Moon wholeheartedly welcomes Trump as Korea’s dearest friend

For everyone in Korea, Dol is a very, very special day as it celebrates the first anniversary of one’s birth. President Donald Trump had his first Dol day in Seoul during his official state visit to the Republic of Korea (south) on Nov. 7, 2017.
At a welcome reception for President Trump at the Presidential Mansion of Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul that day, President Moon said: “Tomorrow marks the first-year anniversary of President Trump's election victory. In Korea, we have a custom of holding a special, big celebration on one's first birthday. So after pondering about how to best celebrate the first anniversary of President Trump's victory, I decided to invite the President to Korea as a state guest and hold a banquet.” (See excerpts from the welcome speech of President Moon toward the end of this article.)

Unlike some reports at home and abroad, President Moon Jae-in obviously takes very strong personal interest in President Trump and in the promotion of relations, cooperation and friendship between Korea and the United States.
The welcome accorded to President Trump by the Korean people was all the warmer in the fact that it took place for the first time in 25 years, which is viewed by many people in Korea as an unusually long period of reticence for the two close allies.
“Over the months,” disclosed President Moon, “I have maintained close contact with President Trump, but now, after spending a day with the President and the First Lady within Cheong Wa Dae, I feel a sense of intimacy, as if we were old friends.”
Unlike reports to the contrary, it is obvious that President Moon takes strong personal interest in the promotion of friendship and cooperation with the American people as well as President Trump

There have been some reports in Korea and around the world that President Trump may not be welcomed in Korea as warmly as his predecessors were.
However, such worries proved completely futile. Moon did take special interest and very warm feelings toward President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump.
In departure from the practices of the most of his predecessors, President Moon personally visited the U.S. Military Base Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek well before President Trump landed, and welcomed the U.S. Presidential Couple there instead of waiting for them in Seoul.
This is considered in Korea as a special gesture of friendship and warm feelings for the visiting State guests.

President Trump’s return remarks to Moon’s welcome speech were equally impressive.
He said in part: “The partnership between our two nations and our two people is deep and enduring. We have been proud to stand by your side for many decades as an unwavering friend and a loyal ally. And you have never had a time where this ally has been more loyal or stood by your side more than right now.”
Then he said: “Here in South Korea, the people built a free, sovereign, and democratic republic. Through their resilience and sacrifice and determination, they became the chief architects of the future. Today, the course of this great nation is charted solely by the free people of South Korea.” (See excerpts from his speech toward the end of this article.)
Welcome speech of Speaker Chung Se-kyun of the National Assembly for President Trump and the visiting U.S. delegation was as impressive as that of President Moon--if not more.

Speaker Chung said: “The Republic of Korea has grown from an aid-receiving country to an aid-giving one and for this remarkable growth and development, I would say we owe greatly to the firm alliance between Korea and the United States forged through blood-shedding during the Korean War and other wars. Korea and the United States started out as security allies. Now the two countries are developing into global value-sharing partners in the world beyond the realms of economic alliance.”
Chung said, “The alliance of the Republic of Korea and the United States is evaluated to have absolutely contributed to the maintenance of peace on the Korean peninsula and Northeast Asia.”
Speaker Chung then said: “This alliance is now facing a grave challenge in the face of nuclear weapons and missiles of North Korea. The Republic of Korea and the United States have been working together to confront with and control the danger and threat of the nuclear weapons of North Korea and for the achievement of denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and maintenance and peace on the Korean peninsula.” (See excerpts from the welcome speech of Speaker Chung toward the end of this report.)

Throughout his two-day tour of the Republic of Korea, President Trump has never impressed the Korean people deeper than at his lengthy speech delivered at the National Assembly on the last day of his tour of Korea on Nov. 8.
The speech, which was not very widely publicized in Korea, eloquently bespoke President Trump’s full command of every phase of change in the history of Korea, especially the development after Korea’s liberation and miraculously rapid economic development achieved by the Korean people in the South.
It was surprising to learn that President Trump was so deeply and well versed in the affairs of Korea, north and south, present and past.
He said, “A sky-top view of this peninsula shows a nation of dazzling light in the South and a mass of impenetrable darkness in the North. We seek a future of light, prosperity, and peace. But we are only prepared to discuss this brighter path for North Korea if its leaders cease their threats and dismantle their nuclear program.”

President Trump had a very high opinion of the people in the South for their development in cooperation with the United States and other countries of the world.
He noted: “As the entire world knows, over the next two generations something miraculous happened on the southern half of this peninsula. Family by family, city by city, the people of South Korea built this country into what is today one of the great nations of the world. And I congratulate you. In less than one lifetime, South Korea climbed from total devastation to among the wealthiest nations on Earth. Today, your economy is more than 350 times larger than what it was in 1960. Trade has increased 1,900 times. Life expectancy has risen from just 53 years to more than 82 years today.”

Then he said: “This Korea stands strong and tall among the great community of independent, confident, and peace-loving nations. We are nations that respect our citizens, cherish our liberty, treasure our sovereignty, and control our own destiny. We affirm the dignity of every person and embrace the full potential of every soul. And we are always prepared to defend the vital interests of our people against the cruel ambition of tyrants.”
On the North Korean regime, President Trump introduced various acts of provocations perpetrated by the North against the ROK, U.S. and the rest of the Free World—and gave a stern warning.
He said: “The North Korean regime has pursued its nuclear and ballistic missile programs in defiance of every assurance, agreement, and commitment it has made to the United States and its allies. It’s broken all of those commitments. After promising to freeze its plutonium program in 1994, it repeated [reaped] the benefits of the deal and then--and then immediately continued its illicit nuclear activities.”

Then he reminded how the North Korean regime did not honor the commitments it had made with the ROK, the U.S. and other countries of the Free World.
President Trump said: “In 2005, after years of diplomacy, the dictatorship agreed to ultimately abandon its nuclear programs and return to the Treaty on Non-Proliferation. But it never did. And worse, it tested the very weapons it said it was going to give up. In 2009, the United States gave negotiations yet another chance, and offered North Korea the open hand of engagement. The regime responded by sinking a South Korean Navy ship, killing 46 Korean sailors.”
The U.S. President stated that, to this day, the North Korean regime continues to launch missiles over the sovereign territory of Japan and all other neighbors, test nuclear devices, and develop ICBMs to threaten the United States itself.

He said: “The North Korean regime has interpreted America’s past restraint as weakness. This would be a fatal miscalculation. This is a very different administration than the United States has had in the past.”
Then he warned to the North Korean leadership: “Today, I hope I speak not only for our countries, but for all civilized nations, when I say to the North: Do not underestimate us, and do not try us. We will defend our common security, our shared prosperity, and our sacred liberty. (For further details of the speech of President Trump at the end of this article.)
President Trump’s visit to the ROK came as a great source of relief for the Korean people as many people in the South were worried over the possibility of strained relations between the two countries. Such worries were completely eliminated as a result of the visit of President Trump to Korea and the warm accommodation accorded to him and his party by President Moon Jae-in and leaders of the Republic of Korea.

Excerpts from the welcome speech of President Moon to President Trump:
I would like to extend my heartfelt welcome to President and Mrs. Trump, both of whom I highly respect, on their first visit to Korea. This is the first state visit by an American President in 25 years and the first state visit for me and my administration. I am very pleased to get this opportunity to repay so quickly the hospitality I received in Washington, D.C. last June.
Over the months, I have maintained close contact with President Trump. But now, after spending a day with the President and the First Lady within Cheong Wa Dae, I feel a sense of intimacy, as if we were old friends.
Distinguished guests, last September, in his keynote speech to the U.N. General Assembly, President Trump recollected President Truman's great initiatives for rebuilding the free world in the aftermath of World War II. Thanks to President Truman's resolute decision, the U.S.-led U.N. forces participated in the war that broke out on the Korean Peninsula.
The ROK-U.S. alliance was born out of the same red blood of patriots spilt by Korean and American soldiers on the battlefield.

Last June, I paid my respects at the Chosin Reservoir Battle memorial in Quantico. I convey my gratitude to the Korean War veterans for their honorable sacrifices, and reflect upon the noble values of the ROK-U.S. alliance that has defended freedom and peace.
Even at this very moment, the peace of my country, which was won with blood, is being threatened once again. But the ROK-U.S. alliance gives us the strength to stop this threat.
Camp Humphreys, where President Trump visited today, is the largest and most advanced U.S. military installation outside of the United States, and it is a symbol of the enduring strength of the ROK-U.S. alliance.
Ladies and gentlemen, war must not break out again on the Korean Peninsula. And in this respect, the United States has provided enormous support. The close coordination between Korea and the United States, and the overwhelming superiority of power that stems from the ROK-U.S. alliance, will eventually make North Korea cease its reckless provocations and make North Korea come out to dialogue for denuclearization.

The ROK-U.S. alliance of tomorrow will grow into a trustworthy pillar that guarantees the lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula and also builds peace and prosperity in all of Northeast Asia.
Ladies and gentlemen, President Trump's election victory one year ago is already making America great again. Korea faces the task of making this world a better place through cooperation with a great America.
Korea has worked with the United States for peace and reconstruction in Iraq and Afghanistan. We are also working hand-in-hand with the United States to realize the common values of humanity, such as human rights and the eradication of poverty. I believe that making such joint efforts will make the ROK-U.S. alliance an even greater alliance as President Trump and I have agreed to do last June, and, at the same time, make America even greater.
Now I would like to propose a toast. Please fill your glasses, and may I ask you to raise your glasses.
If you are ready: I give you my word that I will always stand by you on our journey to make the ROK-U.S. alliance an even greater alliance. I congratulate President Trump on the one-year anniversary of his election victory. And I would like to propose a toast to the good health of President and Mrs. Trump.

Excerpts from the speech of President Trump at Cheong Wa Dae:
Well, thank you very much. And this is an exciting time, and we're going to have an exciting day tomorrow, for many reasons that people will find out, in addition to the fact I look forward to making a--hopefully--very comprehensive speech before you and the leaders of Korea. And that will be really something that I'm representing the American people. The relationship that we have is a fantastic one.
And I have to say, President Moon and First Lady Kim, thank you very much. I greatly appreciate your hosting Melania and myself on our first trip to the very beautiful Republic of Korea.
We were honored to welcome you to the White House this past summer, and now it's a tremendous honor to visit your magnificent home -- and magnificent it is, to see this beautiful land, and to meet the remarkable people of South Korea.

The partnership between our two nations and our two people is deep and enduring. We have been proud to stand by your side for many decades as an unwavering friend and a loyal ally. And you have never had a time where this ally has been more loyal or stood by your side more than right now.
Here in South Korea, the people built a free, sovereign, and democratic republic. Through their resilience and sacrifice and determination, they became the chief architects of the future. Today, the course of this great nation is charted solely by the free people of South Korea.
Mr. President, your remarkable success truly demonstrates what is possible when people are free to follow their dreams, pursue their passions, and hope for a better future for their children.
Tonight, we celebrate South Korea's success and affirm our close and abiding bonds of friendship.
Together, our nations remind the world of the boundless potential of societies that choose freedom over tyranny, and who set the free. And we will free, and we will sacrifice, and we will hope, and we will make things beautiful, especially the aspiration of your people.
As true partners, we have remained faithful friends through periods of challenge and opportunity. And that's what we have now, is great opportunity. We will continue to support each other in the years ahead.
In that spirit, I would like to offer a toast to President Moon and First Lady Kim, and to the people of South Korea: May freedom and peace flourish on this peninsula. In our time, and for generations to come, this will be a special evening and a special time. May our bonds of friendship continue to deepen, and may the cherished hopes of our people and the people across the region soon be realized.
Mr. President, may your dreams come true. It's an honor to be with you. Thank you very much.

