Keynote Speech
at Hankyoreh-Busan International Symposium

(unofficial translation)

October 27, 2017

Honorable Former President Punsalmaa Ochirbat,
Honorable Chairman Jeong Se-hyun of the Hankyoreh Foundation for Reunification and Culture,
Honorable Editor Kim Jong-gu of The Hankyoreh,
Distinguished guests from home and abroad,

I am pleased to attend this symposium on behalf of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

I would like to talk to you about two visions pursued by the Korean government under the New Northern Policy.

First, the New Northern Policy is aimed at laying the foundation for the economic prosperity and continual growth of Eurasia.

President Moon Jae-in, in the 2nd Meeting of Speakers of Eurasian Countries' Parliaments of June in Seoul, emphasized that “The more exchanges and cooperation there are between neighboring countries, the more prosperous we can be together. Shared prosperity in the Eurasian region is the mandate entrusted to us by the peoples of our respective nations.” The Korean government, therefore, is determined to work together with Eurasian countries north of Korea such as China, Russia, Mongolia and Central Asia. We are going to fine new engines of growth in transport and logistics infrastructure, energy development, farming and fishing industries and in the ICT field in pursuit of building a new Eurasia that ensures shared prosperity.

As the first step to this end, the government established the Presidential Committee on Northern Economic Cooperation on September 1. This organization will take the lead among government bodies in Korea in finding and deploying practical methods of cooperation in close collaboration with relevant government organizations in Northeast Asia and Eurasia.

In addition, President Moon proposed at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok in September that Russia and Korea lay the foundation for nine bridges for the simultaneous pursuit of multiple cooperative projects, taking as a hub the Far Eastern area, where Korea’s New Northern Policy meets Russia’s New Eastern Policy. The nine bridges are gas exploration, railway construction, port construction, power generation, the Northern Sea Route development, shipbuilding, job creation, farming and the fishing industry.

Such bridges, I believe, will grow into a consolidated bridge of peace and prosperity connecting every corner of Eurasia and the Asia-Pacific region, working in collaboration with other initiatives such as Greater Tumen Initiative, China’s One Belt One Road, Mongolia’s Prairie Road and Kazakhstan’s Nurly Zhol.

In this sense, President Moon suggested a grand vision by saying, “If Russia’s Energy Super Ring Initiative is combined with the utilization of wind power in the Gobi Desert in Mongolia and solar photovoltaic power as part of a gigantic supergrid, Northeast Asia can form the world’s biggest energy community. Moreover, this can become a foundation for the development of a Northeast Asian economic community just like the European Union and a multilateral security framework.”

In addition, President Vladimir Putin of Russia offered advice on the future direction of the world’s shipping industry, by saying in June at a naming ceremony for an LNG icebreaker built by a Korean company, “[Russia has] now opened up all opportunities for the Northern Sea Route and would bring a significant contribution to the development of the energy industry of Europe as well as the entire world.”

President Xi Jinping of China noted in the Belt and Road Forum in May that China agreed to cooperate with other countries focusing on land-sea-air interconnectivity and exchanges as well as to pursue economic globalization and a broad community of shared interests.

I believe the experts and intellectuals who came from afar to Korea conceive visions of Eurasia similar to those of world leaders.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Peace is the second vision and goal pursued by the Moon administration.

There are a lot of barriers to overcome before we achieve peace and prosperity in Eurasia. The most urgent are North Korea’s nuclear issues and missile tests.

The entire world, along with the Republic of Korea and other countries in Northeast Asia, has strived to ease tension that has continued for more than a half century on the Korean Peninsula in the hopes of making Eurasia a peaceful continent.

The situation facing Eurasia is more serious than ever before. North Korea’s ever-increasing nuclear and missile provocations have continued to heighten tension on the peninsula, making the international community greatly concerned.

The nuclear and missile capabilities of the North are being developed faster than expected. The regime seems to be getting rapidly closer to its unfortunate and irreversible goal of possessing nuclear-tipped ICBMs.

The South Korean government promises that it will take decisive and stronger measures in response to the North’s provocations, but that it will leave open the door for dialogue if the North decides to take a peaceful and diplomatic path.

President Moon reaffirmed in his keynote speech at the UN General Assembly on September 21 that the Korean government does not desire the collapse of North Korea nor will it seek unification via absorption or artificial unification.

The genuine goal for us is to realize the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in a peaceful way and bring about permanent peace on the peninsula.

In this regard, cooperation with countries north of Korea will not only achieve peace in Eurasia but present us with another fundamental solution to the North Korean nuclear issue.

Once North Korea sees countries in Northeast Asia, in a smaller sense, and in Eurasia, in a larger sense, work together to successfully develop economic cooperation, it will realize that becoming a part of such cooperation is beneficial. I am sure that the North will clearly see this is the peaceful path to prosperity without nuclear weapons.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Eurasia has been a hub where the East and West meet, marketplaces flourish, and culture is shared over land and sea since ancient times.

This region is, and will be, home to 4.5 billion people and many generations of our descendants.

This is a calling history has given us. We need to work together and strengthen cooperation continuously in pursuit of peace and prosperity in Eurasia.

Our New Northern Policy originated from the Northern Policy in the early 1990s. Since the Cold War, previous Korean administrations have endeavored to build political and diplomatic relations on various levels and to expand economic cooperation with newly emerging countries in Eurasia.

Now, the Korean government will set out on a long, historical journey to economic prosperity and permanent peace in Northeast Asia and Eurasia through multilateral cooperation with Eurasian countries, under the New Northern Policy’s two visions of prosperity and peace.

Ladies and gentlemen,

To ensure the shared hopes and visions of countries in Eurasia as well as those of the Republic of Korea come to fruition, it is imperative that we cooperate with each other.

More importantly, experts here today have an important role to play.

I hope that today’s Busan International Symposium will provide a venue to accurately diagnose the current international trends surrounding Northeast Asia. Also, I hope to receive constructive political suggestions about what the Korean government and countries in the region can do toward the peaceful development of the Korean Peninsula, Northeast Asia and Eurasia.

I believe that each and every suggestion made will be the driving force to usher Eurasia onto a new path of peace and shared prosperity.

Throughout the 20th century, the western end of Eurasia suffered through World War I and II. In the post-war period, many countries achieved peace and shared prosperity by integrating policies. In this 21st century, I hope an age of genuine peace and prosperity for Eurasian countries will start at the eastern end of Eurasia, accompanied by the harmonious integration of the ROK’s New Northern Policy with other policies enhancing cooperation in the region—inclusive of the New Eastern Policy, One Belt One Road, Prairie Road and Nurly Zhol.

I hope for the success of the two-day Busan International Symposium and wish you all who took the time to attend this event health and prosperity.

Thank you.  -End-