SECRETARY-GENERAL ARRIVES IN SEOUL

Press Release
SG/T/2039

SECRETARY-GENERAL ARRIVES IN SEOUL

SEOUL, March 28 -- Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali flew from Beijing to Seoul today on the second leg of his three-nation Asian mission.

He was seen off at Beijing's Capital Airport by Vice-Foreign Minister Li Zhao-xing after a five-day visit to China, during which he conferred with President Jiang Zemin, Premier Li Peng and Vice-Premier and Foreign Minister Qian Qichen on global issues.

The Secretary-General was greeted at Seoul's Kimpo International Airport by Acting Foreign Minister Lee Ki Choo, the Permanent Representative of the Republic of Korea to the United Nations, Park Soo Gil, and the Director- General of the United Nations System Bureau of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Lee Yang.

Shortly after arrival, the Secretary-General addressed a gathering of some 200 United Nations-watchers at a dinner hosted by the President of the United Nations Association of the Republic of Korea.

Citing the Republic of Korea as a United Nations success story and a "summa cum laude graduate of the school of development", the Secretary-General said that the country had ceased to be a recipient of donor assistance and was now a donor itself.

"In the course of four decades, the Republic of Korea has moved from devastation of war to the prosperity of a thriving economy, within a democratic framework of government", he said.

"International solidarity, through the United Nations, was key to that process", he said. "But the achievements of the Republic of Korea belong to the efforts of the Korean people and their leaders."

Turning to Africa, the Secretary-General described the United Nations System-wide Special Initiative for that continent, launched 15 March.

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"Africa is the only region in the world where poverty is expected to increase during this decade", he said. "Of the 47 least developed countries in the world -- 32 are in Africa. Today, over 220 million Africans live in conditions of absolute poverty."

He said that in an era of "accelerating globalization, Africa's needs are not a regional issue -- they are a global issue".

For that reason and despite its critical financial crisis, the United Nations is searching for "new ways to gain wider support for Africa's development needs".

He appealed to Koreans to "step up this critical challenge" because the "world needs the active engagement of the Republic of Korea in solving global problems".

"Those countries which have still to graduate into the developed ranks need to learn from the Republic of Korea's example", he said.

Friday, the Secretary-General will meet with President Kim Young Sam.

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