한미친선의 밤 외교장관 축사(영문)

Chairman Han,
Former Prime Minister Lee,
Ambassador Lippert,
General Champoux (샴포우),
Ladies and gentlemen,

Good evening. Let me start with three simple words, “never been better.” This is the facebook message recently suggested by a senior U.S. official if he had to set a current “relationship status” for Korea and the U.S. In fact, this chimes well with the latest U.S. Congressional Research Service report, that the Korea-U.S. alliance is “the most robust” ever. And I think that all of us here tonight will agree with those views.

As Foreign Minister, I fully agree with these characterizations. Why? Well, there are several important indicators. For one thing, it’s about the level of engagement between our two countries. Two weeks ago, when I met Secretary Kerry in Alaska, that was our thirteenth meeting over the past two and a half years. Already this year, we’ve seen each other in Munich, Seoul, Kuala Lumpur and Anchorage, with another upcoming meeting in New York in a few days time. This is a sea change. Compared with the past, the foreign ministers of our two countries have far more frequent contacts to discuss not only Korean peninsula issues, but global agendas.

This also holds true for our leaders. President Park will travel to Washington, D.C. next month, in effect making summit meetings between our leaders more than an annual affair. Furthermore, we have a superhighway linking the Blue House and the White House, Foggy Bottom and Gwanghwamun, and the Pentagon and Samgakji.

With particular regard to our security alliance, it gains even more importance as the Korean peninsula and Northeast Asia undergo a significant transformation. We witnessed a case in point just last month. Thanks to this superb alliance, we were able to turn the challenge caused by North Korea’s DMZ provocations into an opportunity for inter-Korean talks.

This January, I began my year by visiting Osan Airbase to meet the brave Korean and American men and women in uniform. There, at the Situation Room, I was struck by the combat readiness and the world’s most integrated command and control system, according to General Scaparrotti. Earlier this month, I met Pacific Commander Admiral Harry Harris and Pacific Fleet Commander Admiral Scott Swift in Hawaii and could see for myself how seamless the whole team is, from PACOM to USFK. Thanks to this close collaboration between Korea and the U.S., and our combined defense capabilities, it is no wonder our alliance is called the linchpin for peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region.

Even as we meet here tonight, there are currents and counter-currents surrounding the Korean peninsula. On the one hand, the recent inter-Korean agreement has opened up possibilities for positive developments. On the other hand, North Korea’s pronouncements on possible strategic provocations this week remind us that we should never be complacent.

My hope is that North Korea will make a right choice. If so, the international community could engage North Korea with a variety of cooperative measures. If not, there will certainly be consequences. In case of Pyongyang’s non-compliance of UN Security Council resolutions, the international community will respond firmly. Especially, the Security Council is already mandated to consider further significant measures.

To prevent North Korea from taking provocative actions, regional and extra-regional countries are already working in collaboration. Furthermore, in the recent and upcoming high-level meetings, between Korea-China, Korea-EU, U.S.-China, Korea-U.S.-Japan and Korea-U.S., the international community has sent and will send out very clear-cut and consistent messages: don’t misjudge and test our resolve. North Korea should listen carefully to them. In whatever eventuality, our alliance is invincible, like I said at Osan Airbase last January.

But for Korea and the U.S., our relationship goes beyond strong political and security ties. More than ever before, our peoples are becoming closely connected. Businesses are seizing the trade and investment opportunities offered by the KORUS FTA. The new Korea-U.S. civil nuclear agreement is another buttress for our alliance. Many of us know that Korea is number one in terms of students studying in the U.S. on a per capita basis. But I was pleasantly surprised to hear that over the past decade, the number of American students in Korea has shot up by more than 300 percent.

Under these circumstances, this relationship has now evolved into a comprehensive strategic alliance, as President Park and President Obama affirmed in the Joint Declaration two years ago. Next month, our leaders will meet in Washington, D.C. and discuss not only bilateral issues but also global agendas such as climate change, development cooperation, health security, peacekeeping and cyber security.

We owe a lot of this to the indefatigable efforts of my good friends Ambassador Lippert and General Scaparrotti and his colleagues, who have shown our alliance is unshakable. But it is also our deep mutual trust that makes such a global strategic partnership possible, and our cooperation as most trusted friends and partners will continue to grow in strength – so it has been, so it is and so it will be.

But I know that our ties are reinforced through the work of the many champions for Korea-U.S. relations. Here tonight, we have a great crowd of supporters for Korea and U.S. ties, in particular from the Korean-American Association. The Association, celebrating its 52nd anniversary, is one the oldest organizations in Korea devoted to Korea-U.S. ties, and a strong glue in bringing our two nations closer together.

Its individual members continue to contribute to our alliance and our vision for unification, as we could see from the visit of Chairman Han, Ambassador Hyun and other members to the U.S. just a few days ago.

On that occasion, I was especially pleased to see that the Korean-American Association presented its Friendship Award to Representative Ed Royce, who has made immeasurable and unmatched contributions for Korea and the U.S.

Henry Kissinger said that, quote, “We have a better chance of assuring our future if we remember who our friends are,” unquote. All of you here are friends of the Korea-U.S. alliance, and friends of Korea. In that sense, I also hope your efforts will go beyond bringing our nations closer together, to overcoming the seven-decades-old division of the Korean peninsula. Thank you very much.