively address them. The late father of the current leader of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea once mentioned, in the year 2000, that it cost about $300 million to launch a satellite. According to that estimate, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea will be spending nearly $1 billion on satellites by the end of this year if it conducts a third launch of its so-called satellite in October, as it announced it would do two days ago. If we add all the missile launches by North Korea this year, the figures would be incomparably much higher than $1 billion.”
2023-08-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9406 (2023) · source
“That is why prior to 2017 the Security Council unanimously adopted — with no abstention or opposition — a great number of resolutions that prohibit any launch using ballistic-missile technology by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. The 24 August launch clearly demonstrates how routinely the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea flouts with contempt the solemn decisions of the Council, which all States Members of the United Nations have agreed to accept and carry out, in accordance with Article 25 of the United Nations Charter. Just a week ago, the Security Council held a public meeting on the human rights situation in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (see S/PV.9398). Today another Council meeting on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is being held, this time on its launch using ballistic missile technology.”
2023-08-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9406 (2023) · source
“I would like to thank you, Madam President, for convening today’s open briefing of the Security Council. My gratitude also goes to Assistant Secretary-General Khiari for his briefing. The Republic of Korea condemns in the strongest possible terms the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s launch of a so-called reconnaissance satellite on 24 August local time, which flagrantly violates multiple Security Council resolutions. Any launch that uses ballistic-missile technology, regardless of its success or whatever payload it may carry, can contribute to the further advancement of ballistic-missile technology.”
2023-08-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9406 (2023) · source
“What the international community, including my country, ought to do is to figure out how we can give the hope of freedom and human dignity to that young, future generation and take action to that end. After all, our sisters and brothers in North Korea should live the lives they deserve, just like all of us. The meeting rose at 11.55 a.m.”
2023-08-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9398 (2023) · source
“The Republic of Korea, during its upcoming term on the Security Council, will continue to make every effort to improve the situation — related to both human rights and non-proliferation — in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea by building upon the momentum gained at today’s meeting. In conclusion, I would like to share my reflections from a recent encounter with 10 young North Korean defectors, all of whom shared their own extraordinary stories, like that of the briefer today. We should all contemplate the lives of the North Korean young people, who are growing up in a society with rampant brainwashing and indoctrination, completely disconnected with no outside information.”
2023-08-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9398 (2023) · source
“The Security Council’s neglect could put international peace and security at further risk. The Republic of Korea remains the country most affected by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s human rights violations and its violent attacks, including presidential assassination attempts, while being within direct range as a military target. However, we never forget that people in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea are our brothers and sisters. Bearing that in mind, my Government released its first-ever public report on the human rights situation in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea this year.”
2023-08-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9398 (2023) · source
“The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights continues to document serious human rights violations when a third country has repatriated them to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, including torture and other cruel, degrading treatment. In that regard, we would like to remind Member States that the principle of non-refoulement should be observed. Against that backdrop, we cannot simply turn a blind eye to that reality by insisting that discussing the situation in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in the Security Council risks politicizing human rights. In fact, it is the regime of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea that uses human rights abuses as a critical means of governance to achieve its political goals. What it does to the outside world is a natural extension of what it does inside.”
2023-08-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9398 (2023) · source
“As a result, simply watching or sharing South Korean television dramas or movies is now punishable by death in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Those horrendous living conditions have continually forced the North Korean people to flee across the border, mainly to China, despite draconian measures such as orders to shoot to kill on sight. It is both horrifying and heartbreaking to witness North Korean escapees risking everything, including their lives, on their long arduous road to freedom. We are deeply concerned about the issue of defectors from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea detained in third countries.”
2023-08-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9398 (2023) · source
“Furthermore, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea regime is a perpetrator of human rights violations beyond its territory. In her report to the Human Rights Council this year, Special Rapporteur Ms. Salmón detailed the Japanese cases of 12 abductees and the Korean cases of abductions and enforced disappearances: up to 100,000 Korean civilian abductees during the Korean War, 516 Korean post- war abductees and roughly 500 surviving prisoners of war held in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea since 1953. Yet another astonishing recent development is the adoption of a series of highly oppressive laws, including the so-called Law on Rejecting Reactionary Ideology and Culture, in 2020; the Youth Education Guarantee Law, in 2021; and the Pyongyang Cultural Language Protection Law, in 2023.”
