Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-01-29-Speech-3-072"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20030129.3.3-072"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:translated text |
".
Mr President, honourable Members of the European Parliament, ladies and gentlemen, the European Union is deeply concerned about developments on the Korean peninsular over the last three months. The entire international community must make every possible effort to stop any action which will give the peninsular a nuclear capability, to restore the sunshine policy between North and South Korea and to ensure that North Korea continues to integrate smoothly into the international community. I believe the High Representative, Mr Solana, referred at the last session to consultations over the telephone with China, Japan, South Korea and the USA, following the escalation of tension. The European Union is ready and waiting to offer its good services to support the negotiations currently under way. However, it is not prepared to allow anyone to challenge the international framework for the control and non-proliferation of nuclear weapons. We believe that nuclear weapon programmes pose a serious threat to both world peace and the fragile environmental balance, be they for peaceful purposes or other, uncontrolled uses which, unfortunately, do not exclude the possibility of their being traded.
I should like to start with the parameters and background to the problem, so that we all come at this from the same starting point. In pursuing its current nuclear weapons programme, North Korea has broken every international agreement to which it is party, either implicitly or explicitly, and in stating that it is entitled to do so, it has failed to honour its obligations under at least four agreements, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Safeguards Agreement, the North-South Joint Declaration on Nuclear Disarmament and the framework agreement which, if violated, undermines the agreed KEDO framework on oil supplies. North Korea has ignored international demands and specific suggestions that it clearly and openly abandon its nuclear weapons programme and has exacerbated the situation by reacting to the halting of oil shipments under the KEDO agreement, which does not allow it to receive oil and run a nuclear weapons programme at the same time, by expelling the IAEA inspectors and reactivating its nuclear facility.
Finally, it replied to the Agency’s demand for inspectors to be readmitted by announcing that it was withdrawing from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which is a most unfortunate and worrying development. Especially at a time when, from what it said, the United States was willing to talk. The European Union has issued a series of statements expressing its deep concern about these developments. It has called for North Korea to reverse its decision to withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty immediately and to readmit the International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors and has also stated that it undertakes, mainly in agreement with the USA but also in collaboration with the most closely affected countries in the region, to work towards a peaceful solution. Our aim is to resolve the problem as quickly as possible, which is why yesterday’s General Affairs Council discussed recent developments in North Korea and international efforts to alleviate the situation and find a solution, and what preconditions would attach to its sending a high-level Union mission to Pyongyang.
Yesterday’s meeting agreed in principle that a mission was a good idea, with almost everyone emphasising the importance of involving North Korea in the whole procedure at the highest possible level, including Κim Jong-il personally. It was decided that the preconditions, timing and composition of the mission would be determined in the immediate future and that, in the meantime, close contacts would be maintained with the main protagonists and our main counterparts. I think that, if we want to work within this framework towards a peaceful solution, one of the basic things we have to do is to take account of North Korea’s security concerns and try and reassure it on this count by offering the necessary guarantees.
The international community needs to focus on normalising relations between North Korea and the countries in the region as a whole and efforts in this direction need to be stepped up, without overlooking the fact that its citizens need support in their daily struggle to survive in the face of a shortage of energy resources. A policy of persuasion, accompanied by measures to respond to North Korea’s needs and concerns and find a way of allowing it to back down without losing face, will be the most effective way forward. For its part, North Korea must understand that the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Safeguards Agreement serve the wider interests of every country and every nation and must be respected by one and all. We support the Agency and the resolutions it has passed on this issue. Developing nuclear weapons is not an effective defence policy. Developing peaceful and open mutually beneficial cooperative relations with every country in the world is, I think, a much more effective policy and this is the approach adopted by the European Union, which has a history of good relations with North Korea.
We again call on North Korea from this tribune to reconsider its decision and honour all its obligations under its international commitments. May I also say that we are pleased with the approach to this issue taken by the international community, which has remained firm and united in a bid to achieve its common purpose. The European Union is determined to continue sending humanitarian aid to North Korea and the Union bodies responsible are continuing to discuss ideas as to what future part the Union can play in supporting a peaceful solution. We expect and encourage any action predicated on maintaining democratic principles throughout the world; as history has taught us in many countries and regions in the world, there lies the way to economic development and peaceful international relations."@en1
|
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples