UN General Assembly
1982

interventions in Afghanistan and Kampuchea. We hope that through peaceful dialogue and the use of the machinery provided by the Charter the Korean people may be able to secure their desired unification into one sovereign State. At this time, when territories are the source of still-unresolved conflicts and problems, the seas may contribute to the well-being of the world. We are now witnessing the humanization of the seas through the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea that declared the sea-bed to be the common heritage of all mankind. The Conference was one of the great successes of the General Assembly and proof of this body's effectiveness within the United Nations. Since 1973, when the Conference on the Law of the Sea began, it has been working with a new vision of international law and co-operation and is laying down rules that would satisfy our aspirations to abolish privileges, to protect the environment and to achieve peaceful coexistence. The new Convention on the Law of the Sea, in