South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade has moved to downplay North Korea taking up the chair of the UN Conference on Disarmament.
Talking this lunchtime, a MOFAT spokesperson explained, “The system of accepting the chairmanship of the UN Conference on Disarmament works on rotation between 60 member states according to the English alphabet.”
Therefore, the spokesperson added, “We aren’t investing it with any special significance.”
The U.S. has taken the same position as South Korea, with State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland stating yesterday, “We have chosen not to make a big deal out of this because it’s a relatively low-level, inconsequential event.”
“It’s a consensus-based organization,” Nuland added, “so nothing can be decided just because the chair is a country that we have issues with. Where we are focusing our energy is in the P-5+1 process to continue to have more progress there.”
However, Canada has decided to boycott the conference until North Korea’s term expires, a decision the spokesperson says the South respects.
Meanwhile, regarding news that the French government is set to open an office in Pyongyang to promote cooperation with North Korea, the MOFAT spokesperson said, “From our perspective, it would be welcomed if North Korea were able to get to know about the outside world better and increase exchanges by expanding and strengthening contacts with other countries,” and added, “We expect these kinds of activities to help North Korea adjust to the international community and reform by itself.”
