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Remarks by H.E. Yun Byung-se Minister of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Korea
2013 World Journalists Conference, Seoul April 15, 2013
“Trustpolitik and Expanding Horizon of Korea’s Foreign Policy”
Mr. Park Chong-ryul,
President of the Journalists Association of Korea, Mr. Jim Bourmelha,
President of the International Federation of Journalists, Mr. Sawada Katsumi,
President of the Seoul Foreign Correspondents’ Club,
Participants of the 2013 World Journalists Conference,
I would like to welcome all of you to the 2013 World Journalists Conference in Seoul.
Each of you may have diverse images of Korea, depending on where you are from and how much you already know about Korea.
It may be the image of the latest model of Samsung smart-phones or Hyundai cars. It may be the delicious plate of Kimchi and Bulgogi. All these images combined make up the colorful picture of Korea.
But more than anything else, the images that you may have these days are probably the images of the North Korean nuclear tests and missiles appearing in the headline news of international media all week long, and the world star PSY’s concert here in Seoul over the weekend, which was attended by over 50,000 fans and millions more all over the world watched it over YouTube.
These two latest images tell the story of an affluent and dynamic Korean society despite the mounting threats from Pyongyang.
I think nothing strikes a sharper contrast of the present situation here on the Korean Peninsula than these two images.
I imagine that some of you, or perhaps your family members, may have been a little concerned about you coming to Korea this week.
Let me assure you that you are safe here in Korea. And I will tell you why.
1. President Park’s Vision for Korea
Let me start with my President’s vision for Korea and the direction of Korea’s foreign policy.
On February 25, President Park Geun-hye took oath as the first female president in Korea’s history and in the
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In her inauguration address, President Park laid out her plans for the next five years, with a vision for happiness of people in Korea, the Korean Peninsula, and the global village.
This vision is shaping the contours of foreign policy of President Park, which we call trustpolitik. It coincides with the transformation taking place in international community as policy focus shifts from states to individuals, with emphasis on human security.
President Park’s vision derives not only from her keen sense on the paradigm shift in the international community, but the experiences from Korea’s own history as well.
Over the past century, Korea experienced the tragedy of civil strife and national division, the turbulent and confrontational relations with its neighbors, and the dire poverty resulting from colonialization and war.
Even after Korea overcame such hardships and attained certain level of economic affluence, the fruit of such an achievement was not sufficiently shared among all Koreans, only deepening polarization at home and widening the gap between the two Koreas. In other words, the great advance in Korea’s economy did not fully translate into the similar advance in the happiness of its citizens. Nor did it bring about the integration of two Koreas.
As regards to North Korea, the situation there is much worse. We can no longer tolerate the plight of our compatriots in the North. Furthermore, since we owe much to the help of the international community when we were in need, we feel obliged to contribute in one way another to a better tomorrow for the global village.
These historical experiences bred the necessity for policies that aim to pursue a sustainable peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula, to build peace and cooperation in Northeast Asia, and to contribute to common prosperity and happiness of the global village.
2. The Need for Trust-Building Process on the Korean Peninsula
I understand that you will have an opportunity to visit the DMZ, or the demilitarized zone, before the week is over.
DMZ is a 250 kilometer-long strip of heavily fortified land running across the Korean Peninsula. It is located less than 50 kilometers away from here. It is also a place where you will see the two faces of the Korean Peninsula today.
To the North lies a barren land of repressed people, isolated from the rest of the world, struggling hard to fight off hunger and hopelessness.
To the South lies a free and prosperous society, its people pioneering in the fields of art, science, and humanities.
In fact, this year marks the 60th anniversary of the Armistice Agreement which established DMZ. The 60-year old Korean armistice is unique in history of the world, as there has been no other case in which the state of armistice has lasted for such a long time.
Armistice means neither peace nor war.
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It is a fragile peace, at best. The monumental task bestowed to all policy makers in Korea – past, present, and future – is to transform that fragile peace into a more durable and genuine peace. Over the past 60 years, North Korea has not made this task easy for us. It is still, a very difficult challenge, posing an ever-growing threat to South Korea with WMDs and conventional weapons.
The recent series of North Korean provocation, starting with the launch of long-range ballistic missile last December;
the nuclear test in February, which was the third of its kind;
the March announcement of withdrawal from the armistice agreement;
the April announcement to reactivate its nuclear facility in Youngbyon;
and the blocking of entrance into the Gaesung Industrial Complex;
are all Pyongyang’s latest attempt to destabilize South Korea and the region by stirring up an atmosphere of fear and uncertainty.
I want to point out one thing very clearly: North Korea has not been, and will never be successful in its attempt.
There is no shortage of analysis about the motivation behind such reckless behavior of North Korea. Some point to the need for North Korean regime to consolidate its powerbase within, while others explain that these are game plans designed to draw attention of Washington, or press Seoul change its policy towards the North.
Probably the right answer to this question is that the North Korean motivation is many-fold.
While we take these provocations from North Korea seriously, the Park Geun-hye Government remains calm yet resolute vis-à-vis North Korea. Based on the overwhelming combined deterrent capability of Korea-US alliance and solidarity of the international community, our frontline is secure, and our society remains calm and stable.
This clearly shows that North Korea will gain nothing from its provocations and threats. Instead, it will only further isolate Pyongyang and deepen the suffering of its people.
This was the point that I emphasized last Friday when I met with US Secretary of State John Kerry. We were united in urging North Korea to cease its reckless behavior and to stop its brinkmanship.
Now is the time for North Korea to make the right choice.
It is time to break the vicious cycle of North Korean provocation, followed by fragile compromise, followed by yet another provocation.
The best way for doing this is for North Korea to change itself. If not, the international community must induce such change through stronger deterrence and stronger persuasion.
However, we all know that this is much easier said than done. Similar to the difficult challenge in the Middle East, the North Korean conundrum – with its arsenal of WMD and missiles – presents a significant challenge to the international community.
That is why we need the joint and united efforts with the international community, especially the key players like the US and China in the region. We must press upon North Korea to realize that without change, there is no hope for economic development; without change, the mere survival of the regime may be in question.
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On the part of the Republic of Korea, we are ready and willing to launch the trust-building process on the Korean Peninsula. The way to build trust is like building a house by laying one brick at a time. It takes time and patience. But, trust – unlike hard power, soft power, or even smart power – is ultimately a very powerful instrument that will bring a genuine and lasting peace. Peace without trust is fragile, and this is the lesson we learned from the trial and error of the past.
However, like the old saying “it takes two to tango,” this cannot be done alone. North Korea must make a right choice to become a responsible member of the international community. The series of events starting from the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War, leading up to the Arab Spring and the latest reform movement in Myanmar, all point to one direction – the inevitable triumph of freedom over oppression.
The international community, including the journalists like you, should encourage this change to happen in North Korea as well.
3. Peace and Cooperation in Northeast Asia
The challenges confronting the Park Geun-hye Government are not just the North Korean nuclear and WMD issues. Many daunting challenges are coming from this region and the world.
In Northeast Asia, the level of political and security cooperation remains at a very nascent stage, despite the ever-increasing economic interdependence. Territorial and historical disputes are still troubling countries in this part of the world simultaneously. We call this phenomenon the ‘Asia Paradox’.
The US’s “Rebalance to Asia”, China’s rise, Japan’s “comeback”, and Russia’s “Looking East” policies, all show the increasing importance of Northeast Asia, while at the same time complicating the geopolitical landscape of the region.
Over the next few years, the way in which we cope with such geopolitical and geoeconomic challenges will determine the shape and the nature of the new order in Asia.
In particular, my government keenly recognizes that building a sustainable and lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula is very much inseparable from fostering peace and cooperation in Northeast Asia.
For any kind of trust-building between the two Koreas to last, Northeast Asia must remain stable and accommodating to the situation on the Korean Peninsula. This is what history testified over and over again.
Therefore, the Park Geun-hye Government seeks to create a peaceful and cooperative environment in Northeast Asia.
The Park Geun-hye Government seeks to contribute to peace and cooperation in Northeast Asia by pursuing realistic and mutually acceptable steps that will enhance confidence building.
