    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1993, Book I)]
    [July 10, 1993]
    [Pages 1053-1056]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks to the Korean National Assembly in Seoul
    July 10, 1993

        Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker, leaders of the National Assembly,
    members of all political parties here present joined together in our
    common devotion to democracy.
        It is a great honor for me to be here today with my wife, with the
    United States Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense, with other
    military and political leaders from our Government in this great hall of
    democracy.
        I first visited your beautiful capital city 5 years ago. Since then,
    Korea's energy and culture have shown themselves in many new ways: Your
    bustling capital has continued to grow. Your economy has continued to
    expand. Your nation hosted the Olympics and has taken its place as a
    full member of the United Nations. You have established new ties to
    Russia and to China. But no achievement is more important than the
    consolidation of your democracy with the election of a bold democrat,
    President Kim Yong-sam.
        Geography has placed our two nations far apart, but history has
    drawn us close together. Ours is a friendship formed in blood as our
    troops fought shoulder to shoulder in defense of freedom. Then as
    Korea's economy became the ``miracle on the Han,'' we built an economic
    partnership that today exceeds $30 billion in fairly well-balanced
    trade. Today, Korea's democratic progress adds yet another bond of
    shared values between our two peoples.
        When President Truman sent American troops to Korea's defense 43
    years ago, he said he aimed to prove that, and I quote, ``Free men under
    God can build a community of neighbors working together for the good of
    all.'' Our efforts together since then have benefited all our peoples,
    not only the people of our own countries but in the Asian Pacific
    region, all who seek to live in peace and freedom. Our relationship has
    made this region more secure, more prosperous, and more free. Now with
    the cold war over and profound changes sweeping throughout your country,
    this whole populous region, and indeed throughout the world, we must
    create a new vision of how we as a community of neighbors can live in
    peace. I believe the time has come to create a new Pacific community
    built on shared strength, shared prosperity, and a shared commitment to
    democratic values.
        Today I want to discuss the fundamentals of security for that new
    Pacific community and the role the United States intends to play. I had
    the opportunity just a few days ago at the G-7 summit in Tokyo to travel
    to Waseda University to talk about the economic aspects of that new
    partnership. And I think clearly all the economic reforms that we can
    make will benefit a great market system like Korea.
        But we must always remember that security comes first. Above all,
    the United States intends to remain actively engaged in this region.
    America is, after all, a Pacific nation. We have many peoples from all
    over Asia now making their home in America, including more than one
    million Koreans. We have fought three wars here in this century. We must
    not squander that investment. The best way for us to deter regional
    aggression, perpetuate the region's robust economic growth, and secure
    our own maritime and other interests is be an active presence. We must
    and we will continue to lead.
        To some in America there is a fear that America's global leadership
    is an outdated luxury we can no longer afford. Well, they are wrong. In
    truth, our global leadership has never been a more indispensable or a
    more worthwhile invest-

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    ment for us. So long as we remain bordered by oceans and powered by
    trade, so long as our flag is a symbol of democracy and hope to a
    fractious world, the imperative of America's leadership will remain.
        I believe there are four priorities for the security of our new
    Pacific community: first, a continued American military commitment to
    this region; second, stronger efforts to combat the proliferation of
    weapons of mass destruction; third, new regional dialogs on the full
    range of our common security challenges; and last, support for democracy
    and more open societies throughout this region.
        The bedrock of America's security role in the Asian Pacific must be
    a continued military presence. In a period of change, we need to
    preserve what has been reliable. Today we therefore affirm our five
    bilateral security agreements with Korea, with Japan, with Australia,
    with the Philippines, and with Thailand.
        Those agreements work because they serve the interests of each of
    the states. They enable the U.S. Armed Forces to maintain a substantial
    forward presence. At the same time they have enabled Asia to focus less
    energy on an arms race and more energy on the peaceful race toward
    economic development and opportunity for the peoples of this region.
        The contribution Japan and Korea make to defray the cost of
    stationing our forces underscores the importance of that presence to
    both of those countries. There is no better example of that commitment
    than our alliance with your nation.
        As the cold war recedes into history, a divided Korea remains one of
    its most bitter legacies. Our nation has always joined yours in
    believing that one day Korea's artificial division will end. We support
    Korea's peaceful unification on terms acceptable to the Korean people.
    And when the reunification comes, we will stand beside you in making the
    transition on the terms that you have outlined. But that day has not yet
    arrived. The demilitarized zone still traces a stark line between safety
    and danger. North Korea's million men in arms, most stationed within 30
    miles of the DMZ, continue to pose a threat. Its troubling nuclear
    program raises questions about its intentions. Its internal repression
    and irresponsible weapons sales show North Korea is not yet willing to
    be a responsible member of the community of nations.
        So let me say clearly: Our commitment to Korea's security remains
    undiminished. The Korean Peninsula remains a vital American interest.
    Our troops will stay here as long as the Korean people want and need us
    here.
        We lost tens of thousands of America's best in Korea's mountains and
    mud and sky. But Korea lost millions. That sacrifice affirmed some old
    truths: Vulnerability invites aggression; peace depends upon deterrence.
    We cannot forget those lessons again.
        And so it is throughout the region. Our commitment to an active
    military presence remains. Our mutual agreement with the Philippines to
    close our bases there should not be cause for Asian alarm. The larger
    picture tells a different story. We have obtained increased access for
    our forces throughout Southeast Asia to facilitate our presence and, if
    necessary, to project our forces beyond the region.
        Here in Korea we have frozen American troop withdrawals and are
    modernizing Korean and American forces on the peninsula. We have
    deployed to Japan the Belleau Wood Amphibious Group and the U.S.S.
    Independence Battle Group, the largest and most modern in the world.
    These are not signs of disengagement. These are signs that America
    intends to stay.
        The second security priority for our new Pacific Community is to
    combat the spread of weapons of mass destruction and their means of
    delivery. We cannot let the expanding threat of these deadly weapons
    replace the cold war nightmare of nuclear annihilation. And today, that
    possibility is too real. North Korea appears committed to indiscriminate
    sales of the SCUD missiles that were such a source of terror and
    destruction in the Persian Gulf. Now it is developing, testing, and
    looking to export a more powerful missile with a range of 600 miles or
    more, enough for North Korea to threaten Osaka or for Iran to threaten
    Tel Aviv.
        We have serious concerns as well about China's compliance with
    international standards against missile proliferation. And since both
    you and we are attempting to engage China in a more extensive trade
    relationship, I hope together we can have a positive influence against
    that development.
        The Pacific nations simply must develop new ways to combat the
    spread of biological, chemical, and missile technologies. And in the
    coming weeks, the U.S. will propose new efforts aimed at that goal. But
    no specter hangs over this peninsula or this region more darkly than the

    [[Page 1055]]

    danger of nuclear proliferation. Nearly 160 nations have now joined to
    resist that threat through the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, the
    most universally supported treaty in all history.
        Now, for the first time since that treaty was open for signatures,
    one of its members has threatened to withdraw. Our goals remain firm. We
    seek a nonnuclear Korean Peninsula and robust global rules against
    proliferation. That is why we urge North Korea to reaffirm its
    commitment to the Non-Proliferation Treaty, to fulfill its full-scope
    safeguards obligations to the International Atomic Energy Agency,
    including IAEA inspections of undeclared nuclear sites, and to implement
    bilateral inspections under the South-North nuclear accord.
        Our goal is not endless discussions but certifiable compliance.
    North Korea must understand our intentions. We are seeking to prevent
    aggression, not to initiate it. And so long as North Korea abides by the
    U.N. Charter and international nonproliferation commitments, it has
    nothing to fear from America.
        The U.S. has worked to bring North Korea back within the fold of
    nuclear responsibility. But your nation, too, has a critical role to
    play. The future of this peninsula is for you and North Korea to shape.
    The South-North nuclear accord you negotiated goes even further than
    existing international accords. It not only banishes nuclear weapons
    from the peninsula, it also bans the production of nuclear materials
    that could be used to make those weapons. We urge full implementation of
    this path-breaking accord which can serve as a model for other regions
    of nuclear tension.
        Even as we address immediate concerns such as proliferation, we must
    also have a vision of how we will meet the broader challenges of this
    era. That is what I sought to create during the recently concluded G-7
    talks, for example, by proposing new ways to focus on new problems such
    as the slow pace of job creation in the G-7 countries. And it is why I
    have proposed a NATO summit so that we can adapt that institution to new
    times and new challenges.
        In both Asia and Europe the dominant unitary threat of Soviet
    aggression has disappeared. In both regions, the end of the cold war has
    allowed a host of problems to emerge or to reappear, such as ancient
    ethnic rivalries, regional tensions, flows of refugees, and the
    trafficking of deadly weapons and dangerous drugs.
        In Europe these changes require us to adapt an existing security
    institution, NATO. In the Pacific no such institution exists. Moreover,
    since the Asian Pacific face a unitary threat, there is no need for us
    to create one single alliance. The challenge for the Asian Pacific in
    this decade, instead, is to develop multiple new arrangements to meet
    multiple threats and opportunities. These arrangements can function like
    overlapping plates of armor, individually providing protection and
    together covering the full body of our common security concerns.
        Some new arrangements may involve groups of nations confronting
    immediate problems. This is the model we pursued to address North
    Korea's nuclear program. Our two nations worked not only with each other
    but also with Japan and with others who could bring their influence to
    bear. Other arrangements may involve peacekeeping, such as the massive
    and promising U.N. effort to support reconciliation in Cambodia. Still
    others may pursue confidence-building measures to head off regional or
    subregional disputes.
        We also need new regional security dialogs. This month's ASEAN post-
    ministerial conference in Singapore, which the United States will
    attend, offers an immediate opportunity to further such a dialog. Korea
    can play a vital role in the region's new arrangements, for it stands at
    the center of northeast Asia, within 2 hours by air from Singapore,
    Tokyo, Beijing, and Vladivostok.
        The many economic discussions within the region also can play a
    role. By lowering barriers to trade and investment, we can generate
    jobs, ease regional tensions, and thus enhance regional security. That
    is why I welcome the new dialog for economic cooperation our two nations
    are launching on this visit. And that is why I announced in Japan that I
    would like to host an informal economic conference among APEC's leaders
    following the ministerial meeting in Seattle, Washington, this fall.
        The goal of all these efforts is to integrate, not isolate, the
    region's powers. China is a key example. We believe China cannot be a
    full partner in the world community until it respects human rights and
    international agreements on trade and weapon sales. But we also are
    prepared to involve China in building this region's new security and
    economic architectures. We need an involved and engaged China, not an
    isolated China.

