By Ambassador Thomas C. Hubbard
To the Alumni Association of the
Advanced Management Program of Seoul National University
Shilla
Hotel
February 18, 2003, 8:00 A.M.
Chairman Sohn and distinguished guests:
Thank you for your kind invitation to speak to your group. It is an honor to meet so many alumni of SNU's Advanced Management Program.
Although I am not an alumnus of this distinguished program, I consider myself one of you, because I am also a manager. As the Ambassador, I oversee the management of our U.S. Mission, which includes people representing the State Department, as well as the departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Justice, Treasury, and other agencies. I spend a great deal of time managing people, programs, and money. I also manage time and information. It often seems that there is too little time, and too much information; problems I'm sure you are familiar with.
In a larger sense, I am also one of the managers of our long-standing and very close bilateral relationship. I am sure you know that, in an ideal world, a manager would always have time to take the long view, to anticipate and plan for the future, and to implement these plans step by step.
However, sometimes we feel almost swept away by events, and it is all we can do to keep our heads above water. I am sure many of you faced daunting management challenges during the dark days of late 1997, when the Asian financial crisis struck Korea. I commend Korea for its recovery from this setback, and for the steps it has taken in economic and financial reform. I am sure much of Korea's recovery can be attributed to you.
A good manager needs a sense of history. We must know where we started if we are to understand how we got where we are today, and where we are going tomorrow. We also need to remember the basic values and principles that sustain the enterprise we are managing.
This year marks several milestones. Your country and mine have been strategic partners in a defensive military alliance for the past 50 years. This year will also mark the 50th anniversary of the armistice that suspended three years of bitter, brutal combat on the Korean Peninsula.
Let us briefly remember what Korea was like 50 years ago. Mothers and
fathers, widows and children mourned the deaths not only of 137,000 young
Korean soldiers, but of several million civilians as well. Families separated
in the chaos of war wondered anxiously about missing loved ones. Seoul, which had changed hands four times in the first seven months of the war, was just
beginning to painfully rebuild.
Our alliance was forged at that time, both to prevent another such tragic war,
and to provide an armed shield behind which the Korean people could begin to
work toward a better life. We should not forget that some 50,000 Americans also
lost their lives in the Korean War.
The past fifty years have seen many reminders that North Korea, which began the war in 1950, has remained armed, dangerous, and largely unpredictable. Among the hundreds of incidents were the 1968 attack on the Blue House, the capture of the USS Pueblo and the landing of 120 North Korean soldiers on the east coast, the 1969 shoot-down of a U.S. EC-121 aircraft in international air space, the hijacking of a KAL airliner to North Korea in 1970, the infamous ax murders of 1976, the bombing deaths of high level Korean officials in Rangoon in 1983 and of 115 KAL passengers in 1987, the submarine incidents of 1996 and 1998, and the naval clashes of 1999 and of June of last year. North Korea has continually tested the strength of the Republic of Korea's defenses over the years.
Now we face together a new challenge from North Korea, a tragic land where thousands, perhaps millions, have starved to death in the past decade, and where all but a tiny and privileged minority live without adequate food, safe drinking water, electricity, and heat. In South Korea, children, when they reach their full height, are taller than their parents. In the North, each generation in the past 50 years is shorter than its parents.
Rather than devote the country's limited resources to bettering the lives of its people, the North Korean leadership has chosen to embark on a dangerous course of action, seeking to develop not only nuclear weapons, but also the means to deliver them over considerable distances. This represents a challenge to the entire world, and to the system of non-proliferation, which was designed to prevent the spread of these dangerous and deadly weapons.
North Korea's challenge to regional and global peace and stability must be met regionally and globally. Accordingly, we continue to consult with Korea's neighbors, Japan, Russia, and China, who all agree with our two countries that the Korean Peninsula should remain free of nuclear weapons. The Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency has met and referred its concerns over North Korea to the Security Council of the United Nations. The international community is making it clear to Pyongyang that it cannot ignore its treaty obligations and defy the world, and that it can neither demand nor expect any bribes or rewards for undoing what it should never have begun to do in the first place.
As we seek to resolve this difficult and dangerous situation, we always remember and bear in mind that it is your country that has the most to lose, and that would suffer the most, if the shadow of war again fell over the land. We know how long and how hard you have worked to make your country what it is today, and we never want to see this hard work end in renewed destruction. We all agree that this issue should be solved through diplomacy -- even though prudence demands that we keep all our options open.
A year ago in Korea, my President stated clearly that we have no intention of invading North Korea, and US leaders have stressed repeatedly that we have no aggressive intentions against North Korea. We have proposed a multilateral dialogue with North Korea about how it can fulfill its international obligations to dismantle its nuclear weapons program. Such a dialogue could offer Pyongyang a way out of its self-imposed isolation and a way to improve the lives of its people. Regrettably, Pyongyang has turned a deaf ear to this call.
