On Monday, Jeong Yeon-du, South Korean government’s chief envoy for North Korean nuclear issues, called on North Korea to comply with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and the United Nations (UN) Security Council resolutions, urging the regime to return to the negotiating table.
The State Department reported on Tuesday that Jeong, speaking at a high-level session of the Conference on Disarmament (CD) in Geneva, Switzerland, reaffirmed the administration’s unwavering commitment to achieving complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and establishing lasting peace.
Jeong emphasized that the U.S. will continue to work closely with the international community, including its allies, to implement a phased denuclearization plan through dialogue with North Korea, following a freeze-reduce-eliminate approach.
The diplomat assessed that the current global security landscape has deteriorated, with instability becoming the norm, noting that the disarmament and non-proliferation regime faces significant challenges.
Expressing concern over the lack of arms control measures among nuclear-armed states and the escalating nuclear threats, Jeong urged nuclear powers to engage in dialogue to enhance transparency and build mutual trust.
The Conference on Disarmament, established in 1979, is the international community’s sole multilateral disarmament negotiation forum. It has been instrumental in developing key multilateral arms control and non-proliferation treaties, including the NPT and the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT).