President Lee Jae-myung said in a keynote address at the 80th U.N. General Assembly held in New York on the 23rd (local time) that, regarding peace on the Korean Peninsula, "The government of the Republic of Korea respects the other side's system," adding, "We will not pursue any form of absorption unification, and we make clear that we have no intention of engaging in any hostile acts." The remarks reaffirmed the "three principles" he set out in the Aug. 15 Liberation Day address earlier this year.
That morning, at the U.N. General Assembly held under the theme "A better together: 80 years and beyond for peace, development, and human rights," Lee took the podium as the seventh among leaders of 193 member states and set out this position on peace and denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula.
Lee said, "This year marks the 80th anniversary of the founding of the U.N. and the 80th year of the division of the Korean Peninsula, and unfinished tasks await us alongside new challenges," adding, "Democratic Korea will embark on a new journey toward a Korean Peninsula of peaceful coexistence and shared growth." He continued, "The first step is to restore the broken trust between the South and the North and shift to an attitude of mutual respect," reaffirming respect for the North Korean system and the exclusion of absorption unification and hostile acts.
Lee said, "Based on these three principles, we will first break the vicious cycle of unnecessary military tensions and hostile acts between the South and the North," adding, "For the same reason, immediately after taking office we preemptively took measures such as halting the distribution of anti-North leaflets and suspending broadcasts toward the North." He also said, "Our government will consistently seek ways to ease military tensions and restore trust between the South and the North," adding, "The most certain peace is a state in which there is no need to fight."
Marking the 80th year of division, he said Korea would seek comprehensive dialogue centered on ▲ exchange ▲ normalization ▲ denuclearization to end the era of hostility and confrontation on the Korean Peninsula and open an era of "peaceful coexistence" and "shared growth." He also said, "History of the winding inter-Korean relationship has proven the immutable lesson that exchange and cooperation are the shortcut to peace."
On denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, he said, "It is a grave task, but it is time to seek realistic and reasonable measures based on a clear-eyed recognition that it is difficult to resolve in the short term." He said a phased solution should be pursued in the order of halt → reduction → dismantlement of nuclear and missile capability upgrades.
Attention to Lee's message on North Korea rose at the end of last month with the South Korea-U.S. summit. Peace on the Korean Peninsula was a main agenda item in his meeting with President Donald Trump, and this was his first message since he called Trump a "peace maker" and said Korea would be a "pace maker." Successive Korean presidents have delivered messages of peace on the Korean Peninsula in U.N. General Assembly speeches since former President Roh Tae-woo in 1988.