The White House
Office of the Press Secretary
_________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release July 10, 1993
Remarks By The President
In Address To The National Assembly
Of The Republic Of Korea
Seoul, Korea
5:33 P.M. (L)
The President: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker,
leaders of the National Assembly, members of all political
parties here present joined together in our common devotion to
democracy.
It is a great honor for me to be here today with my
wife, with the United States Secretary of State, the Secretary of
Defense, with other military and political leaders from our
government in this great hall of democracy.
I first visited your beautiful capital city five
years ago. Since then, Korea's energy and culture have shown
themselves in many new ways, your bustling capital has continued
to grow. Your economy has continued to expand. Your nation
hosted the Olympics and has taken its place as a full member of
the United Nations. You have established new ties to Russia and
to China. But no achievement is more important than the
consolidation of your democracy with the election of a bold
democrat, President Kim Young-Sam.
Geography has placed our two nations far apart, but
history has drawn us close together. Ours is a friendship formed
in blood as our troops fought shoulder to shoulder in defense of
freedom. Then as Korea's economy became the miracle on the Han,
we built an economic partnership that today exceeds $30 billion
in fairly well-balanced trade. Today, Korea's democratic
progress adds yet another bond of shared values between our two
peoples.
When President Truman sent American troops to
Korea's defense 43 years ago, he said he aimed to prove that, and
I quote: "Free men under God can build a community of neighbors
working together for the good of all." Our efforts together
since then have benefited all our peoples -- not only the people
of our own countries, but in the Asian Pacific region all who
seek to live in peace and freedom.
Our relationship has made this region more secure,
more prosperous, and more free. Now with the Cold War over and
profound changes sweeping throughout your country, this whole
populous region, and indeed throughout the world, we must create
a new vision of how we, as a community of neighbors, can live in
peace.
I believe the time had come to create a new Pacific
community built on shared strength, shared prosperity, and a
shared commitment to democratic values. (Applause.)
Today I want to discuss the fundamentals of security
for that new Pacific community and the role the United States
intends to play. I had the opportunity just a few days ago at
the G-7 summit in Tokyo to travel to Waseda University to talk
about the economic aspects of that new partnership. And I think
clearly all the economic reforms that we can make will benefit a
great market system like Korea.
But we must always remember that security comes
first. Above all, the United States intends to remain actively
engaged in this region. America is, after all, a Pacific nation.
We have many peoples from all over Asia now making their home in
America, including more than 1 million Koreans. We have fought
three wars here in this century. We must not squander that
investment.
The best way for us to deter regional aggression,
perpetuate the region's robust economic growth, and secure our
own maritime and other interests is be an active presence. We
must and we will continue to lead.
To some in America there is a fear that America's
global leadership is an outdated luxury we can no longer afford.
Well, they are wrong. In truth, our global leadership has never
been a more indispensable or a more worthwhile investment for us.
So long as we remain bordered by oceans and powered by trade; so
long as our flag is a symbol of democracy and hope to a fractious
world, the imperative of America's leadership will remain.
I believe there are four priorities for the security
of our new Pacific community. First, a continued American
military commitment to this region. Second, stronger efforts to
combat the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. Third,
new regional dialogues on the full range of our common security
challenges. And, last, support for democracy and more open
societies throughout this region. (Applause.)
The bedrock of America's security role in the Asian
Pacific must be a continued military presence. In a period of
change, we need to preserve what has been reliable. Today we,
therefore, affirm our five bilateral security agreements with
Korea, with Japan, with Australia, with the Philippines and with
Thailand.
Those agreements work because they serve the
interests of each of the states. They enable the U.S. Armed
Forces to maintain a substantial forward presence. At the same
time they have enabled Asia to focus less energy on an arms race
and more energy on the peaceful race toward economic development
and opportunity for the peoples of this region.
The contribution Japan and Korea made to defray the
cost of stationing our forces underscores the importance of that
presence to both of those countries. There is no better example
of that commitment than our alliance with your nation. As the
Cold War recedes into history, a divided Korea remains one of its
most bitter legacies. Our nation has always joined yours in
believing that one day Korea's artificial division will end.
(Applause.)
We support Korea's peaceful unification on terms
acceptable to the Korean people. And when the reunification
comes, we will stand beside you in making the transition on the
terms that you have outlined. But that day has not yet arrived.
The Demilitarized Zone still traces a stark line between safety
and danger. North Korea's million men in arms, most stationed
within 30 miles of the Dmz, continue to pose a threat. Its
troubling nuclear program raises questions about its intentions.
Its internal repression and irresponsible weapons sales show
North Korea is not yet willing to be a responsible member of the
Community of Nations.
So let me say clearly, our commitment to Korea's
security remains undiminished. The Korean peninsula remains a
vital American interest. Our troops will stay here as long as
the Korean people want and need us here. (Applause.)
We lost tens of thousands of America's best in
Korea's mountains and mud and sky. But Korea lost millions.
That sacrifice affirmed some old truths: vulnerability invites
aggression. Peace depends upon deterrence. We cannot forget
those lessons again.
And so it is throughout the region. Our commitment
to an active military presence remains. Our mutual agreement
with the Philippines to close our bases there should not be cause
for Asian alarm. The larger picture tells a different story. We
have obtained increased access for our forces throughout
Southeast Asia to facilitate our presence, and if necessary, to
project our forces beyond the region.
Here in Korea we have frozen American troop
withdrawals and are modernizing Korean and American forces on the
peninsula. We have deployed to Japan the Belleau Wood Amphibious
Group and the U.S.S. Independence Battle Group, the largest and
most modern in the world. These are not signs of disengagement.
These are signs that America intends to stay.
The second security priority for our new Pacific
Community is to combat the spread of weapons of mass destruction
and their means of delivery. We cannot let the expanding threat
of these deadly weapons replace the Cold War nightmare of nuclear
annihilation. And today, that possibility is too real.
North Korea appears committed to indiscriminate
sales of the Scud missiles that were such a source of terror and
destruction in the Persian Gulf. Now it is developing, testing
and looking to export a more powerful missile with a range of 600
miles or more -- enough for North Korea to threaten Osaka, or for
Iran to threaten Tel Aviv.
We have serious concerns as well about China's
compliance with international standards against missile
proliferation. And since both you and we are attempting to
engage China in a more extensive trade relationship, I hope
together we can have a positive influence against that
development.
The Pacific nations simply must develop new ways to
combat the spread of biological, chemical, and missile
technologies. And in the coming weeks, the U.S. will propose new
efforts aimed at that goal. But no specter hangs over this
peninsula or this region more darkly than the danger of nuclear
proliferation. Nearly 160 nations have now joined to resist that
threat through the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty -- the most
universally supported treaty in all history.
Now, for the first time since that treaty was open
for signatures, one of its members has threatened to withdraw.
Our goals remain firm. We seek a nonnuclear Korean peninsula and
robust global rules against proliferation. That is why we urge
North Korea to reaffirm its commitment to the Nonproliferation
Treaty, to fulfill its full scope safeguards obligations to the
International Atomic Energy Agency, including Iaea inspections of
undeclared nuclear sites, and to implement bilateral inspections
under the South-North Nuclear Accord. (Applause.)
Our goal is not endless discussions, but certifiable
compliance. North Korea must understand our intentions. We are
seeking to prevent aggression, not to initiate it. And so long
as North Korea abides by the U.N. charter and international
nonproliferation commitments, it has nothing to fear from
America.
The U.S. has worked to bring North Korea back within
the fold of nuclear responsibility. But your nation, too, has a
critical role to play. The future of this peninsula is for you
and North Korea to shape. The South-North Nuclear Accord you
negotiated goes even further than existing international accords.
It not only banishes nuclear weapons from the peninsula, it also
bans the production of nuclear materials that could be used to
make those weapons. We urge full implementation of this path-
breaking accord which can serve as a model for other regions of
nuclear tension.
Even as we address immediate concerns such as
proliferation, we must also have a vision of how we will meet the
broader challenges of this era. That is what I sought to create
during the recently concluded G-7 talks. For example, by
proposing new ways to focus on new problems, such as the slow
pace of job creation in the G-7 countries. And it is why I have
proposed a Nato summit so that we can adapt that institution to
new times and new challenges.
In both Asia and Europe the dominant unitary threat
of Soviet aggression has disappeared. In both regions, the end
of the Cold War has allowed a host of problems to emerge or to
reappear, such as ancient ethnic rivalries, regional tensions,
flows of refugees and the trafficking of deadly weapons and
dangerous drugs.
In Europe these changes require us to adapt an
existing security institution -- Nato. In the Pacific no
institution exists. Moreover, since the Asian Pacific face a
unitary threat, there is no need for us to create one single
alliance. The challenge for the Asian Pacific in this decade,
instead, is to develop multiple new arrangements to meet multiple
threats and opportunities. These arrangements can function like
overlapping plates of armor individually providing protection and
together covering the full body of our common security concerns.
Some new arrangements may involve groups of nations
confronting immediate problems. This is the model we pursued to
address North Korea's nuclear program. Our two nations worked
not only with each other but also with Japan and with others who
could bring their influence to bear.
Other arrangements may involve peacekeeping, such as
the massive and promising U.N. effort to support reconciliation
in Cambodia. Still others may pursue confidence-building
measures to head off regional or subregional disputes.
