[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George H. W. Bush (1992, Book I)]
[January 6, 1992]
[Pages 40-43]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks to the Korean National Assembly in Seoul

January 6, 1992
    Mr. Speaker, Mr. Secretary General, Assemblyman Park, and 
distinguished members of this National Assembly: Believe me, it is a 
great honor to return once more to this house, the symbolic center of 
Korean democracy. As the Speaker said, I first came to this chamber in 
February of 1989, just one month after taking office, and Barbara and I 
still recall the warm welcome we received then from the people of Korea. 
And here we are, celebrating our 47th wedding anniversary with all you 
young people. And you make us feel very much at home, and I'm grateful 
to each and every one of you. Thank you very much.
    February of '89, that was nearly 3 years ago. In the short time 
since then, we have seen our world transformed. The epic cold war 
struggle between the forces of freedom and the Communist world came to 
an abrupt end; with God's mercy, a peaceful end. Gone is the Berlin 
Wall, the Warsaw Pact, not simply the Soviet empire but even the Soviet 
Union itself. Everywhere we see the new birth of democratic nations, a 
new world of freedom bright with the promise of peace and prosperity.
    During my visits these last few days to Australia, to Singapore, and 
now to your wonderful country, Korea, I have stressed that this new 
world of freedom presents us with fresh and demanding challenges: 
Meeting new requirements for global security and stability, promoting 
democracy, and enhancing world economic growth and prosperity.
    Korea, too, is a part, an important part, of this changing world. 
Indeed, you are at the center of these challenges. At home your country 
is developing its own democratic and free market traditions, and in the 
world Korea is helping to shape a changing security and geopolitical 
landscape. Your influence in world affairs is enhanced by the fact that 
at long last Korea is assuming its place as a full member of the United 
Nations. Mr. Speaker, as President of a nation that fought under the 
U.N. flag to keep Korea free and to establish the conditions for growth 
and prosperity, we share your pride in what you have justifiably 
achieved.
    Yes, change transforming our world, a revolution is on our hands. 
And yet, the cold war continues to cast its shadow over Korea. Just 25 
miles north of this capital city, the Korean Peninsula is still cleaved 
by that DMZ, the ribbon of land that separates one people yearning to 
live in peace. Who can calculate the human cost: 10 million Koreans 
separated now from family members for 4 decades.
    For 40 years, the people of Korea have prayed for an end to this 
unnatural division. For 40 years, you have kept alive the dream of one 
Korea. The winds of change are with us now. My friends, the day will 
inevitably come when this last wound of the cold war struggle will heal. 
Korea will be whole again. I am absolutely convinced of it.
    For our part, I'll repeat what I said here 3 years ago: The American 
people share your goal of peaceful reunification on terms acceptable to 
the Korean people. This is clear. This is simple. This is our policy.
    Recently, North and South made progress in easing tensions, in 
exploring opportunity for peace and understanding through direct talks 
at the prime ministerial level. This search has produced positive 
results: First, December's historic nonaggression agreement, and then, 
on the eve of this new

[[Page 41]]

