“To facilitate mutually beneficial cooperation within the framework of the multilateral order, the UN must become an institution that builds trust among nations”, he said, pledging that his country would “take the lead in putting forward a vision for partnership, and co-existence that can be shared by both developed and developing countries.”

He called for an inclusive recovery out of the COVID-19 pandemic and pledged to deliver on his nation’s pledge to provide $200 million in funding for the international COVAX vaccine equity initiative.

Mr. Moon said another “pressing task” was action on the climate crisis, saying that by COP26 at the end of October, Republic of Korea would finalize its national plan for meeting the Paris Agreement, and carbon neutrality by 2050.

“We have shut down coal-fired power plants earlier than scheduled and ended public financing for new overseas coal-fired power generation, with efforts underway to ramp up the generation of new and renewable energy.”

Call for official end to Korean War

Confronting the issue of peace on the Korean Peninsula and its northern neighbour the Democratic Republic of Korea (DPRK), President Moon called for a “speedy resumption of dialogue between the two Koreas and between the United States and North Korea.”

He said that last year, he had proposed a formal declaration ending the War on the Korean Peninsula, in the hopes of creating a new order of “reconciliation and cooperation”.

“Today, I once again urge the community of nations to mobilize its strengths for the end-of-war declaration on the Korean Peninsula and propose that three parties, of the two Koreas and the US; or four parties of the two Koreas, the US and China; come together and declare that the War on the Korean Peninsula is over.

If that can be achieved, he said that “irreversible progress” could be made to denuclearize the Peninsula, and “usher in an era of complete peace.”

Mr. Moon called on DPRK to “brace for changes that befit the era of global community”, highlighting the example of Korean families separated for decades across the divide.

“We must lose no time in pressing ahead with their reunions” he said, pledging that he would make “ceaseless efforts until my very last day in office” to bring the two nations together in shared prosperity, and cooperation.