Cha Ji-hoon, ambassador to the United Nations, urged North Korea to comply with the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula at a U.N. Security Council meeting.
At a Security Council meeting at U.N. headquarters in New York on the 30th, Cha said, "Since the launch of the Lee Jae-myung administration, Korea has consistently pursued the vision of a peaceful Korean Peninsula based on reconciliation and cooperation, rather than a return to hostility and confrontation," adding, "We maintain the position of respecting the North Korean system and not pursuing hostile acts or absorption-based unification."
The meeting was convened at the request of the United States and other Council members to mark two years since the end of the activities of the Panel of Experts that monitored the implementation of U.N. Security Council sanctions on North Korea.
Introducing "a firm commitment to peaceful coexistence on the Korean Peninsula" and "an unwavering commitment to denuclearization by the international community" as the two core elements of government policy, Cha emphasized North Korea's denuclearization.
Cha said, "At the NPT review conference, it was reaffirmed once again that North Korea cannot have the status of a nuclear-weapon state," and added, "Abandoning the goal of denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula would seriously affect global nonproliferation efforts."
Cha added, "Sanctions have not completely stopped North Korea's nuclear development, but they have had the effect of slowing it by cutting off funds and resources," and noted, "The success of sanctions depends on faithful implementation by all countries."