2023-08-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9398 (2023) · source
“Moreover, domestic and overseas forced labour under heavy surveillance has served as one of the major sources of funds for the regime’s unlawful weapons programme. Therefore, by failing to address the human rights situation, we cannot hope to resolve the nuclear issue either. We should take a holistic approach towards the issues of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in the Security Council and clearly demonstrate that justice must prevail. There are still roughly 100,000 people detained in political prison camps enduring a life of acute misery with only the remotest chance of being released alive. The regime also operates a long-standing system that punishes citizens for offences allegedly committed by members of their family.”
2023-08-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9398 (2023) · source
“The human rights abuses of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea are not only a problem of the people of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, but also a critical national security issue for the Republic of Korea. The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s reckless pursuit of a nuclear arsenal and its totalitarian control of its own people has the same root cause: the desire to justify and perpetuate the rule of its bizarre dynastic regime. As highlighted at today’s meeting, the human rights and WMD issues of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea are intertwined in very real ways. Focusing on WMDs at the expense of its own people’s well-being by diverting resources is possible only in a country where all political dissent is crushed.”
2023-08-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9398 (2023) · source
“In addition, severe economic hardship and associated chronic food shortages have been exacerbated by the self-imposed isolation of the regime of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea during the pandemic and a new market-distorting policy it adopted last year banning private transactions of grain. At the same time, over the past year and a half, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea has been engaging in an unprecedented escalation of its weapons of mass destruction (WMD) provocations, including the launches of 12 intercontinental ballistic missiles. Instead of addressing its critical food shortages, the regime of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea has continually squandered its scarce resources on a dangerous show of force and advancement of its WMD technology.”
2023-08-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9398 (2023) · source
“The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s human rights violations are in clear contravention of the universal values enshrined in the United Nations Charter and constitute a threat to international peace and security. The report of the commission of inquiry clearly recommended that the Security Council refer the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea human rights situation to the International Criminal Court. It also recommended that the Council adopt targeted sanctions against those who appear to be most responsible for crimes against humanity. Regrettably since its last meeting on this subject (see S/PV.8130), in 2017, the Security Council has not been able to convene publicly to address human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, while the situation remains desperate and with no signs of improvement.”
2023-08-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9398 (2023) · source
“We are instead addressing human rights violations in one of the most tightly controlled Member States in the world, where systematic, widespread and gross human rights violations amounting to crimes against humanity take place. The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is an example of a perfectly functioning totalitarian system that controls the physical, mental and intellectual activities of its entire population on a daily basis. The landmark report of the commission of inquiry on human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, released in 2014, stated that: “[t]he gravity, scale and nature of these violations reveal a State that does not have any parallel in the contemporary world.” (A/HRC/25/63, para. 80).”
2023-08-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9398 (2023) · source
“Earlier this year, 61 States Members of the United Nations and the European Union— double the number from last year — sent a letter requesting that the Security Council remain seized of the human rights situation in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, in pursuit of a public Security Council meeting (S/2023/157). On behalf of the Government of the Republic of Korea and the Korean people, I am grateful to see that this request was granted today, after waiting for more than five years. As a fellow Korean, I am aware of the immensity of the critical task before me: to inform the world of the grim reality facing 25 million North Korean people by delivering a statement only several minutes long. Today we are not addressing human rights violations in any conflict or war zones, as we often do at the Security Council.”
2023-08-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9398 (2023) · source
“I would like to begin by thanking the United States presidency of the Security Council for convening today’s important meeting, as well as the Council members who supported the meeting. My gratitude also goes to United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mr. Volker Türk, and the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Ms. Elisabeth Salmón, Ms. Elizabeth Salmón, for their excellent briefings, and to the special briefer, Mr. Mr. Ilhyeok Kim, for his courage in sharing his precious and personal account.”
2023-08-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9398 (2023) · source
“We once again strongly urge the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to immediately cease its destabilizing actions and respond to our repeated calls for serious dialogue. The meeting rose at 6.45 p.m.”
2023-07-13 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9376 (2023) · source
“My delegation urges all Council members to support the revival of public Security Council meetings on the human rights situation in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in order to address the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea issue in a holistic manner. This year we sombrely mark the seventieth anniversary of the Korean Armistice Agreement, which resulted from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s invasion of the Republic of Korea in 1950. It is simply appalling to witness how the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea has consistently threatened the peace and stability of the Korean peninsula, the region and beyond. The Republic of Korea reiterates that the door for dialogue remains wide open.”