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        Some in the U.S. have been reluctant to enter into regional security
    dialogs in Asia. They fear it would seem a pretext for American
    withdrawal from the area. But I see this as a way to supplement our
    alliances and forward military presence, not to supplant them.
        These dialogs can ensure that the end of the cold war does not
    provide an opening for regional rivalries, chaos, and arms races. They
    can build a foundation for our shared security well into the 21st
    century.
        Ultimately, the guarantee of our security must rest in the character
    and the intentions of the region's nations themselves. That is why our
    final security priority must be to support the spread of democracy
    throughout the Asian Pacific. Democracies not only are more likely to
    meet the needs and respect the rights of their people, they also make
    better neighbors. They do not wage war on each other, practice
    terrorism, generate refugees or traffick in drugs and outlaw weapons.
    They make more reliable partners in trade and in the kind of dialogs we
    announced today.
        Today, some argue democracy and human rights are somehow unsuited to
    parts of Asia or that they mask some cultural imperialism on the part of
    the West. My ear is drawn instead to more compelling voices: the Chai
    Ling, who proclaim democracy's spirit at Tiananmen Square; to Aung San
    Suu Kyi whose eloquent opposition to repression in Burma has stirred the
    entire world; to Boris Yeltsin who is leading Russia toward becoming a
    great democratic power on the Pacific; and to your own President Kim and
    others in this multiparty assembly who have helped democracy flower here
    in the Land of the Morning Calm.
        You are truly an example to people all over the Asian Pacific region
    because you have had the courage to confront the issues of political
    reform and economic reform; to ask the hard questions of yourselves; to
    have the public debates necessary when people honestly seek to improve
    and open their society and move forward. And I salute you on behalf of
    freedom-loving people everywhere in the world.
        To be sure, every nation must retain its own culture, and we will
    all struggle about what it means to define that. But Korea proves that
    democracy and human rights are not Western imports. They flow from the
    internal spirit of human beings because they reflect universal
    aspirations.
        Now we must respond to those aspirations throughout this region. We
    must support the nongovernmental organizations that seek to strengthen
    Asia's building blocks of civic society, such as open elections, trade
    unions, and a free press. And we must deploy accurate news and
    information against Asia's closed societies. I have proposed creating an
    Asian democracy radio for this purpose, and I look forward to its
    establishment in the near future.
        Two hundred seventeen years ago, America's founders declared the
    rights of self-government to be God-given, and therefore inalienable.
    Today, here on Asian soil, let us together reaffirm that declaration,
    not only as an article of faith but as a sturdy building block in our
    region's shared security.
        This, then, is our Nation's vision for security in the new Pacific
    community: a continued United States military presence, new efforts to
    combat proliferation, new regional security dialogs, and vigorous
    support for democracies and democratic movements. These elements of
    security can help create a Pacific region where economic competition is
    vigorous but peaceful; where diverse nations work as partners to improve
    their shared security; where democracy, as well as balanced military
    strength, takes its place as a guardian of our security.
        We will not realize every aspect of that vision overnight, nor will
    the new Pacific community come to pass without great effort. But neither
    of our nations is a stranger to hard work.
        I think in particular, of the image of your great long-distance
    runner, Hwang Yung Cho, who endured the final steep hill in Barcelona to
    capture the gold in the marathon in the 1992 Olympics. His energy and
    perseverance captured the spirit of the Korean people who have not only
    endured but prospered through a long, hard, and challenging history. We
    respect that spirit. We honor your values. We have stood shoulder to
    shoulder with you in days past, and so it shall be in the days ahead.
    The struggle for freedom and democracy and opportunity is, indeed, a
    marathon. Let us run the race together.
        Thank you very much.

    Note: The President spoke at 5:33 p.m. in the National Assembly Hall. In
    his remarks, he referred to Park Jyun Kyu, Speaker of the National
    Assembly.