Speeches and Transcripts
The Six Party Talks and the Future of the Korean Peninsula
Speech to the National Assembly's
Peace and Reunification Study Group
by Alexander Vershbow
U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Korea
Tuesday, December 27, 2006
Ladies and gentlemen, it is a pleasure to address your group today. I was supposed to meet with you in November, but had to postpone due to the visit of Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns. As you recall, he was here to discuss the North Korean nuclear test and resumption of the Six-Party Talks – an agenda I know you can appreciate. So, needless to say, I am grateful for your understanding in allowing me to reschedule this event for today. I would especially like to thank Representative Kwon Young-ghil for the invitation to speak to you. My Embassy colleagues and I have the pleasure of meeting with Representative Kwon regularly in his capacity as a member of the Foreign Affairs and Trade Committee. I also want to thank Representative Kwon for his regular participation in our Embassy's Dialogue 21, a group which meets frequently to discuss ROK-U.S. relations.
The U.S. and ROK: More Commonalities Than Differences
I hope that you all enjoyed a peaceful Christmas holiday and have exciting plans to celebrate the New Year. I've been Ambassador to South Korea for just over a year now and, even though this is my first diplomatic assignment in Asia, I feel very much at home in your country. I think that Americans and Koreans, despite our different cultural roots, are very similar in many ways – our commitment to family, the importance we attach to education, and our enterprising, “can do” spirit.
At the same time, I’ve noticed some differences in how we celebrate the holidays.
In the United States, Christmas is the time when families gather together, exchange gifts and share meals. On New Year's Eve, people usually celebrate with their friends – not their families – at parties or clubs, counting down the seconds to the New Year, popping open bottles of champagne. But I've noticed that in Korea, this tradition is often reversed: on Christmas Eve, friends get together with other friends, whereas on New Year's Day, Koreans tend to spend time with their families, eating deok-guk and giving envelopes full of money to their children. (Thankfully, my children are grown, so I won’t have to go broke replicating this tradition!)
Although we celebrate these holidays in different ways, in the end, we both have the same goals: to spend time with friends and family and wish others well. And when it comes to the kind of world we want to live in, our goals are the same as well: we want peace, stability and prosperity everywhere – but especially on the Korean Peninsula. We also share common values of democracy, human rights, freedom of religion, and open societies and open markets. That is why the alliance between our two countries has endured for more than 50 years.
The Nature of Our Alliance
The U.S.-ROK alliance is at perhaps its most dynamic point in history. As you know, the alliance started as a security relationship. Your vote last week to extend the Zaytun unit's deployment in Iraq is emblematic of the continuing strength of this relationship – on, and increasingly off, the Peninsula. The U.S. is grateful to the ROK for its continuing support for stabilization and reconstruction in Iraq, and welcomes Korea’s increasing activism on the global stage. I am also pleased at the progress we have made in the last 3-4 years in modernizing our defense alliance to make it not only more capable in military terms, but a more balanced partnership.
Meanwhile, what started as a security alliance to meet a common threat has evolved and expanded into a comprehensive partnership, one that includes economic, educational, cultural and personal links. As we look to 2007, successful conclusion of our negotiations on a Free Trade Agreement would have the potential to take our economic relations to the next level and provide more opportunities for the citizens of both our countries. The FTA would mean increased trade and investment in both directions, hundreds of thousands of new jobs, and a broader range of goods at lower prices for our consumers. It would make both of our economies more competitive in a fast-changing global economy, and encourage other countries in Northeast Asia to open up their economies further.
I know that negotiators from your government and mine are working very hard to make an agreement possible. I was very impressed that the Korean negotiators – and even a few protesters – made the long trek to Big Sky, Montana last month for the fifth round of FTA talks. Although we did not resolve the most difficult and sensitive issues, substantial progress was made in Big Sky. As we look to the sixth round of negotiations scheduled to take place here in Seoul in mid-January, the time has come to tackle the tough issues. Time is limited – we have to finish the agreement by March 31 if it is to be considered by our Congress under “fast-track” Trade Promotion Authority, legislation which expires at the end of June. But despite the hard work that remains, I remain optimistic that we will succeed in achieving a result that meets the interests of both the United States and the Republic of Korea. It would a real shame to lose such a valuable, once-in-a-generation opportunity for our two countries.
I am also looking to make some progress in the coming year on bringing Korea into the U.S. Visa Waiver Program. As I have put a high priority on this issue, I was very happy to hear President Bush's recent announcement that he plans to work with the Congress to make the program more accessible for countries like Korea. I truly hope that Visa Waiver membership happens on my watch as Ambassador, because the more people-to-people exchanges we have, the better our two countries will understand each other.
Six-Party Talks
As you all know, after a nearly 13-month hiatus we have just concluded a week of Six-Party Talks. While all parties put in heroic efforts last week, we understood even before the Talks started that this process could be a long and difficult one. It was critical for all the parties to work together closely to even arrive at this point.