Excerpts from the welcome speech of Speaker Chung Se-kyun of National Assembly:
His Excellency President Donald Trump of the United States of America, First Lady Madam Melena Trump and other Distinguished Visiting Dignitaries,
His Excellency President Donald Trump of the United States of America and First Lady Madam Melina Trump visit Korea as our State Guests for the first time in 25 years. This is also the first time in 24 years for the President of the United States to speak at the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea.
It is a boundless honor and pleasure for the National Assembly to welcome the Presidential Couple of the United States who visit us in their first tour of Asia. The fact that the Presidential Couple of the United States share this meeting with us today alone is a clear reminder of the firmness and special nature of the alliance between the Republic of Korea and the United States.
Esteemed President and First Lady of the United States and all the distinguished guests, the National Assembly members, the Republic of Korea has grown from an aid-receiving country to an aid-giving country and for this remarkable growth and development, I would say we owe greatly to the firm alliance between Korea and the U.S. forged through blood-shedding. Korea and the United States started out as security allies. Now the two countries are now developing into global value-sharing partners in the world beyond the realms of economic allies.
The alliance of the Republic of Korea and the United States of America are evaluated to have absolutely contributed to the maintenance of peace on the Korean peninsula and Northeast Asia. This alliance is now facing a grave challenge in the face of the nuclear weapons and missiles of North Korea. The Republic of Korea and the United States have been working together to confront with and control the danger and threat of the nuclear weapons of North Korea and for the achievement of denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and maintenance and peace on the Korean peninsula.
Mr. President, you stated in your inaugural address that time has come to act and thereby clearly manifested your will to deal with the North Korean nuclear weapons issue in a way stronger than any other President of the United States. Your Excellency is showing with action your determination to solve the North Korean nuclear issue as a first-priority issue.
I would like to express my profound gratitude and respect to Your Excellency President Trump for your excellent leadership and outstanding ability of negotiation for the promotion of peace. At the same time, I would like to express my since desire and wish that the visit of the Presidential Couple of the United States to Korea will prove a historical occasion to lay a firm new foundation for the promotion of friendship and co-prosperity of the two countries as well as for the embodiment of peace on the Korean peninsula and Northeast Asia.
In advance of the delivery of speech by His Excellency President Trump, I would like to introduce First Lady Madam Melina Trump of the United States who enjoys both rare beauty and wisdom. Madam, would you like to stand up for a moment and oblige us with your kind response to our warm welcome?
Now I wish to introduce His Excellency President Donald Trump of the United States, who is the leader of the world.

