North Korea Reluctantly Seeks U.N. Seat (Published 1991)
- ️https://www.nytimes.com/by/david-e-sanger
- ️Wed May 29 1991
You have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load.
- May 29, 1991
TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers.
About the Archive
This is a digitized version of an article from The Times’s print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them.
Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions.
In a major policy reversal that appears intended to stem its growing diplomatic isolation, North Korea said today that it would apply for separate membership in the United Nations, paving the way for both North and South to join the world organization for the first time.
The surprise announcement, monitored in Tokyo, marked a major victory for the South Korean Government of President Roh Tae Woo. Mr. Roh has been courting Moscow and Beijing, historically the North's two patrons, to support South Korea's entry to the United Nations. For decades, North Korea has fiercely opposed separate membership, saying it would amount to international ratification of the 46-year partition of the Korean Peninsula.
Ever since the end of the Korean War in 1953, the North has insisted that it is the true Government of Korea, though it has held open the possibility that it could share a seat at the United Nations in rotation with the South.
But in recent weeks the Soviet Union made it clear that it would no longer aid North Korea by using its permanent seat on the Security Council to veto Seoul's application for a separate, independent membership. And it is widely suspected that China sent the same message when its Prime Minister, Li Peng, visited Pyongyang earlier this month. [ The United States said it would support bids by the North and the South, Reuters reported. ]
Currently, North and South Korea have only observer status at the United Nations, with no voting power. No Room for Options
North Korea's decision was announced in a bitterly worded statement that acknowledged that its hand had been forced.