I. Introduction
I want to start by thanking the Chairman of the Defense Committee, Yoo Jay-Kun, for inviting me this morning. I welcome this opportunity to meet so many members of the National Assembly. I look forward to more chances like this for us to talk and get to know each other better.
You should know from the start that my wife, Lisa, and I are thrilled to be in Korea. It is an exciting, dynamic country defined by cutting-edge technology, booming industry and trend-setting pop-culture, all grounded in a tradition that is purely Korean. This counterpoint is something that I find particularly fascinating. For example, I understand that while nowadays most young people choose their own spouse - they meet someone, fall in love and get married - a number of young people still enter marriages arranged by their parents or hired matchmakers. These young people may have doctorates from Harvard and work at Samsung Electronics, but they still choose to find their mate in a very traditional, Korean way.
I wonder what the matchmaker looks for when trying to pair two people in a relationship that will last, as they say at the wedding, ¡°for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health.¡± My sense is that when the ¡°joongme¡± [matchmaker] looks at two young people, she is looking for commonalities: common interests, common dreams, common values and common vision. These commonalities make a strong relationship. They also make for a strong Alliance. Because the United States and Korea have so much more in common than they have ever had before, I believe that the Alliance is stronger than ever and is poised to grow stronger still.
II. Origins of the Alliance
Let¡¯s look first at the origins of the Alliance. The U.S.-Korean Alliance was born out of a bloody war that reinforced the
reality of a tragically divided land. From the cinders of this catastrophic
conflict, a new country was born and a new Alliance took root. But this Alliance was mainly based on a common fear of communism. In the 1950s, this fear was
palpable in both our countries. Here, memories were fresh of Chinese and North
Korean communist forces overrunning your cities and villages, and many Koreans
experienced first-hand the brutal rule of the North¡¯s totalitarian regime.
In the United States, Americans were likewise
gripped by fear. Many Americans in the 1950s fully believed that any day they
could awake to an apocalyptic confrontation between the free world and a
repressive, expansionist Soviet Union that had established its control over
half of Europe and, armed with nuclear weapons, seemed ready to expand further.
Many thought that such a confrontation could start about 60 kilometers north of
here. That was the common fear that brought our two countries, otherwise quite
different, together.
III. A Changing World, A Changing Alliance
The world has changed a lot in fifty years. The Soviet Union no longer exists. And nowadays Koreans don¡¯t have their elementary school students drawing North Koreans as devils in class. If fear of North Korea and communism were all this Alliance were about, we would be in trouble. Fortunately, the U.S.-Korea Alliance has changed also.
A. A More Balanced Military Alliance
That said, North Korea is still a real threat - with over a million troops, several nuclear weapons, and a propensity to export all kinds of dangerous things - so the military partnership is still the foundation of the Alliance. However, it is no longer solely the U.S. that dictates the terms of this partnership. In close consultation with your government, we are realigning our troops, consolidating our bases, and shifting more responsibilities to the ROK¡¯s armed forces - all while enhancing our capacity to defend the Peninsula in time of crisis. Working with our Korean counterparts, we are devising ways to move our troops away from population centers and return your valuable urban land. Your spectacular new National Museum next to Yongsan Garrison deserves to be surrounded by a beautiful national park as soon as possible.
Meanwhile, we are also working with Koreans as a force for peace in the global community. Koreans have participated alongside Americans in UN peacekeeping missions around the world and Korea has been a reliable partner in the war on terror. With a contribution of 3,600 troops, the ROK is the third largest coalition partner in Iraq. Korea can be proud of what its troops have achieved, and we hope Korea will continue to make a strong and positive contribution toward building stability and democracy beyond its borders. Indeed, we should work together to promote new forms of security cooperation in Northeast Asia as a way of dealing with common threats and overcoming historically-based tensions between Korea and its neighbors.
B. A Common Interest in Free Trade
You know well that while we are still military allies, we now have a more mature, multi-faceted relationship that features a healthy and strong economic partnership based on a common interest in free trade. It is that partnership that is now the driver of our relationship. Bilateral trade between our two countries is over $72 billion. The Republic of Korea is our seventh largest trading partner and the seventh largest market for American goods and services. The United States is the second largest source of Korean imports, next to Japan. The U.S. is Korea¡¯s second largest export market, next to China. In 2004, Korea enjoyed a nearly $20 billion trade surplus with the United States. We have never before been so economically vested in each other¡¯s well being than we are today. With Hyundai building cars in Alabama, Americans clamoring for the latest Samsung phone and Starbucks adding a shot of espresso to Korea¡¯s ¡°balli balli¡± [quickly, quickly] lifestyle, these ties are likely to get stronger.
C. Common political values
The Alliance has also changed to encompass shared political values. As Korea has changed from a military dictatorship to a fully democratic society, the United States and Korea have become a more natural pairing, sharing a common respect for human rights, rule of law, and freedom of speech. This, I believe, should provide the foundation for our efforts - in tandem with our joint work within the Six Party Talks - to overcome the division of the Korean Peninsula and bring about genuine reform and respect for human rights in the North.
Further, our common political values have opened the way for the United States and Korea to work together, side-by-side, on an unprecedented number of global issues of common concern. Trafficking in Persons is an excellent example. Our countries stand together in opposing trafficking as an flagrant violation of human rights and as a form of modern-day slavery. Last year, the National Assembly unanimously passed anti-prostitution and anti-trafficking laws aimed at ending the commercial sexual exploitation of women and girls. In our annual Trafficking in Persons Report, the State Department held up your law as model legislation that the rest of the world should regard as a ¡°best practice.¡± Here in Seoul, officials from both our governments are rolling up their sleeves and working on this international problem together. For example, Seoul Metropolitan Police, acting on a tip from our Embassy last month, broke a human trafficking ring that funneled at least 200 persons to the U.S. since 2002.
D. Common Education, Culture, and Family
Our Alliance has also expanded to include ties of education, culture and family. Koreans continue to flock to the United States to study. We try to move them through the Embassy¡¯s Consular Section as quickly as possible, but no matter how many officers we put on the visa line, we have trouble keeping up with the demand.
Korean culture and American culture are increasingly coming to represent a shared culture. It is a healthy development that it is not just American culture flowing into Korea, but it is also Korean culture flowing into the U.S. Korean movies are opening to wide acclaim and other aspects of the ¡°Korean Wave¡± are making inroads as well.
Finally, there are bonds of family. There are over two million Korean-Americans, whom I consider to be ¡°uri minjok¡± [literally, ¡°our blood family¡±] living in the United States. Fifty years ago, the blood that bound our countries was the blood spilled on the battlefield. Now it is the living blood of families that stretch from Seoul to San Francisco that unites us.
IV. Challenges for the Future
Looking ahead, there are challenges that we must rise to meet:
If these discussions generate some friction, our Alliance is healthy enough, multi-dimensional enough, to take it. A relationship like ours, based on common interests, common dreams, common values and common vision, is a strong relationship. It definitely passes the ¡°joongme¡± test.
Again, thank you for inviting me this morning. I look forward to hearing your comments and questions.