Statement by H.E. Kwon Haeryong,
Ambassador and Head of the Delegation to the CD of the Republic of Korea
June 1, 2011
Thank you, Mme. President,
I would like to begin by congratulating you, Ambassador Alicia Victoria Arango Olmos, on your assumption of the very challenging yet vital responsibility as the President of the CD. I hope, under your able leadership, the discussions of the CD will contribute to the breakthrough of the deadlock in the CD. I assure you of my delegation’s full support and cooperation as you carry out your valuable work
With the dormancy of the CD, which is lasting more than a decade, the Conference now seems to be falling behind the recent developments in the field of disarmament and non-proliferation. It is clear that the patience of the international community is running out.
We remind that at the High-level Meeting in New York last September, ministers from all over the world voiced that the CD should adopt a program of work and promptly embark on substantive discussions in 2011.
As a follow-up measure, the United Nations Secretary General, Mr. Ban Ki-moon attended the CD meeting and presided an informal consultation to seek the solution last January. In addition, it is said that United Nations General Assembly is going to discuss the CD matters this coming July and September. We have to keep in mind that the meetings and UNSG’s efforts are the clean signs of the international community’s worry and warning.
I understand that different security environments often call for different position on nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation. Taking this reality into account, I support practical steps for systemic and progressive efforts. I would like to suggest to have more focused discussions on some bottlenecked issues that we have different views. In my opinion, it would
be more useful to list up the different opinions on item by item rather than to reiterate the same messages. My experience has taught me that the thematic and segmented discussion would be much more effective to the negotiation.
As far as I understand the most hard-fought battle field and bottlenecked agenda, among 4 agendas, is FMCT. So, I would like to suggest to get first down to the case of the existing stock, the key issues we have different views. The other related concepts such as definition, scope, verification of the FMCT could be duly reviewed in the process of the focused discussion on each items respectively. In the period of your presidency, we can especially focus only on FMCT issue, even though we should also find ways to discuss other major issues such as ND, PAROS and NSA.
This kind of approach would be helpful to build trust and facilitate the formal process, contributing to diminish the misunderstanding and enhance the shared confidence and understanding.
Mme. President,
Let me conclude my remarks by expressing my sincere hope that all member states exert their utmost efforts to awaken the CD from its long- dormant state.
I thank you, Mme. President.