Excerpts from the speech of President Trump at the National Assembly:
Assembly Speaker Chung, distinguished members of this Assembly, ladies and gentlemen: Thank you for the extraordinary privilege to speak in this great chamber and to address your people on behalf of the people of the United States of America.
In our short time in your country, Melania and I have been awed by its ancient and modern wonders, and we are deeply moved by the warmth of your welcome.
Last night, President and Mrs. Moon showed us incredible hospitality in a beautiful reception at the Blue House. We had productive discussions on increasing military cooperation and improving the trade relationship between our nations on the principle of fairness and reciprocity.
Through this entire visit, it has been both our pleasure and our honor to create and celebrate a long friendship between the United States and the Republic of Korea.
This alliance between our nations was forged in the crucible of war, and strengthened by the trials of history. From the Inchon landings to Pork Chop Hill, American and South Korean soldiers have fought together, sacrificed together, and triumphed together.
Almost 67 years ago, in the spring of 1951, they recaptured what remained of this city where we are gathered so proudly today. It was the second time in a year that our combined forces took on steep casualties to retake this capital from the communists.
Over the next weeks and months, the men soldiered through steep mountains and bloody, bloody battles. Driven back at times, they willed their way north to form the line that today divides the oppressed and the free. And there, American and South Korean troops have remained together holding that line for nearly seven decades.
By the time the armistice was signed in 1953, more than 36,000 Americans had died in the Korean War, with more than 100,000 others very badly wounded. They are heroes, and we honor them. We also honor and remember the terrible price the people of your country paid for their freedom. You lost hundreds of thousands of brave soldiers and countless innocent civilians in that gruesome war.
Much of this great city of Seoul was reduced to rubble. Large portions of the country were scarred--severely, severely hurt--by this horrible war. The economy of this nation was demolished.
But as the entire world knows, over the next two generations something miraculous happened on the southern half of this peninsula.
Family by family, city by city, the people of South Korea built this country into what is today one of the great nations of the world.
And I congratulate you. In less than one lifetime, South Korea climbed from total devastation to among the wealthiest nations on Earth.
Today, your economy is more than 350 times larger than what it was in 1960. Trade has increased 1,900 times. Life expectancy has risen from just 53 years to more than 82 years today.
Like Korea, and since my election exactly one year ago today, I celebrate with you. The United States is going through something of a miracle itself. Our stock market is at an all-time high. Unemployment is at a 17-year low. We are defeating ISIS.
We are strengthening our judiciary, including a brilliant Supreme Court justice, and on, and on, and on.
Currently stationed in the vicinity of this peninsula are the three largest aircraft carriers in the world loaded to the maximum with magnificent F-35 and F-18 fighter jets. In addition, we have nuclear submarines appropriately positioned. The United States, under my administration, is completely rebuilding its military and is spending hundreds of billions of dollars to the newest and finest military equipment anywhere in the world being built, right now. I want peace through strength.
We are helping the Republic of Korea far beyond what any other country has ever done. And, in the end, we will work things out far better than anybody understands or can even appreciate. I know that the Republic of Korea, which has become a tremendously successful nation, will be a faithful ally of the United States very long into the future.
What you have built is truly an inspiration. Your economic transformation was linked to a political one. The proud, sovereign, and independent people of your nation demanded the right to govern themselves. You secured free parliamentary elections in 1988, the same year you hosted your first Olympics.
Soon after, you elected your first civilian president in more than three decades. And when the Republic you won faced financial crisis, you lined up by the millions to give your most prized possessions--your wedding rings, heirlooms, and gold “luck keys”-- to restore the promise of a better future for your children.
Your wealth is measured in more than money--it is measured in achievements of the mind and achievements of spirit. Over the last several decades, your scientists of engineers--have engineered so many magnificent things. You‘ve pushed the boundaries of technology, pioneered miraculous medical treatments, and emerged as leaders in unlocking the mysteries of our universe.
Korean authors penned roughly 40,000 books this year. Korean musicians fill concert halls all around the world. Young Korean students graduate from college at the highest rates of any country. And Korean golfers are some of the best on earth.
In fact--and you know what I’m going to say--the Women‘s U.S. Open was held this year at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey, and it just happened to be won by a great Korean golfer, Sung-hyun Park. An eighth of the top 10 players were from Korea. And the top four golfers--one, two, three, four--the top four were from Korea. Congratulations.
Congratulations. And that’s something. That is really something.
Here in Seoul, architectural wonders like the Sixty-Three Building and the Lotte World Tower--very beautiful--grace the sky and house the workers of many growing industries.
Your citizens now help to feed the hungry, fight terrorism, and solve problems all over the world. And in a few months, you will host the world and you will do a magnificent job at the 23rd Olympic Winter Games. Good luck.
The Korean miracle extends exactly as far as the armies of free nations advanced in 1953--24 miles to the north. There, it stops; it all comes to an end. Dead stop. The flourishing ends, and the prison state of North Korea sadly begins.
Workers in North Korea labor grueling hours in unbearable conditions for almost no pay. Recently, the entire working population was ordered to work for 70 days straight, or else pay for a day of rest.
Families live in homes without plumbing, and fewer than half have electricity. Parents bribe teachers in hopes of saving their sons and daughters from forced labor. More than a million North Koreans died of famine in the 1990s, and more continue to die of hunger today.