President-elect Roh Moo-hyun has stated three principles related to this issue: First, the presence of nuclear weapons on the Korean Peninsula is unacceptable. Second, the issue must be resolved through dialogue and diplomacy. Third, the Republic of Korea must play a major role in resolving this issue. Those are valuable principles, but Pyongyang appears deaf to these as well. The United States emphatically disagrees with North Korea's contention that this issue is strictly a bilateral dispute between North Korea and the U.S. It is certainly not a bilateral dispute, and there is a major role for the Republic of Korea.
Part of this role, as outlined by President-elect Roh, includes the pursuit of engagement and dialogue with the North. The United States continues to support efforts to engage North Korea. The deterrence provided by the close and long-standing alliance between Korea and the U.S. provides the foundation for long-term peace and stability on the Peninsula, and enables the Republic of Korea to deal with the North from a position of strength. President-elect Roh has personally underscored the need for a continuing strong alliance between our two countries. He will have the support and cooperation of the United States as he undertakes both to engage the North in constructive dialogue and to deepen and strengthen Korea's alliance with the United States.
The strength of our combined alliance has helped the Republic of Korea achieve a remarkable level of development. North Korea, with its shuttered economy, has never abandoned its goal of reuniting the entire peninsula under its domination. Our two countries have never wavered in their determination to make sure that this never happens.
Military alliances are rarely easy. We owe our victory in our war of independence to France, which provided us with important military assistance, but there was some friction between the American and French soldiers. During the Second World War, Great Britain hosted hundreds of thousands of young Americans, and there were, once again, inevitable frictions. When the people of one country host the armed forces of another country, there is always the potential for friction.
Korea is a relatively small country with many people. In such a place, there will always be some personal disagreements and some accidents. When one of our aircraft crashed recently, injuring several people and causing property damage, we immediately expressed our regret for the accident, apologized, and made the commitment to pay all claims for damages promptly, according to our standing bilateral agreements.
Last June, during a joint military training exercise, two young girls lost their lives in a tragic accident. The United States accepted responsibility, paid compensation to the families, and President Bush apologized to President Kim and to the Korean people. We have taken steps to ensure that no such accident happens again, and our two governments have consulted closely to improve the operation of the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) in a number of areas that were called into question after the accident.
The SOFA has become the subject of a great deal of debate since the accident
last June, and I fear that much of this debate has been off the mark. Many
Koreans remain convinced that the SOFA is somehow a symbol of an
"unfair" relationship between our two countries, but are not aware
that the clauses in the SOFA which are allegedly "unfair" are present
in our SOFAs with Japan, Germany, and more than 80 other countries.
When the driver and commander of the armored vehicle that struck and killed the
two girls were both acquitted in courts martial and left Korea in November of last year, the Korean public reacted strongly. Part of this is
because, in Korea, it is customary for the operator of a vehicle involved in a
fatal accident to be put in jail immediately and held responsible for the
deaths. The acquittals of the two men stirred deep feelings of helpless rage in
many Koreans; it seemed that American soldiers were "above the law."
Attempts to explain the American judicial process and the facts about SOFA ran
headlong into seething emotions.
Koreans describe themselves as a very emotional people. We saw this during the World Cup last year, and during the candle light demonstrations of last December. I must confess that I myself reacted emotionally when I saw pictures of my beloved flag being torn to bits and burned, and when I saw signs such as the one that said: "U.S. soldiers--you are ALL murderers!"
As we think about where we have been in recent months, and the impact it has had on our relationship, I think we can agree that now is the time for cool reflection. This is a moment for us to remember how important our relationship is, and now is the time for us to think about how important we are to each other as friends and partners.
Reflecting on where we are in our bilateral ties, let me assure you that our commitment to defend the security of the Republic of Korea remains unshaken. However, there is definitely room for change in our alliance. Our alliance not only should be balanced, it must be seen as being so.
As both our forces have modernized, the possibilities for a new division of roles have grown. Our two defense ministers met in December and agreed to launch a bilateral study of the challenges and possibilities that lay before our forces in this new century. As part of our effort to deal with change, we are implementing a Land Partnership Plan which will return to the Korean government close to half the land our bases now occupy.
Although our military alliance has provided a solid foundation of security, there are many other facets to our bilateral relationship. We are extremely important trading partners; our bilateral trade last year totaled some $60 billion. We are one of your most important export markets, with a wide variety of Korean products competitive in the U.S. in price and quality. We invest in each other's economies as well.
We have strong personal ties as well. Koreans have lived in the U.S. for the past 100 years, starting with a modest number in Hawaii and now totaling more than a million. Koreans live in small towns in Alaska, as well as in our largest cities such as Los Angeles and New York City. Everywhere they settle, they prosper, because they work hard, study hard, and maintain strong families.
I believe that, like all relationships, ours has had its ups and downs. I also believe that our overall bilateral relationship remains fundamentally sound. I think there is room for both of us to be more sensitive to each other's feelings and emotions, and also to be willing to suspend hasty judgments until we have heard a full accounting of the facts.
Korea will soon inaugurate its first President elected in the 21st century. This is a good opportunity for both of us, Koreans and Americans, to remind ourselves why we are important to each other, and what values and principles both of us hold dear. In addition, it is an opportunity for us to speak frankly, and to listen carefully, to each other, as we examine how we can further strengthen, deepen, and improve our long-standing ties.
Thank you.