For our part, the United States spent a long time preparing for the Talks and negotiations last week. Secretary Rice, Under Secretaries Burns and Joseph were in the region discussing the North Korean nuclear issue in October and November. Additionally, Assistant Secretary Christopher Hill has traveled to Beijing five times over the last few months. As you recall, the Six-Party Talks was also a key item in the APEC meetings in Hanoi between Presidents Bush and Roh, as well as in meetings with Chinese, Japanese and Russian leaders. All of these preparations were aimed at reaffirming our commitment to a diplomatic solution to denuclearize North Korea, despite the provocative actions taken by Pyongyang over the past year.
Our commitment to a diplomatic solution is a very strong one. We have made clear to North Korea that we remain prepared to implement all aspects of the Joint Statement of September 19, 2005. That is, the five countries, including the U.S. and Japan, are willing to normalize relations with North Korea, provide economic and energy assistance, and work toward building lasting peace and security in Northeast Asia, including a permanent peace regime on the Korean Peninsula. For all of this to happen, however, North Korea must live up to its side of the bargain and take concrete steps to denuclearize.
Denuclearization of North Korea is not just the goal of the United States or the five parties in the Six-Party Talks. It is the goal of the international community. This was made clear in UN Security Council Resolution 1718. This resolution is legally binding on all members of the United Nations, including North Korea. It demands that the DPRK dismantle and eliminate its nuclear weapons and nuclear programs, imposing legally-binding sanctions on Pyongyang until it does so.
Of course, we don't expect all of this to take place immediately. But in Beijing last week we wanted to see all parties take initial steps toward this goal. There had been some encouraging signs during the preparations for the talks in October and November. There was an understanding between all parties, including the North Koreans, that we would handle financial issues separately -- the issues related to the Banco Delta Asia case. In fact, to discuss BDA and other financial issues, we had a separate delegation in Beijing led by a Treasury Department official. And there were two days of talks with the North Korean financial experts.
Still, despite our all of these efforts -- you know that the meetings last week lasted five days, which is quite a long time -- the North Koreans in the end reverted to insisting that the BDA issue be resolved before anything happens on denuclearization. It was clear that the North Korean side did not have the authority from Pyongyang to proceed with actual negotiations on implementing the September 19, 2005 Joint Statement. It was something of a surprise to our team that the North Koreans refused to engage on the Six Party issues because of the financial questions. As you know, these financial questions are matters of law enforcement, dealing with the integrity of our currency and the international banking system; they are not related to Six Party issues.
Our team is now back in Washington. I expect we'll assess where we are and where we go from here. Yes, we are disappointed that North Korea could not agree last week to take concrete measures. There were a number of useful exchanges in Beijing, but after a 13-month hiatus and extensive preparation during October and November, our delegation expected concrete and early progress toward denuclearization.
I don't want to predict the next steps in these negotiations, because they are not entirely up to us. Rather, they depend on all the parties, especially North Korea. What I can say is that, on our part, the United States is willing and prepared to resolve the North Korean nuclear issue through diplomacy by completely implementing the Joint Statement of last year, but let’s also be clear that the Six-Party Talks have to be more than just talk.
We did not make all these preparations just to talk. We must have serious negotiations and results. As our delegation leader Assistant Secretary Hill said, we are not going to pretend to negotiate if North Korea is only pretending to be serious about denuclearization.
The international community has offered North Korea a clear choice in the wake of its provocative actions of the past year: it can continue on the path of isolation, sanctions and economic hardship for its people; or it can abandon its nuclear weapons and its nuclear programs and reap all the benefits laid out in the September 19 Joint Statement, including security assurances, economic and energy assistance, the normalization of relations, and a permanent peace regime for the Korean Peninsula. I hope that Pyongyang makes the right choice.
Conclusion
I’m pleased to share our vision with you because, like Korea, the United States profoundly wants peace, stability and prosperity in this part of the world. We would like to have normal relations with North Korea, and see that country embark on the path of reform and modernization that has benefited the people of China, Russia and the former Communist nations of Central Europe and Eurasia. We would like to see genuine peace and reconciliation on the Korean Peninsula– which can only happen when North Korea fulfills its commitments to denuclearize and agrees to abide by the norms of the international community.
The Alliance between our two countries is now over fifty years old. I believe that the United States has been a very responsible partner. And I know that most Koreans appreciate the presence of our troops here, because they know that the United States has been instrumental in maintaining peace in the region and promoting economic prosperity in Korea. Our alliance is all the more important as we seek to address the North Korean challenge: We will only succeed by staying united, coordinating our diplomatic strategies, and sending a clear and consistent message to Pyongyang regarding the fundamental choice it needs to make.
As we begin the New Year, my hopes and expectations are that the relationship between our two countries can become even closer still. In 2007, I look forward to hearing good news on the Six-Party Talks; I also look forward to concluding the FTA, which will form the second pillar (the first pillar being the Mutual Defense Treaty) in the bilateral relationship between my country and yours. I am also anticipating making good progress in the Visa Waiver Program, which paves the way for even deeper people-to-people exchanges between Korea and America.
I wish you all good health, success, and peace in 2007. Saehae pok mani paduseyo! By the way, I would like to note that I will be spending my New Year holiday the way most Koreans do: with my family. Thank you again for the opportunity to meet with you, and I look forward to answering any questions you may have.