Among children under the age of five, nearly 30 percent of afflicted--and are afflicted by stunted growth due to malnutrition. And yet, in 2012 and 2013, the regime spent an estimated $200 million--or almost half the money that it allocated to improve living standards for its people--to instead build even more monuments, towers, and statues to glorify its dictators.
What remains of the meager harvest of the North Korean economy is distributed according to perceived loyalty to a twisted regime.
Far from valuing its people as equal citizens, this cruel dictatorship measures them, scores them, and ranks them based on the most arbitrary indications of their allegiance to the state. Those who score the highest in loyalty may live in the capital city. Those who score the lowest starve. A small infraction by one citizen, such as accidently staining a picture of the tyrant printed in a discarded newspaper, can wreck the social credit rank of his entire family for many decades.
An estimated 100,000 North Koreans suffer in gulags, toiling in forced labor, and enduring torture, starvation, rape, and murder on a constant basis.
In one known instance, a 9-year-old boy was imprisoned for 10 years because his grandfather was accused of treason. In another, a student was beaten in school for forgetting a single detail about the life of Kim Jong-un.
Soldiers have kidnapped foreigners and forced them to work as language tutors for North Korean spies.
In the part of Korea that was a stronghold for Christianity before the war, Christians and other people of faith who are found praying or holding a religious book of any kind are now detained, tortured, and in many cases, even executed.
North Korean women are forced to abort babies that are considered ethnically inferior. And if these babies are born, the newborns are murdered.
One woman’s baby born to a Chinese father was taken away in a bucket. The guards said it did not “deserve to live because it was impure.”
So why would China feel an obligation to help North Korea?
The horror of life in North Korea is so complete that citizens pay bribes to government officials to have themselves exported aboard as slaves. They would rather be slaves than live in North Korea.
To attempt to flee is a crime punishable by death. One person who escaped remarked, “When I think about it now, I was not a human being. I was more like an animal. Only after leaving North Korea did I realize what life was supposed to be.”
And so, on this peninsula, we have watched the results of a tragic experiment in a laboratory of history. It is a tale of one people, but two Koreas. One Korea in which the people took control of their lives and their country, and chose a future of freedom and justice, of civilization, and incredible achievement. And another Korea in which leaders imprison their people under the banner of tyranny, fascism, and oppression. The result of this experiment are in, and they are totally conclusive.
When the Korean War began in 1950, the two Koreas were approximately equal in GDP per capita. But by the 1990s, South Korea’s wealth had surpassed North Korea‘s by more than 10 times. And today, the South’s economy is over 40 times larger. You started the same a short while ago, and now you’re 40 times larger. You‘re doing something right.
Considering the misery wrought by the North Korean dictatorship, it is no surprise that it has been forced to take increasingly desperate measures to prevent its people from understanding this brutal contrast.
Because the regime fears the truth above all else, it forbids virtually all contact with the outside world. Not just my speech today, but even the most commonplace facts of South Korean life are forbidden knowledge to the North Korean people. Western and South Korean music is banned. Possession of foreign media is a crime punishable by death. Citizens spy on fellow citizens, their homes are subject to search at any time, and their every action is subject to surveillance. In place of a vibrant society, the people of North Korea are bombarded by state propaganda practically every waking hour of the day.
North Korea is a country ruled as a cult. At the center of this military cult is a deranged belief in the leader’s destiny to rule as parent protector over a conquered Korean Peninsula and an enslaved Korean people.
The more successful South Korea becomes, the more decisively you discredit the dark fantasy at the heart of the Kim regime.
In this way, the very existence of a thriving South Korean republic threatens the very survival of the North Korean dictatorship.
This city and this assembly are living proof that a free and independent Korea not only can, but does stand strong, sovereign, and proud among the nations of the world.
Here, the strength of the nation does not come from the false glory of a tyrant. It comes from the true and powerful glory of a strong and great people--the people of the Republic of Korea--a Korean people who are free to live, to flourish, to worship, to love, to build, and to grow their own destiny.
In this Republic, the people have done what no dictator ever could--you took, with the help of the United States, responsibility for yourselves and ownership of your future. You had a dream--a Korean dream--and you built that dream into a great reality.
In so doing, you performed the miracle on the Han that we see all around us, from the stunning skyline of Seoul to the plains and peaks of this beautiful landscape. You have done it freely, you have done it happily, and you have done it in your own very beautiful way.
This reality--this wonderful place--your success is the greatest cause of anxiety, alarm, and even panic to the North Korean regime. That is why the Kim regime seeks conflict abroad--to distract from total failure that they suffer at home.
Since the so-called armistice, there have been hundreds of North Korean attacks on Americans and South Koreans. These attacks have included the capture and torture of the brave American soldiers of the USS Pueblo, repeated assaults on American helicopters, and the 1969 drowning [downing] of a U.S. surveillance plane that killed 31 American servicemen. The regime has made numerous lethal incursions in South Korea, attempted to assassinate senior leaders, attacked South Korean ships, and tortured Otto Warmbier, ultimately leading to that fine young man’s death.
All the while, the regime has pursued nuclear weapons with the deluded hope that it could blackmail its way to the ultimate objective. And that objective we are not going to let it have. We are not going to let it have. All of Korea is under that spell, divided in half. South Korea will never allow what‘s going on in North Korea to continue to happen.
