[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 16 (Wednesday, January 29, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1728-S1729]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 SOUTH KOREA AND THE DEMILITARIZED ZONE

  Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, last December I traveled to South 
Korea in my capacity as chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on 
Military Construction, as well as a member of the Senate Select 
Committee on Intelligence. I was able to visit and talk with U.S. 
troops and inspect facilities. I also toured the DMZ, a chilling legacy 
of a war many Americans have already forgotten.
  My visit could not have been more timely. The combination of saber-
rattling in the North and anti-American protests in the South has made 
Korea front page news once again, as it faces its most complicated, and 
potentially explosive, crisis since the Korean war, 1950-53.
  The Korean peninsula is a land of stunning beauty and startling 
contrasts. Divided at the end of World War Il, following a long 
occupation by Japan, Korea continues to be one of the few reminders of 
what the world was like during the cold war.
  North Korea is a quasi-Stalinist state which, since its formal 
creation in 1948, has been run by two men, Kim Il Sung, who died in 
1994, and his son, Kim Jong Il. Still almost entirely closed to the 
Western World, North Korea is a stark and isolated country marked by 
repression and poverty.
  Then, on the other side of the demilitarized zone, DMZ, perhaps the 
most tense border on Earth, is South Korea, a prosperous, Westernized 
democratic state. South Korea has been a staunch U.S. ally, and 37,000 
U.S. troops have been stationed there for the past 40 years.
  Waged from 1950 to 1953, the Korean war ended in a virtual stalemate, 
with the peninsula still divided. Mr. President, 54,246 American men 
and women died during that war, and although there are no precise 
figures for Korean casualties, conservative estimates put the figure at 
approximately 4 million, the majority of these being civilians.
  On my trip to South Korea on the eve of the Presidential elections, I 
was surprised at the widespread anti-Americanism. Indeed, it was this 
issue, a growing sense that the United States was an imperial power 
indifferent to the needs and desires of the Korean people, that led Roh 
Moo Hyun to victory.
  It is difficult to appreciate the situation on the Korean peninsula 
without a visit to the demilitarized zone. I was taken there in a 
helicopter by Gen. Leon LaPorte, our four-star general in command, who 
pointed out North Korean troop concentrations. It is an alarming sight, 
and in many ways a step back in time.
  I then paid a visit to Panmunjum, a small village frozen in time, 
unchanged for half a century, which straddles the line separating North 
and South Korea. It was here that the Armistice ending the war was 
signed.
  Seventy percent of the 1.2 million man North Korean army is deployed

[[Page S1729]]

along the DMZ, with enough heavy artillery to substantially damage 
Seoul and inflict casualties by the millions. And there are reports 
that nerve agents may also be deployed along the DMZ.
  Since my visit, the 800,000 forward-deployed North Korean troops have 
been placed on high alert and are prepared to move instantly.
  I believe the blame for precipitating this crisis lies squarely with 
North Korea, which clearly violated the Agreed Framework by beginning 
the surreptitious development of nuclear capacity.
  North Korea has also expelled all international inspectors and 
equipment; withdrawn from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty; 
restarted its plutonium processing plants; moved thousands of plutonium 
rods out of locked safe storage back into the nuclear production line; 
and is enriching uranium for nuclear weapon purposes.
  The government of Kim Jong Il has clearly placed its focus, not on 
feeding its people, but in developing its military, its missiles and 
its nuclear capability, all in defiance of treaties it has signed.
  Yet it also appears that our own handling of events on the Korean 
peninsula over the past 2 years, as well as our broader foreign policy 
rhetoric and statements have served, ironically, to fuel North Korea's 
paranoia and made the situation much more difficult to manage.
  Part of the problem has been our reluctance to endorse outgoing 
President Kim Dae Jung's ``Sunshine Policy,'' a diplomatic and economic 
effort by the South Korean government to ease tensions with the North. 
President Kim was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2000 for precisely 
these initiatives.
  This move was perceived as a major humiliation in South Korea, helped 
set the stage for the rising tide of anti-Americanism, and was seen as 
a sign by the North that the administration was intent on a policy of 
isolation and confrontation.
  The North Korean situation offers no easy solution. We should keep 
the door open to the possibility of high level discussion.
  This ongoing crisis has also led many to rethink America's military 
presence on the Korean peninsula. Such periodic reviews are a good 
idea, but at the same time, I strongly believe that we should not do 
anything hastily.
  And although overshadowed by the crisis, much of my trip to South 
Korea focused on determining how to best finance the reconfiguration of 
U.S. military installations in South Korea.
  In the past 2 years alone, Congress has appropriated more than $500 
million for military construction in South Korea. Much of this money 
has gone to improve barracks and to begin to implement a program known 
as the Korean Land Partnership Plan.
  This joint U.S.-Republic of Korea plan is designed to reduce the U.S. 
military ``footprint'' in Korea, while at the same time upgrade 
facilities for U.S. soldiers. This latter effort is particularly 
important, seeing that the living and working conditions are among the 
poorest in the entire U.S. military.
  Currently, the 37,000 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea are 
scattered among 41 troop installations and 54 small camps and support 
sites. Under the Land Partnership Plan, the number of troop 
installations would be reduced to 23, a move that I support.
  When near the DMZ, I also visited Camp Casey, which is north of 
UijongBu and occupied by some 6300 military and 2500 civilians. More 
than any other site I saw, Camp Casey clearly demonstrated the need for 
improved living conditions at the soldier barracks. This is an issue 
that deserves immediate attention in the 108th Congress.
  As I mentioned earlier, I believe that the present crisis can be 
resolved. The United States should be more sensitive to our 
longstanding ally, South Korea, just as we should ensure that North 
Korea not be allowed to bully or intimidate its neighbors.
  Finally, I believe that my trip could not have been more timely. It 
has given me a fresh and immediate perspective on a land and a people 
for which I have great admiration. Since returning to Washington, I 
have met with both the South Korean National Security Adviser and their 
Ambassador to the United States.
  These talks, as well as those with my Senate colleagues and members 
of the Bush administration, give me confidence that we will be able to 
work well with President Roh, and that our bilateral relationship is 
strong enough to weather any short-term setbacks.
  Lastly, I would once again like to thank Ambassador Thomas Hubbard 
and Gen. Leon LaPorte for all their assistance while I was in South 
Korea.

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