Ministry Statements and Speeches 2007

United Nations General Assembly Sixty-second Session, Agenda Item 167: “Peace, security and reunification on the Korean peninsula”

Statement by H.E. Ms Rosemary Banks, Permanent Representative of New Zealand, 31 October 2007

 

Mr President,

New Zealand welcomes the introduction of the joint resolution on Peace, Security and Reunification on the Korean Peninsula to the United Nations General Assembly. This is an important record of the 2nd inter-Korean Summit and endorses its central objective of bringing peace and stability to the Korean Peninsula and laying a further foundation for eventual reunification.

The security situation on the Korean Peninsula affects the entire region, including New Zealand, and therefore New Zealand welcomed the successful completion of the 2nd inter-Korean Summit held between the leaders of the Republic of Korea and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

The meeting between President Roh Moo-Hyun and Chairman Kim Jong-Il was a valuable contribution to international efforts towards achieving peace on the Korean Peninsula, and provides an important platform for more detailed discussions on a range of important security and economic issues between the two sides.

The Summit builds on the recent momentum in the Six Party Talks process and adds to an emerging atmosphere of reconciliation and open dialogue in the region, which we hope will lead toward the complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula.

New Zealand, along with the rest of the region, takes a great interest in the inter-Korean dialogue, in the hope it will serve to reinforce the growing environment of confidence and trust between the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and the wider international community. This is in the spirit of the resolution to be adopted this afternoon, and we welcome it.

Thank you, Mr President.

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