The North Korean regime has pursued its nuclear and ballistic missile programs in defiance of every assurance, agreement, and commitment it has made to the United States and its allies. It’s broken all of those commitments. After promising to freeze its plutonium program in 1994, it repeated [reaped] the benefits of the deal and then--and then immediately continued its illicit nuclear activities.
In 2005, after years of diplomacy, the dictatorship agreed to ultimately abandon its nuclear programs and return to the Treaty on Non-Proliferation. But it never did. And worse, it tested the very weapons it said it was going to give up. In 2009, the United States gave negotiations yet another chance, and offered North Korea the open hand of engagement. The regime responded by sinking a South Korean Navy ship, killing 46 Korean sailors. To this day, it continues to launch missiles over the sovereign territory of Japan and all other neighbors, test nuclear devices, and develop ICBMs to threaten the United States itself. The regime has interpreted America’s past restraint as weakness. This would be a fatal miscalculation. This is a very different administration than the United States has had in the past.
Today, I hope I speak not only for our countries, but for all civilized nations, when I say to the North: Do not underestimate us, and do not try us. We will defend our common security, our shared prosperity, and our sacred liberty.
We did not choose to draw here, on this peninsula, this magnificent peninsula--the thin line of civilization that runs around the world and down through time. But here it was drawn, and here it remains to this day. It is the line between peace and war, between decency and depravity, between law and tyranny, between hope and total despair. It is a line that has been drawn many times, in many places, throughout history. To hold that line is a choice free nations have always had to make. We have learned together the high cost of weakness and the high stakes of its defense.
America’s men and women in uniform have given their lives in the fight against Nazism, imperialism, Communism and terrorism.
America does not seek conflict or confrontation, but we will never run from it. History is filled with discarded regimes that have foolishly tested America’s resolve.
Anyone who doubts the strength or determination of the United States should look to our past, and you will doubt it no longer. We will not permit America or our allies to be blackmailed or attacked. We will not allow American cities to be threatened with destruction. We will not be intimidated. And we will not let the worst atrocities in history be repeated here, on this ground, we fought and died so hard to secure.
That is why I have come here, to the heart of a free and flourishing Korea, with a message for the peace-loving nations of the world: The time for excuses is over. Now is the time for strength. If you want peace, you must stand strong at all times. The world cannot tolerate the menace of a rogue regime that threatens with nuclear devastation.
All responsible nations must join forces to isolate the brutal regime of North Korea -- to deny it and any form--any form of it.
You cannot support, you cannot supply, you cannot accept. We call on every nation, including China and Russia, to fully implement U.N. Security Council resolutions, downgrade diplomatic relations with the regime, and sever all ties of trade and technology.
It is our responsibility and our duty to confront this danger together--because the longer we wait, the greater the danger grows, and the fewer the options become.
And to those nations that choose to ignore this threat, or, worse still, to enable it, the weight of this crisis is on your conscience.
I also have come here to this peninsula to deliver a message directly to the leader of the North Korean dictatorship: The weapons you are acquiring are not making you safer. They are putting your regime in grave danger. Every step you take down this dark path increases the peril you face.
North Korea is not the paradise your grandfather envisioned. It is a hell that no person deserves. Yet, despite every crime you have committed against God and man, you are ready to offer, and we will do that--we will offer a path to a much better future. It begins with an end to the aggression of your regime, a stop to your development of ballistic missiles, and complete, verifiable, and total denuclearization.
A sky-top view of this peninsula shows a nation of dazzling light in the South and a mass of impenetrable darkness in the North. We seek a future of light, prosperity, and peace. But we are only prepared to discuss this brighter path for North Korea if its leaders cease their threats and dismantle their nuclear program.
The sinister regime of North Korea is right about only one thing: The Korean people do have a glorious destiny, but they could not be more wrong about what that destiny looks like. The destiny of the Korean people is not to suffer in the bondage of oppression, but to thrive in the glory of freedom.
What South Koreans have achieved on this peninsula is more than a victory for your nation. It is a victory for every nation that believes in the human spirit. And it is our hope that, someday soon, all of your brothers and sisters of the North will be able to enjoy the fullest of life intended by God.
Your republic shows us all of what is possible. In just a few decades, with only the hard work, courage, and talents of your people, you turned this war-torn land into a nation blessed with wealth, rich in culture, and deep in spirit. You built a home where all families can flourish and where all children can shine and be happy.
This Korea stands strong and tall among the great community of independent, confident, and peace-loving nations. We are nations that respect our citizens, cherish our liberty, treasure our sovereignty, and control our own destiny. We affirm the dignity of every person and embrace the full potential of every soul. And we are always prepared to defend the vital interests of our people against the cruel ambition of tyrants.
Together, we dream of a Korea that is free, a peninsula that is safe, and families that are reunited once again. We dream of highways connecting North and South, of cousins embracing cousins, and this nuclear nightmare replaced with the beautiful promise of peace.
Until that day comes, we stand strong and alert. Our eyes are fixed to the North, and our hearts praying for the day when all Koreans can live in freedom.
Thank you.
God Bless You. God Bless the Korean people. Thank you very much. Thank you.