1. Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se delivered a keynote address on the North Korean nuclear issue at a special session on the Korean Peninsula of the Munich Security Conference 2017. The special session on the Korean Peninsula, focused on the North Korean nuclear issue, was held for the first time in the conference’s 53-year history. The special session received a lot of attention as it came after North Korea’s recent test-launch of an intermediate-range ballistic missile using SLBM technology and the killing of Kim Jong-nam a few days earlier.

o Given that the Munich Security Conference has usually addressed security issues in the Atlantic region, the fact that the special session on the Korean Peninsula took place clearly shows that the North Korean nuclear issue is no longer a regional issue, but a serious security issue facing the entire international community, including NATO, the EU and the US.

- The Munich Security Report 2017, released by the organizer of this year’s Munich Security Conference, addressed the North Korean nuclear and missile issue, as one of Eurasia Group’s top 10 political risks for 2017.

2. Calling the North Korean nuclear issue the most imminent and gravest challenge, Minister Yun stressed that if the international community cannot stop North Korea, nearing its final stage of nuclear weaponization, from developing nuclear weapon and missile capabilities right now, North Korea will pose a serious threat to international peace and security. Minister Yun also said that in the current global security environment facing a major turning point, North Korea is a ‘rule breaker’ doing serious damage to the rules-based international order, and called for the international community’s firm action against the North Korean nuclear threat.

3. Given the present situation, Minister Yun offered the following strategies and roadmap of the ROK to resolve the North Korean nuclear issue.

o With the strongest-ever framework for sanctions and pressure on North Korea put in place last year, it is important for the international community to be united in dealing with North Korea in order to make sure that sanctions in a range of areas yield substantial results.

o For the past 20-some years, nuclear agreements with North Korea or related efforts toward denuclearization went back to square one and ended up with North Korea’s deception and renegation. Therefore, the solution to the North Korean nuclear issue should not be half-measure or semblance of peace. The solution must be a complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization of North Korea, as stated in UN Security Council resolutions.

o Considering the uniquely unique nature of the North Korean regime, the ROK’s strategy for denuclearization needs to include a holistic approach encompassing several elements such as human rights and information inflow into North Korea. In particular, the international community must put North Korea on notice that there will be no impunity for its wrongdoings.

4. In a Q and A session held following panelists’ opening remarks, much of discussion was focused on the North Korean nuclear issue. This demonstrates a lot of interest in North Korea and its nuclear issue. Minister Yun, through his keynote address and participation in the discussion, helped raise participants’ awareness of the North Korean nuclear issue by stressing its seriousness and the lessons learned from nuclear negotiations with North Korea over the past 20 years, as well as providing detailed explanations of the ROK’s strategies and roadmap for resolving the North Korean nuclear issue.

5. In the special session on the Korean Peninsula, participants also discussed the US-China relations. They held a serious discussion on the future of the US-China relations under the Trump administration amid China’s rise, as well as the impact the US-China relations can have on the North Korean nuclear issue and security in East Asia.


* unofficial translation