2023-07-13 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9376 (2023) · source
“It is another example of propaganda by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to foment a crisis and threaten its neighbours. I strongly urge the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to stop those threats and return to dialogue and diplomacy. Some estimate that the number of deaths from starvation in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea has surged compared to previous years due to exacerbated food shortages. Sadly, even under those miserable circumstances, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea has yet again prioritized its expensive and unlawful ICBM provocations. The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s reckless pursuit of a growing nuclear arsenal and its gross and systematic human rights abuses are indeed two sides of the same coin.”
2023-07-13 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9376 (2023) · source
“Pyongyang is the one that continually reinforces its hostile policy towards the international community by endangering the world with the most aggressive nuclear doctrine in the world. In fact, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s spreading of false narratives to use as a pretext for provocative actions does not stop there. Before and after the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s most recent ICBM launch, it made an explicit threat by saying that a special incident may occur against normal flight activities above international waters and made the groundless argument that the sky above the economic water zone is its territorial airspace. No other country claims such nonsense except the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.”
2023-07-13 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9376 (2023) · source
“It is regrettable that some still make a false equivalency between the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s unlawful provocations and the Republic of Korea-United States long-standing and defensive combined military exercises. As we have pointed out over and over again in the Council, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea has developed its unlawful nuclear and ballistic missile programmes based on its own playbook. The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea even claims that its illicit nuclear and ballistic missile programmes are the result of the so-called hostile policy of the Republic of Korea and the United States. But, what on earth is the substance of such a hostile policy?”
2023-07-13 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9376 (2023) · source
“In the current situation, our unified voice of condemnation and international sanctions may be the only way to pressure Pyongyang into reconsidering its ill-advised policy and behaviour and to return to diplomacy. As such, it is imperative to ensuring the full implementation of the Council’s resolutions. The incomplete implementation of sanctions by some countries and the ensuing loopholes should be addressed quickly. The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea profits massively by continuing to evade sanctions and exploit key loopholes through malicious cyberactivities, overseas Democratic People’s Republic of Korea labourers and illicit ship-to- ship transfers of refined petroleum products and coal, to name but a few examples.”
2023-07-13 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9376 (2023) · source
“Furthermore, no individuals or entities have been newly designated on the sanctions list of the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1718 (2006) during the past five years, while the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea has increasingly developed its sanction evasion techniques. It is deeply troubling that we are gathering again and again to address the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s repeated provocative actions, almost every month, without any concrete result. We must clearly demonstrate that the international community’s will towards the denuclearization of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is stronger than its reckless will to develop nuclear arsenals.”
2023-07-13 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9376 (2023) · source
“It is ironic that a Member State that categorically rejects the authority of the Council still gets the opportunity to spread its absurd propaganda. Once again, I would like to emphasize that even a single ballistic missile launch clearly constitutes a violation of multiple Security Council resolutions. Moreover, each and every launch by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea allows Pyongyang to advance the technological development of increasingly sophisticated means of delivering nuclear warheads. In the face of that grave threat to international peace and security, the Council has been paralysed since it failed to adopt a resolution against the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s ICBM launch in May 2022 owing to opposition by two permanent members (see S/PV.9048).”
2023-07-13 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9376 (2023) · source
“Here, I cannot help but ask the question: how can an ICBM launch ever make neighbouring countries feel safe? Since the beginning of last year, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea has launched more than 90 ballistic missiles, including 13 long-range ballistic missiles, meaning that the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea has violated the relevant Security Council resolutions more than once per week. It is deplorable that the Security Council has remained silent in the face of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s repeated reckless behaviour. It is a perfect example of its total disregard for international norms, as well as a brazen mockery of the functioning of the Security Council.”
2023-07-13 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9376 (2023) · source
“I would like to begin by thanking you, Mr. President, for convening this important meeting of the Security Council. My gratitude also goes to Assistant Secretary- General Khiari for his briefing. The Republic of Korea condemns in the strongest possible terms the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s repeated ballistic missile launches, including its launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) on 12 July, local time. Just after the launch, Pyongyang’s State media announced that the leader of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea was once again present to observe the launch of the so-called Hwasong-18 ICBM, which is a new type of solid- fuel ICBM. The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea even tried to justify the unlawful launch by claiming that it had no negative effect on the security of neighbouring countries.”
2023-07-13 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9376 (2023) · source