year, an agreement to forever ban nuclear weapons from the Korean 
Peninsula. These positive developments come at a critical time of rising 
concern, at a time when North Korea's pursuit of nuclear arms stands as 
the single greatest source of danger to peace in all of northeast Asia.
    This progress is a tribute to the policies of President Roh and the 
Government of this Republic. South Korea has systematically eliminated 
any possible action that could justify the North's pursuit of such 
deadly weapons. This Republic has rejected all weapons of mass 
destruction, and to give further meaning to this pledge, South Korea 
renounced all nuclear reprocessing and enrichment activities. On 
December 18th, President Roh announced that there were no nuclear 
weapons on South Korean soil. To any who doubted that declaration, South 
Korea, with the full support of the United States, has offered to open 
to inspection all of its civilian and military installations, including 
United States facilities.
    At every point, South Korea's approach was open, sincere, and fair. 
Each good-faith action increased the call for the North to make a 
positive response. Today the prospects for real peace on this peninsula 
are brighter than at any point in the past four decades.
    And yet, paper promises won't keep the peace. I call on North Korea 
to demonstrate its sincerity, to meet the obligations it undertook when 
it signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty 6 years ago. North Korea must 
implement in full all IAEA safeguards for its nuclear facilities without 
exception, and I might add, without delay. Moreover, North Korea, 
together with the Republic of Korea, should proceed to implement the 
inspection and verification portions of their unprecedented joint 
declaration on nonnuclearization, signed one week ago. Prompt action by 
the North will mark a new milestone on the path toward peace.
    But let this be clear: The United States has and will support the 
security aspirations of its ally in the South in the cause of peace.
    We are pleased that our September announcement about nuclear weapons 
helped lend momentum to the effort to make Korea safe from nuclear 
proliferation. And we've worked with others in the region to send a 
multilateral message to North Korea. And we've been willing to open our 
facilities to Korea to challenge North Korea to do the same.
    We've also left no doubt that we'll back these overtures for peace 
with a demonstration of our military resolve. As you know, we've 
postponed our plan to reduce the number of American troops stationed 
here in Korea. Let there be no doubt: The people of this republic should 
know that the United States commitment to Korea's security remains 
steady and strong.
    I renew that pledge as an ally, as President of a nation that shares 
your devotion to democracy and self-determination. Down through the 
decades, from Korea to Kuwait, from the American soldiers who gave their 
lives at Inchon, Pork Chop Hill, to the Korean forces who stood with us 
in Desert Storm, our two nations have upheld the international ideal 
that between nations and not just within them, common interests call for 
common action.
    Today, in many quarters, that ideal is being questioned, even 
criticized. There are those who see the many changes in our world and 
say, ``Well, our work is done.'' They urge us to declare victory, 
celebrate the collapse of our common enemy, and then come on home. They 
fail to recognize a fundamental fact: The cold war era changed our world 
forever. We did far more than hold a common enemy at bay. Together, we 
built a new world: A system of collective security to keep the peace, a 
system of free trade that fueled a generation of prosperity the likes of 
which the world has never seen, and a common commitment to political 
openness and liberty that now sustains a worldwide movement toward 
democracy.
    The passing of the cold war must not mark the beginning of a new age 
of isolationism. The nations of the free world share more than a common 
history; they share a common destiny. There is no going back, only 
forward.
    The developments of the past 40 years, the dramatic expansion of 
democracy, the geometric increase in global trade has created a system 
of common interests. To turn our backs now, to walk away after this 
great

