H.E. Ambassador Shin Kak-soo, Deputy Permanent Representative, at Informal Meeting of the Plenary of the General Assembly
Mr. President,
1. Overall, my delegation can support the draft text on peace and collective security, which rightly addresses the collective responses that are required to cope successfully with the diverse and multifaceted security threats of today, as well as those that may arise in the future.
2. We welcome the strong language of paragraph 58 on sexual misconduct of peacekeeping personnel. We propose that “disciplinary action” be changed to “disciplinary and punitive action,” because suppression of crime and the elimination of impunity require a legal response.
3. With regard to the Peacebuilding Commission (PBC), we appreciate the detailed modalities worked out by the President and his Facilitators together with the countries concerned. We are open-minded and flexible on these modalities. However, we would like to emphasize that the multifaceted nature of peacebuilding, which covers not just peace, but also development, humanitarian assistance and other elements, calls for the early involvement in the peacebuilding continuum of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and other organs concerned. In this regard, the reporting system should be structured so as to ensure the best implementation and follow-up of the decisions of organs involved in peacebuilding. At a minimum, the PBC should include in its initial recommendations to the Security Council the areas where the Council should work together with other organs, notably ECOSOC, to achieve the objectives of peacebuilding. We would like to propose an amendment to paragraph 63 to incorporate these ideas.
4. As for the composition of the PBC, we would like to point out that according to paragraph 65.A.i, there is no room for non-permanent members of the Security Council to contribute. We propose, rather, that an appropriate number of non-permanent members of the Security Council should participate in an organizational committee of the PBC, with the exact number to be worked out in future deliberations. Furthermore, for the sake of balance, paragraph 65.A.ii should be changed so that the organizational committee would include an equal number of Security Council members and ECOSOC members. Also, as regards paragraph 65.A.iii, we agree that major financial and troop contributions should be taken into account. However, in the category of contributors to peacekeeping operations, we believe that major financial contributing countries to peacekeeping operations should be considered together with major troop contributing countries.
5. Turning to the section on disarmament and non-proliferation, we support a stronger verification system, but wish to point out that the Additional Protocol referred to in paragraph 80, subparagraph 4, is intended to strengthen the IAEA’s verification abilities. The text should be changed to reflect this.
6. Regarding paragraph 80, subparagraph 6, on Negative Security Assurances, we propose that the text be changed to read: “[We] call upon the nuclear weapons States to reaffirm their commitment to Negative Security Assurances for those States that have faithfully complied with their NPT obligations”.
7. In this regard, we are positively considering the joint proposal by Norway and six other countries for the Ministerial Declaration on Disarmament and Non-proliferation.
8. We endorse the resolute message on the absolute rejection of terrorism in paragraph 85. We also welcome the amended language, which takes note of the vital contribution of regional cooperation in combating terrorism, as we proposed.
9. After paragraph 92, we would like to add a new paragraph, 92 bis, concerning biological and chemical terrorism, which we believe need special attention from the international community, since these kinds of attacks could cause massive casualties, particularly among innocent civilians, and could spread quickly to adjacent areas, with no respect for borders. The proposed paragraph would read as follows: “We recognize the seriousness of the threat of biological and chemical terrorism and urge the international community to take concerted measures to ensure our safety against man-made biological contagions and chemical attacks by strengthening local public health systems and global response mechanisms.”
10. With reference to the section on transnational crime, the list in Paragraph 93 of the most problematic types of transnational crime could include money laundering, piracy, and computer and cyber crimes to underline the seriousness of these crimes.
Thank you.