Through such process, we will accumulate practices of small, but significant interactions in fields of mutual interest into habits of cooperation. Eventually these habits of cooperation can be nurtured into a sustainable peace.
In fact, we already have an example of such cooperation in Northeast Asia. The Korea-China-Japan trilateral summit that began in 1999 on the sideline of the ASEAN+3 summit. In 2008, it developed into an independent, annual forum for leaders of three countries, and in 2011, the permanent secretariat was established in Seoul to
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As for the bilateral relations of Korea in the region, maintaining the firm and strong Korea-US alliance will remain as the bedrock of its foreign policy, while further nurturing the strategic and cooperative relations with China.
Furthermore, Korea will seek to stabilize its relations with Japan by enhancing cooperation in as many areas as possible, while maintaining a principled and firm stance on historical and territorial issues.
All these efforts are designed to sow the ground ripe for eventual unification of Korea. Similar to the way in which the European integration process positively influenced the German unification process, and vice versa, lasting peace and the eventual unification of Korea will be an essential and integral part of Asia’s integration and long-term stability.
I would like to emphasize again that the unified Korea will benefit all regional partners in Northeast Asia. The process of Korean unification will not threaten or harm the interest of any stakeholders; rather it will create much more opportunities for growth and stability in the region.
4. Reaching out to the World for Better Tomorrow
As I mentioned earlier, the Park Geun-hye Government seeks to raise the quality of life and welfare of the people in not only Korea, but the entire Korean Peninsula, and the global village.
Over the decades Korea’s diplomatic horizon has expanded to encompass the entire world, from Eurasia to the Americas, and from Africa to the Artics. Korea is a member of the UN Security Council, while our armed forces are taking part in various peacekeeping operations throughout the world, with the latest unit dispatched to South Sudan last month.
As the host of G20 Summit in 2010, High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in 2011, Nuclear Security Summit in 2012, Korea is deeply involved in ongoing discussions on various issues facing the international community such as climate change, counter-piracy, anti-terrorism, cyber security, disaster relief, among others.
Meanwhile, the waves of Korean pop culture – through music of Psy, Dong-bang-shin-ki (동방신기), Girl’s Generation (소녀시대), and television series such as Winter Sonata (겨울연가) and Daejanggeum (대장금) are heard and seen in all corners of the world.
Likewise, the Park Geun-hye Government seeks to contribute to building a happier and prosperous global village.
During your stay in Korea this week, you will find young generation of Koreans typing away messages in their smart-phones. You will see them everywhere – on the sidewalks, in the subway, and in the restaurants. Their messages are transmitted to all corners of the globe instantaneously, and through them, ideas are exchanged, solutions are proposed, and new opportunities are created.
We put out faith in the untapped creative potential of our youngsters, armed with the latest technological devises and global network, to create new sources of growth and development.
In so doing, I would like to emphasize the particular importance Korea attaches to cultivating the ‘can-do spirit’
and ‘tailored’ approach to development, which are the characteristics of Korea’s overseas development
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This stems from our own development experience, as we have learned how important it is to have a strong internal motivation and take into consideration the needs of the recipient society.
Let me assure you that Korea will do its part to proliferate happiness throughout the global village, seeking to create many more miracles not only on the Han river, but all over the world.
5. Conclusion
I hope that The Korea you will discover this week and into the future will be:
A “Secure Korea” undisturbed by the recent North Korean agitations;
A “Credible Korea” that honors its promises;
An “Empathetic Korea” that truly understands the hardships of others, A “Sharing and Caring Korea” that takes lead in development cooperation, And a “Responsible Korea” that contributes to regional and world peace.
I am confident that at the end of your stay in Korea, you will be convinced of these attributes of Korea, as a safe, credible, empathetic, caring and responsible nation that is reaching out into the world.
I hope you will join us as we strive to achieve these noble endeavors. As leaders that shape the global opinion, I hope you will widely tell the story of Korea’s success and vision.
Together with you, starting today, Korea hopes to start translating its vision of peaceful and prosperous Korean Peninsula and the world into the realities of tomorrow.
Thank you.
