Statement
by
H.E. Mr. Kim Yong Dae, Vice-President of the
Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly of the
Democratic People's Republic of Korea

 

World Summit on the Information Society

 

December 10-12 2003
Geneva

 

Mr. President.

I am very pleased with the successful holding of this meeting and I have every confidence that your able stewardship will lead this summit to a meaningful conclusion in facilitating the building of the information society.

I would also like to express my gratitude to the Government of the Confederation of Switzerland for making excellent arrangements and sincere efforts for a successful hosting of the summit.

Mr. President.

The current summit marks an important occasion in making international political commitment and guidelines for building the information society conducive to promoting the well-being of all humankind.

Today, the rapid development of information and communication technologies have an immense impact on all aspects of social life to a great extent and. in particular. Play a decisive role in accelerating the process of sustainable development. Thus providing the humankind with more favourable living environment than ever before.

To our regret, however, the overwhelming majority of the world population are not benefiting from the development of information and communication technologies and the digital divide between the developed and developing countries is further widening the already_ existing disparities between the rich and poor in the world.

Particularly. imbalance in the network of information and communication and false information of all kinds in the cyber space are destroying the diversity of language and culture. the common heritage of humankind. and bringing about conflict among civilizations and cultures. Worse still. they even cause horrendous crimes.

Due to these negative impacts. we are now facing grave challenges in our efforts to achieve the intellectual development of humankind and the harmony among peoples of the world.

Mr. President.

It IS Our common task to build the information society in conformity with the requirement of the information age continuously advancing in the new century .

Our delegation considers that the knowledge-based information society for all should be the one in which all the people enjoy the benefit of the information and communication technologies and participate actively in all fields of social life independently and creatively by enhancing their intellectual capacity. With this in mind. my delegation wishes to refer to the following views.

Firstly. we hold that what is important in building the information society is, among others. for the government of each country to attach priority to the development of information and communication technologies. work out and implement the strategy for developing the information industry in such a way as to make everyone its beneficiary.

Today. the development of science and technology constitutes a fundamental element that decides the rise and fall of a country and nation. This reality demands the Government of each country to play its due role with full responsibility for the building of the information society.

Therefore. each country needs to pay priority attention to enhancing its own national development capacity of information and communication technologies and take all measures needed for the building of the information society such as providing evenone with opportunities to share information and knowledge and equal access to information technologies while pushing ahead with sustainable development on the strength of information technologies.

Secondly, efforts should be directed to expanding and developing the international cooperation and solidarity for the sake of the information society that all of us desire to build by eliminating the imbalance of the information and communication technologies worldwide and realizing their even development.

This will benefit not only the developing countries but also the developed countries as a whole.

The United Nations and other international organizations should initiate and expand projects aimed at activating the international cooperation and exchanges in the field of information industry such as training of experts. transfer of technologies and so forth.

Thirdly, It is equally important to ensure that information and communication technologies promote the understandings and trust among countries and nations. and contribute to establishing the sound international relations.

In this regard. the sovereignty of each country should be respected and the diversity of language and culture protected and encouraged in the cyber space. and any attempt to incite hatred, violence and war and to impose one's own value should be brought to an end,

In particular. the acts of abusing the information and communication means for the pursuit of political purpose of interfering in others internal affairs and overthrowing legitimate governments should be rejected on all accounts,

Mr. President_

The Government of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea is consistently maintaining the policy of attaching importance to science and technology. regarding them as the foundation of national power and the driving force for national prosperity.

Pursuant to the idea of the great leader General KIM JONG IL attaching importance to science and information industrv. the Government of our Republic is directing state investment and efforts to information industrv in order to accelerate the building of a powerful and prosperous country by relying on information and communication technologies and provide the people with more civilized and affluent life than now.

With a view to developing software technology. the core of information technologies. Steps are also being taken to enable as many people as possible to possess information and communication technologies while continuously expanding and strengthening the institutions and organs specializing in software development and training computer experts.

The Government of the DPRK will continue to strive for the development of information industry of the country as required by the information age. Thus actively contributing to the international efforts for the building of the information society.

Thank you.