6주차｜국제 정치·외교_이주현_UN Chief's remarks at the General Assembly

[이주현]

The Secretary-General addresses Member States at the High-level General Debate at the 80th session of the UN General Assembly.
UN Chief's remarks at the General Assembly
Date: 23 September 2025
Link: https://unsdg.un.org/latest/announcements/now-time-choose-un-chiefs-remarks-general-assembly

Let me begin with two words we have not been able to say often enough in this Hall:
Madame President,
Excellencies,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Eighty years ago, in a world scorched by war, leaders made a choice.
Cooperation over chaos. 
Law over lawlessness. 
Peace over conflict.
That choice gave birth to the United Nations – not as a dream for perfection, but as a practical strategy for the survival of humanity.
Many of our founders had seen first-hand the hell of the death camps and the terror of war.
They knew that true leadership meant creating a system to prevent a replay of those horrors.
A firewall against the flames of conflict and World War III.
A forum for sovereign states to pursue dialogue and cooperation. 
And a concrete affirmation of an essential human truth:
We are all in this together.
This General Assembly Hall is the heartbeat of that truth.
It is why for decades world leaders have come to this one-of-a-kind podium.
It is why you are here today.
Because, at its best, the United Nations is more than a meeting place.
It is a moral compass.
A force for peace and peacekeeping.
A guardian of international law.
A catalyst for sustainable development.
A lifeline for people in crisis.
A lighthouse for human rights.
A centre that transforms your decisions – the decisions of Member States – into action.
Eighty years on – we confront again the question our founders faced – only more urgent, more intertwined, more unforgiving:
What kind of world do we choose to build together?

Excellencies,
We have our work cut out for us … as our ability to carry out that work is being cut from us.
We have entered an age of reckless disruption and relentless human suffering.
Look around.
The principles of the United Nations that you have established are under siege.
Listen.
The pillars of peace and progress are buckling under the weight of impunity, inequality, and indifference.
Sovereign nations, invaded.
Hunger, weaponized.
Truth, silenced.
Rising smoke from bombed-out cities.
Rising anger in fractured societies.
Rising seas swallowing coastlines. 
Each one a warning.
Each one a question.
What kind of world will we choose?
A world of raw power -- or a world of laws?
A world that is a scramble for self-interest – or a world where nations come together?
A world where might makes right – or a world of rights for all?