1. Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se attended a UN Security Council thematic meeting on the denuclearization of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea on April 28, where he called on the UN Security Council and the rest of the international community to be united and firm in efforts to resolve North Korea’s nuclear and missile issues.

° The first-ever ministerial meeting on the denuclearization of one particular country in the history of the UN Security Council was chaired by US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and brought together UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres as well as foreign ministers of member states of the Security Council, including the UK, Japan, China, Kazakhstan and Ukraine, and the directly involved Republic of Korea.

2. Minister Yun stressed that with North Korea at the final stage of nuclear weaponization, the Korean Peninsula and Northeast Asia are facing a very grave and urgent threat; and that by developing ballistic missiles of all types and ranges, the North poses a WMD threat to the entire world.

° He went on to say that should the international community fail to block North Korea from nuclear armament, it will end up facing a nightmarish scenario where the security landscape in Northeast Asia and beyond will be severely disrupted; a fatal blow will be dealt to the global nonproliferation regime based on the NPT; and the risk of North Korean nuclear material or related technology falling into the hands of terrorists will increase.

3. Minister Yun pointed out that in response to the grave, urgent nuclear threat from North Korea, it is imperative that the entire international community take extraordinary steps. On that note, he emphasized that the UN Security Council, which takes the primary responsibility for world peace and security, must lead steps on North Korean issues proactively, not reactively, as was the case up till now.

° He called on the Security Council to continuously and thoroughly implement its strong and comprehensive Resolutions 2270 and 2321. He went on to say that if North Korea engages in another strategic provocation such as a nuclear test and an ICBM launch, the Council should take potent measures beyond the scope of those under the relevant resolutions, including halting the export and supply of crude oil to North Korea and suspending all imports of coal from North Korea; seriously consider whether North Korea, a serial offender, is qualified as a member of the UN; and downgrade diplomatic relations with North Korea.

° He noted that given the current circumstances where North Korea is unwilling toward denuclearization, the lesson from the past experiences is that dialogue for the sake of dialogue is not an option for the resolution of the North Korean nuclear issue, calling it critical that the entire international community not compromise on half-measures but maintain a unified, tough front against North Korea in order to attain the goal of a complete, verifiable and irreversible dismantlement (CVID) of the North Korean nuclear and missile programs.

° The Minister, urging the international community not to lose sight of another serious threat emanating from North Korea’s chemical and biological weapons programs, took note of the joint letter sent to North Korea in March by UN Secretary-General Guterres and Director-General Uzumcu of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), in which they had called upon North Korea to accede to the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC).

4. At the UN Security Council meeting, Minister Yun reminded the international community that given the gravity and urgency of the North Korean nuclear issue, the present time is the last opportunity to stop North Korea’s nuclear weaponization, and played a role in efforts to build a Security Council-led unified, firm front of the international community against North Korea.

° The delegates to the meeting from member states of the Security Council shared the view that the North Korean nuclear issue constitutes a grave threat to international peace and security and that the international community should be united in addressing the issue. Accordingly, the meeting is seen to have sent a tough warning message to North Korea over the possibility of further provocations.


* unofficial translation