We also need new regional security dialogues. This
month's Asean post-ministerial conference in Singapore, which the
United States will attend, offers an immediate opportunity to
further such a dialogue. Korea can play a vital role in the
region's new arrangements, for it stands at the center of
northeast Asia, within two hours by air from Singapore, Tokyo,
Beijing and Vladivostok.
The many economic discussions within the region also
can play a role. By lowering barriers to trade and investment,
we can generate jobs, ease regional tensions and, thus, enhance
regional security. That is why I welcome the new dialogue for
economic cooperation our two nations are launching on this visit.
And that is why I announced in Japan that I would like to host an
informal economic conference among Apec's leaders following the
ministerial meeting in Seattle, Washington, this fall.
The goal of all these efforts is to integrate, not
isolate, the region's powers. China is a key example. We
believe China cannot be a full partner in the world community
until it respects human rights and international agreements on
trade and weapon sales. But we also are prepared to involve
China in building this region's new security and economic
architectures. We need an involved and engaged China, not an
isolated China.
Some in the U.S. have been reluctant to enter into
regional security dialogues in Asia. They fear it would seem a
pretext for American withdrawal from the area. But I see this as
a way to supplement our alliances and forward military presence,
not to supplant them.
These dialogues can ensure that the end of the Cold
War does not provide an opening for regional rivalries, chaos and
arms races. They can build a foundation for our shared security
well into the 21st century.
Ultimately, the guarantee of our security must rest
in the character and the intentions of the region's nations
themselves. That is why our final security priority must be to
support the spread of democracy throughout the Asian Pacific.
Democracies not only are more likely to meet the needs and
respect the rights of their people, they also make better
neighbors. They do not wage war on each other, practice
terrorism, generate refugees or traffick in drugs and outlaw
weapons. They make more reliable partners in trade and in the
kind of dialogues we announced today.
Today, some argue democracy and human rights are
somehow unsuited to parts of Asia, or that they mask some
cultural imperialism on the part of the West. My ear is drawn
instead to more compelling voices -- the Chailing who proclaim
democracy's spirit at Tiananmen Square; to Aung San Suukyi whose
eloquent opposition to repression in Burma has stirred the entire
world; to Boris Yeltsin who is leading Russia toward becoming a
great democratic power on the Pacific; and to your own President
Kim and others in this multi-party assembly who have helped
democracy flower here in the land of the morning calm.
You are truly an example to people all over the
Asian Pacific region because you have had the courage to confront
the issues of political reform and economic reform; to ask the
hard questions of yourselves; to have the public debates
necessary when people honestly seek to improve and open their
society and move forward. And I salute you on behalf of freedom-
loving people everywhere in the world. (Applause.)
To be sure, every nation must retain its own
culture, and we will all struggle about what it means to define
that. But Korea proves that democracy and human rights are not
western imports. They flow from the internal spirit of human
beings because they reflect universal aspirations.
Now we must respond to those aspirations throughout
this region. We must support the nongovernmental organizations
that seek to strengthen Asia's building blocks of civic society,
such as open elections, trade unions, and a free press. And we
must deploy accurate news and information against Asia's closed
societies. I have proposed creating an Asian democracy radio for
this purpose, and I look forward to its establishment in the near
future.
Two hundred seventeen years ago, America's founders
declared the rights of self-government to be God-given, and
therefore inalienable. Today, here on Asian soil, let us
together reaffirm that declaration -- not only as an article of
faith, but as a sturdy building block in our region's shared
security.
This, then, is our nation's vision for security in
the new Pacific community: a continued United States military
presence, new efforts to combat proliferation, new regional
security dialogues, and vigorous support for democracies and
democratic movements. These elements of security can help create
a Pacific region where economic competition is vigorous, but
peaceful; where diverse nations work as partners to improve their
shared security; where democracy, as well as balanced military
strength, takes its place as a guardian of our security.
We will not realize every aspect of that vision
overnight, nor will the new Pacific community come to pass
without great effort. But neither of our nations is a stranger
to hard work.
I think, in particular, of the image of your great
long-distance runner, Hwang Yung Cho, who endured that final
steep hill in Barcelona to capture the gold in the marathon in
the 1992 Olympics. His energy and perseverance captured the
spirit of the Korean people who have not only endured, but
prospered through a long, hard, and challenging history. We
respect that spirit. We honor your values. We have stood
shoulder to shoulder with you in days past, and so it shall be in
the days ahead. The struggle for freedom and democracy and
opportunity is, indeed, a marathon. Let us run the race
together.
Thank you very much. (Applause.)
End 5:56 P.M. (L)