Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-01-17-Speech-3-069"
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"en.20010117.3.3-069"2
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"Madam President, can I say we have made enormous progress over the last three years in terms of relations with the DPRK. We have now had three interparliamentary delegation meetings and the resolution calls for the Koreans to come here again to continue the dialogue. We have seen the European Commission move from not talking to the North Koreans to having an ECHO representative in Pyongyang and we have now moved from five Member States with diplomatic relations to, I understand, thirteen in the process of establishing diplomatic relations with the DPRK.
I would like very much to see the European Community also establish diplomatic relations with the DPRK. We give money to the KEDO project as Mr Patten has said, we give humanitarian and food aid and are hoping to give other structural assistance, a total of EUR 275 m. It is crazy to be doing that without having the ability to have a political dialogue. We need a dialogue on human rights, we need a dialogue on weapon sales, we need a dialogue on economic development.
The reality is that with the collapse of the Soviet empire, the failure to make the transition from the Stakhanovite heavy industries of the past to the new light industries and a series of natural disasters, the economy is in complete crisis. Observers are estimating that the resulting food crisis has led to the premature deaths of 3 million North Koreans, one in eight of the population. Today their only exports are raw materials and military hardware.
If we can find a solution, we can help the people of the DPRK to help themselves with food aid and assistance in restarting and rebuilding agriculture, mining and non-nuclear energy projects. And if we involve ourselves in removing the imperative to export military material then we may force the incoming Bush administration to reconsider its apparent blind commitment to national missile defence with the threat to world peace and stability that poses. I would like to congratulate President Kim Dae-Jung of the Republic of Korea on his commitment to the sunshine policy which will allow the normalisation of inter-Korean relations and welcome Kim Jong Il's positive response.
Dialogue is the way forward. Europe should pursue this not only because it is currently the policy of the Republic of Korea but because it is the right way to go. Our advantage is that we are not Japan or the United States and we can act as honest brokers in this most dangerous area of the world."@en1
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