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The letter South and North Korea sent to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Sept. 6

South and North Korea requested on Sept. 6 that copies of the Panmunjom Declaration issued by President Moon Jae-in and leader Kim Jong-un on Apr. 27 be distributed as an official UN document to member countries.

The request represents a joint follow-up action by the two sides for the declaration.

“The South and North Korean sides made a request to the UN Secretariat on Sept. 6 asking for an English translation of their ‘Panmunjom Declaration for Peace, Prosperity, and Unification of the Korean Peninsula’ to be circulated as an official UN General Assembly and Security Council document,” the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said on Sept. 7

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The request took the form of a letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, which was jointly signed by South Korean UN ambassador Cho Tae-yul and the acting North Korean ambassador to the UN Kim In-ryong . The position of North Korean UN ambassador has remained vacant since Ja Song-nam’s departure in late July.

In the letter, the South and North Korean representatives said they were “pleased to enclose a copy of the ‘Panmunjom Declaration for Peace, Prosperity, and Unification of the Korean Peninsula’ agreed upon and signed at the inter-Korean summit in Panmunjom on Apr. 27, 2018.” They went on to request that copies of the declaration and letter be circulated as official documents for the 72nd UN General Assembly and UN Security Council (UNSC).

“This was a follow-up action taken at the UN level by South and North Korea after their inter-Korean summit,” MOFA said, adding that the actual circulation of the document “is scheduled to take place upon completion of the UN Secretariat’s document editing and proofreading procedures.”

“The UN document circulation jointly pursued by South and North is a reaffirmation of our two sides’ commitment to implementing the Panmunjom Declaration, and we look forward to it also contributing to raising support and sympathy from the international community for the declaration,” the ministry continued.

UN member countries are allowed to request the circulation of official UN documents to other member countries in cases where they judge there to be a need to notify the UN about matters such as important agreements between leaders. Describing the request as a “procedure typically used to share important facts,” a MOFA official said, “The agreement will be distributed to member countries after being adjusted to meet the UN document format.”

“It will probably be circulated within a week after translation and other administration procedures following circulation by the Secretariat,” the official predicted.

By Kim Ji-eun, staff reporter

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