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victory for freedom, or to retreat behind high trade walls into regional 
blocs would turn triumph to tragedy.
    America is a Pacific nation. We will remain engaged in Asia, as we 
are in the other regions of the world. But just as the world itself 
stands on the threshold of a new era, so too we now enter a new era in 
U.S.-Korean relations. What began in the heat of the war as a military 
alliance has grown into a broader relationship, a partnership anchored 
in shared economic interests and common political ideals.
    Korea's new role will, yes, mean new responsibilities, a new 
partnership based upon Korea's growing capabilities and increased 
ability to contribute to peace and prosperity in the Pacific and beyond.
    The world now recognizes Korea as an economic powerhouse. We are 
pleased that over the past few years that we've narrowed our current 
account imbalance from about $9 billion to about $1 billion and that 
U.S. exports to Korea have increased at a pace of more than 7 percent 
over the last 2 years.
    We must acknowledge the equally important strides that you have made 
in strengthening the institutions of democracy. Even in the 3 years 
since my last visit, the change is clear for all to see. With the 
encouragement of President Roh, this National Assembly now plays a 
greater role in Korean politics. I understand you have some very avid 
debates in this chamber. Well, join the club. That's what we do at home 
all the time. That's democracy in action.
    In 1992 alone, South Korea will hold at least three elections at the 
local and national levels. Across the country, democracy is giving voice 
to new ideas and opinions, and since 1990 alone, 10 new daily newspapers 
and nearly 1,000 other new publications.
    Free speech, free elections, private property: these are the 
cornerstones of the new world order, fundamental freedoms that secure 
peace and prosperity.
    Consider your own history, a case study in contrasts between North 
and South. More than four decades ago, the South, with less land, fewer 
resources, and more people than in the North, set its course for free 
enterprise and free government. North Korea, well, they traveled a 
different path. Blessed with rich resources and a stronger industrial 
base, the regime that ruled the North marched its people down the dead-
end path of totalitarianism and international isolation. Its economy 
stalled. Its society suffocated. Its cohorts went their own way.
    Today, the South is a dynamic participant in the community of 
democratic and market-oriented societies. The South is at peace, free, 
and prosperous, with an average annual income four times higher than in 
the North and a history of double-digit growth that has propelled it 
into the front ranks of the world's economies.
    And now, you must build on your success. You must sustain the 
conditions that fueled your phenomenal growth. Korea did not raise the 
living standard of its people by closing itself off from the outside 
world. Today, Korea stands as America's seventh largest trading partner. 
With me on my trip are executives from some of America's leading 
companies, many with interests in expanding business with Korean 
companies and Korean consumers. America is not only your largest market, 
Korea's largest market, but a leading source of the technology and 
capital that helps fuel your economic growth. This nation owes much of 
its economic miracle to open markets abroad. Korea must see clearly that 
prosperity in the new century lies in open markets.
    Trade is one activity where the interests of all nations intersect. 
Let me repeat here what I've said in Australia and in Singapore: At home 
in the United States, especially during tough economic times, my highest 
priority must be jobs and economic growth. But my allegiance to the 
American worker is not at odds with the interests of the Korean 
consumer. Trade is not a zero-sum game enriching some nations at the 
expense of the others. Growing trade provides the people of both our 
nations with higher standards of living and better lives.
    Pressures for protectionism are building. We see it in my country 
with the new breed of economic isolationists who urge us to build 
barriers to expanding trade and opportunity. We see it here in Korea in 
a frugality campaign that's been used by too many to discourage imports. 
But wherever this impulse shows itself, we must fight back

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for trade that is free, fair, and open.
    We must heed the lessons of history. For the first half of this 
century, great nations sought refuge in isolationism and in its economic 
accomplice, protectionism, and the world succumbed to the ravages of 
war, and think back, to depression. Since the Second World War, free 
nations large and small pursued a common course, forging alliances and 
fostering trade, and the world as a consequence has enjoyed an era of 
unprecedented peace and prosperity.
    The history of this century is not lost on Korea. As a founding 
member of APEC, the forum for Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, you 
have worked with your economic partners in the region to bring down 
barriers to trade. But the key test, the key test now is before us in 
this Uruguay round. As an emerging economic power, Korea has shared 
greatly in the bounty of an open and growing world trading system. That 
reward carries with it profound responsibilities. Korea must now 
shoulder with other trading nations the burden of leadership on behalf 
of the multilateral trade regime.
    As I mentioned before the business leaders of our two nations 
earlier today, I am urging at each stop of my trip that we use the 
Dunkel draft text as the basis for successfully concluding the GATT 
round of trade talks. Korea has the opportunity to help fight the forces 
of protectionism, to help tip the balance in favor of free and fair 
trade policies that remain the world's one path to prosperity.
    Our two nations share a history written in the blood of our people. 
The bonds forged in the cold war, at the brink of Korea's mortal danger, 
have grown stronger through the years. Forty years ago, the free world 
made your struggle their own struggle. Our forces fought here for a 
future free from tyranny. And you did far more than survive. In the 
shadow of the cold war, you showed what we can achieve so long as we are 
free.
    For four long decades, Korea has stood at the frontier of freedom, 
vigilant, determined, never wavering in its commitment to the great 
cause of independence and liberty. So today, as we enter a new world, 
the world we fought for 40 years ago, Korea stands with us: a steadfast 
friend, ally, and partner; proud, prosperous, and free.
    I salute you. I congratulate you. And may I thank you for this warm 
welcome. And may God bless the wonderful people of Korea. Thank you all 
very, very much.

                    Note: The President spoke at 2:40 p.m. at the 
                        National Assembly Hall. In his remarks, he 
                        referred to Park Jyun Kyu, Speaker of the 
                        National Assembly; Park Sang Moon, Secretary 
                        General of the National Assembly; and Park Chung 
                        Soo, chairman of the Foreign Affairs and 
                        National Unification Committee.