Oleh/By		:	DATO' SERI DR. MAHATHIR BIN MOHAMAD 
Tempat/Venue 	: 	SRI PERDANA, KUALA LUMPUR (K.L) 
Tarikh/Date 	: 	04/02/91 
Tajuk/Title  	: 	DINNER IN HONOUR OF HIS EXCELLENCY 
			YON HYONG MUK PRIME MINISTER OF THE 
			DEMOCRATIC PEOPLE 




 Your Excellency Prime Minister Yon Hyong Muk;
Distinguished Members of the Delegation;
Ladies and gentlemen.
    On  behalf  of the government and people of Malaysia, I
wish Your Excellency a warm welcome.    We  are  indeed  de-
lighted  to  be your host tonight.  We hope that during your
stay here you would be  better  able  to  see  the  cultural
wealth and variety that is Malaysia.
Excellency,
2.   We  hope that through this visit the peoples of our two
countries will have a greater awareness of each other's pol-
itical and economic systems.  It is not an  exaggeration  to
say  that  most  Asians  know less of each other's countries
than they know of places in the West.  However I  quite  be-
lieve  that  given  the  changes  taking place in the global
economy, the time has really come for  developing  countries
to integrate into the regional and international trading and
payment  systems.    It is for this reason that we regard an
Asian country  like  the  Democratic  People's  Republic  of
Korea,  with a warm sense of kinship and a sincere hope that
in the coming decade of development in this region, our  two
countries will share similar aspirations.
Excellency,
3.   All countries, big or small, hope to create a political
environment in their neighbourhood that is conducive to good
and  mutually beneficial relation.  Being a small country we
must live in harmony with all, beginning with  countries  in
our  immediate neighbourhood.  Hence we have two basic aspi-
rations which I feel would be  whole-heartedly  reciprocated
by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.  We aspire for
regional peace and regional prosperity.
4.   On the first aspiration - regional peace - I am glad to
say  that we are on firm footing for the Democratic People's
Republic of Korea and Malaysia have always been friends  and
there was never any contentious issue to cloud our bilateral
relations.  We trust that this happy state of relations will
continue  and  by extension relate to other countries in our
neighbourhood.  We see with a sense of reassurance that  the
Democratic  People's  Republic of Korea herself has lived in
peace with her neighbours in the last quarter of a  century.
With  your  fraternal  neighbour, the Republic of Korea, you
continue to hold a constructive dialogue at the highest lev-
els.  We note too that the larger states  around  the  Demo-
cratic People's Republic of Korea have already established a
new understanding with both the Koreas, based on closer eco-
nomic  cooperation and assistance.  Indeed rapprochement has
taken a discernible form in the northern area  of  the  Asia
Pacific  Sea  board, which is seen to dovetail with develop-
ments in Southeast Asia where ASEAN countries have  built  a
measure of stability over a period of twenty years.  The se-
curity  which ASEAN states work jointly to achieve are prem-
ised upon improving the standard of living of their  peoples
through  economic  development  and the concept of a zone of
peace, freedom and neutrality in the region.   In  addition,
ASEAN  is committed to the concept of keeping Southeast Asia
free of nuclear intrusion.
Excellency,
5.   When we reach a  solution  to  the  Cambodian  problem,
which  we  hope will be in the near future, our part of Asia
which includes our two countries, will see genuine peace and
political stability.
Excellency,
6.   Regarding the second aspiration which I have mentioned,
that is regional prosperity, one could say that there can be
little prosperity anywhere without peace.   Even as  we  sit
here  now  we  know  that blood is being shed, unnecessarily
shed in the gulf region.   In  the  war  that  rages  there,
countless lives will be lost, and massive damage will be in-
curred.    The irony is that billions of dollars of precious
fund will be expanded to kill and destroy.  And what will be
the end result - nothing that is of benefit to anyone.   The
Malays  have a saying for this sort of wasteful war - If you
win all will turn to charcoal, if you lose all will turn  to
ashes.   How much more worthwhile it is to live in peace and
build our nations, small though they may be.  We in Malaysia
are committed to peace and peaceful solutions to  the  prob-
lems of international relations.
7.   I  sincerely hope that the friendship between the Demo-
cratic People's Republic of Korea and Malaysia will continue
and will see many days of fruitful cooperation for peace and
economic prosperity in this East Asian region.