[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 38, Number 8 (Monday, February 25, 2002)]
[Pages 264-266]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at the Dorasan Train Station in Dorasan, South Korea

February 20, 2002

    Mr. President, it's a great honor to be here as your guest. Your 
love of democracy and example of courage have changed Korea, have 
challenged Asia, and inspired the great respect of my Government and my 
country. All your life you have seen the hope of change and progress 
where few could imagine it. You have shown that sometimes the conscience 
and will of a single individual can move history. I admire your 
visionary leadership, and I thank you for your hospitality to Laura and 
me.
    We gather today surrounded by reminders of the challenges to peace 
and stability on the Korean Peninsula. President Kim has just shown me a 
road he built, a road for peace. And he's shown me where that road 
abruptly ends, right here at the DMZ. That road has

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the potential to bring the peoples on both sides of this divided land 
together, and for the good of all the Korean people, the North should 
finish it.
    Traveling south on that road, the people of the North would see not 
a threat but a miracle of peaceful development, Asia's third largest 
economy that has risen from the ruins of war. The people of the North 
would see more than physical wealth; they would see the creativity and 
spiritual freedom represented here today. They would see a great and 
hopeful alternative to stagnation and starvation. And they would find 
friends and partners in the rebuilding of their country.
    South Korea is more than a successful nation; it is an example to 
the world. When nations embrace freedom, they find economic and social 
progress. When nations accept the rules of the modern world, they find 
the benefits of the modern world. And when nations treat men and women 
with dignity, they find true greatness.
    When satellites take pictures of the Korean Peninsula at night, the 
South is awash in light. The North is almost completely dark. Kim Dae-
jung has put forward a vision that can illuminate the whole Peninsula. 
We want all the Koreans to live in the light.
    My vision is clear: I see a Peninsula that is one day united in 
commerce and cooperation, instead of divided by barbed wire and fear. 
Korean grandparents should be free to spend their final years with those 
they love. Korean children should never starve while a massive army is 
fed. No nation should be a prison for its own people. No Korean should 
be treated as a cog in the machinery of the state.
    And as I stated before the American Congress just a few weeks ago, 
we must not permit the world's most dangerous regimes to threaten us 
with the world's most dangerous weapons.
    I speak for these convictions even as we hope for dialog with the 
North. America provides humanitarian food assistance to the people of 
North Korea, despite our concerns about the regime. We're prepared to 
talk with the North about steps that would lead to a better future, a 
future that is more hopeful and less threatening. But like this road 
left unbuilt, our offer has gone unanswered.
    Someday, we all hope the stability of this Peninsula will be built 
on the reconciliation of its two halves. Yet today, the stability of 
this Peninsula is built on the great alliance between the Republic of 
Korea and the United States.

    All of Asia, including North Korea, knows that America will stand 
firmly--will stand firmly--with our South Korean allies. We will sustain 
our obligations with honor. Our forces and our alliance are strong, and 
this strength is the foundation of peace on the Peninsula.

    American forces receive generous support from our South Korean 
hosts, and we are very grateful. Together, we are increasing the 
effectiveness of our military forces, even as U.S. troops become a less 
intrusive presence in Korea, itself.

    Americans are also very grateful for the tremendous outpouring of 
sympathy and support shown by the South Korean people following the 
terror of September the 11th. Today, both our nations are cooperating to 
fight against terror, proving that our alliance is both regional and 
global.

    The United States and South Korea are bound by common interests. Our 
alliance is defined by common values. We deeply value our own liberty, 
and we care about the liberty of others. Like the United States, South 
Korea has become a beacon of freedom, showing to the world the power of 
human liberty to bring down walls and uplift lives.

    Today, across the mines and barbed wire, that light shines brighter 
than ever. It shines not as a threat to the North but as an invitation. 
People on both sides of this border want to live in freedom and want to 
live in dignity, without the threat of violence and famine and war. I 
hope that one day soon this hope will be realized. And when that day 
comes, all the people of Korea will find in America a strong and willing 
friend.

    May God bless you all.


Note: The President spoke at 2:55 p.m. In his remarks, he referred to 
President Kim Dae-jung of South Korea.

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