Special Lecture by H.E. Amb. Lee Taeho
Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs
On the occasion of the 2019 World Journalists Conference Seoul,

March 25, 2019

Mr. Jung Kyu-Sung, President of the Journalists Association of Korea,
Mr. Min Byung-Wook, Chairman of the Korea Press Foundation,
Distinguished journalists from around the world,
Ladies and gentlemen,

I would like to extend my warmest welcome to all of you. You all came all the way from a total of 40 countries to participate in this year’s World Journalists Conference. Thank you very much for that.

It is a pleasure for me to have this opportunity to introduce my government’s on-going efforts toward realizing denuclearization and building peace on the Korean Peninsula, and the role of Korea’s diplomacy in this process.

As you all know, the Korean Peninsula is one of the last vestiges of the Cold War. Divided into south and north, the two Koreas have been living in constant confrontation and tension for the most part of the last seven decades.

You don’t need to wonder why nurturing mutual trust and building a durable peace between the two Koreas, after so many years, is in itself a herculean task. On top of that, we must resolve the North Korean nuclear issue, the capabilities of which have advanced significantly over the last decade and pose a threat not only to the region but also to the global community. Therefore, you can imagine that untangling the myriad of issues and intertwined interests that have sprung up over the decades will be an extremely complicated task.

Let me begin with the most pressing and difficult challenge,
namely, the peaceful resolution of the North Korean nuclear issue.

In the last days of February, the eyes and ears of the world were focused on Hanoi with high hopes for a successful US-North Korea summit. This was especially the case for all Koreans who had hoped that the Hanoi summit could build on the results of the third inter-Korean summit held in Pyeongyang last September and lead to progress for complete denuclearization and the establishment of a peace regime on the Korean Peninsula.

Unfortunately, the Hanoi summit ended without an agreement. Despite a warm and cordial atmosphere of the meeting and some progress in various fields, the two sides could not overcome differences regarding the core issues of denuclearization and corresponding measures.

Despite no agreement in Hanoi, there were some positive take-aways. The two leaders gained a clearer understanding of each other’s position as they conducted detailed discussions on denuclearization for the first time.

Although the two sides could not close the gap on core issues, progress was made in other areas such as normalization of relations, political assurances and the road to a brighter future for North Korea, although a full agreement can only be reached on these issues when everything, including the issue of denuclearization, is agreed.

And even as the two leaders parted without an agreement, it is my understanding that they reconfirmed their trust in each other and expressed their will to continue discussions.

However, some concerns have been raised recently when North Korea voiced the possibility of withdrawing from negotiations with the United States in a public message that came two weeks after the Hanoi summit. Yet, in the same message, we could also see that North Korea is still interested in keeping the dialogue going by stressing the strong relationship between the two leaders. The message mentioned that the two leaders have a “mysteriously wonderful” relationship.

In response, the United States is reiterating its position that the door to dialogue remains open and that the Unites States hopes to continue negotiations with North Korea in the near future.

In the current situation, my government will do its utmost to help maintain the momentum for dialogue, which we have worked so hard over the last couple of years to achieve. I would say this is our top priority at the moment. We will continue to encourage North Korea to stay on the path of dialogue and restart negotiations at an early date. Furthermore, we will exert efforts to manage the situation on and around the Korean Peninsula in a stable manner. For instance, we are closely monitoring North Korea’s recent restoration activities at the Dongchang-ri missile test site. In close coordination with the Unites States and the international community, we will continue to emit messages to North Korea, urging its wise discretion.

North Korea, which claims that its nuclear development was pursued in response to the hostile policy of the United States, seeks to negotiate denuclearization within the framework of US-North Korea relations. Under such circumstances, my government will continue to do all that we can to support and facilitate successful US-North Korea negotiations.

As we pursue our common goal of complete denuclearization and establishment of a lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula, the ties of trust built up since last year between the leaders of South and North Korea and the United States will contribute immensely to driving the negotiations forward.

The current situation in the month after the Hanoi US-North Korea summit may seem concerning to some, but if you look back two years when North Korea conducted nuclear tests and launched missiles at a breakneck speed in defiance of the collective will of the international community, we find ourselves having come a long way.

I would advise not to immediately turn to skepticism. Rather, we see this as part of the long process toward peace on the Korean Peninsula, one which began with the PyeongChang Winter Olympics early last year. I believe that taking a closer look at the turn of events that led up to the present will be meaningful in shedding light on what to expect in the future.

It was just last year that the atmosphere on the Korean Peninsula rapidly shifted to that of dialogue and reconciliation.

Year 2018 began with North Korea responding to our repeated call to revive dialogue and to come over to the PyeongChang Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games that were held in February and March, not far from here.

North Korea’s participation in these Games was turned into an opportunity to initiate strategic dialogue between the South and North, and this then led to the first inter-Korean summit in more than a decade, on April 27 in Panmunjeom, a truce village.

Another inter-Korean summit followed a month later, easing the way towards the first-ever U.S-North Korea summit, which took place on June 12 in Singapore.

The third inter-Korean Summit which took place in Pyeongyang in September led to more developments in inter-Korean relations. President Moon Jae-in delivered a speech, directly addressing 150 thousand Pyeongyang citizens. This was the first time a Korean President spoke in public to North Koreans and President Moon emphasized that the two leaders had agreed to make the Korean Peninsula free of nuclear weapons.

Since then, there has been a series of inter-Korean talks to follow-up on the summits, as well as negotiations between the United States and North Korea to implement the broad agreement reached in Singapore.

On New Year’s Day this year, Chairman Kim Jong-un of North Korea reconfirmed his will to establish a new US-North Korea relationship, build a lasting peace regime and advance toward complete denuclearization. Chairman Kim also reaffirmed his willingness to meet President Trump at any time and pledged to work towards results that the international community could welcome.  And this led to the second US-North Korea summit in Hanoi last month.

Such developments would have been unimaginable two years ago when the world witnessed North Korea’s repeated nuclear and missile provocations. This sudden shift to dialogue may seem dramatic, but it is in fact thanks to strategic planning and much hard work that has characterized the government of President Moon Jae-in since day one in office. 

How does the Korean government hope to achieve lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula?

Our vision is elaborated in President Moon Jae-in’s “Berlin Initiative”, whereby South and North Korea should live together in peace and common prosperity, free from the threat of nuclear weapons and war.

This vision was announced during President Moon’s visit to Berlin on the occasion of the G20 summit in July 2017, shortly after he took office. This vision has become and continues to be the comprehensive basis of our policy on the Korean Peninsula. It consists of three elements and I would like to elaborate a little bit on them. 

First, the Korean Peninsula must be free from the threat of nuclear weapons. The threat posed by North Korea’s nuclear and missile development must be eliminated once and for all. And this must be achieved through peaceful and diplomatic means. Our goal, and indeed that of the entire international community, is the complete denuclearization of North Korea. On this point, the international community has acted in unity in making clear to North Korea that its nuclear ambition is unacceptable. But we have also consistently sought dialogue in resolving the situation and charting a course towards a better, more prosperous future for North Korea.   

Second, we must establish lasting peace. The Korean War, which raged on for three years, ended with the signing of the Armistice Agreement in July 1953, leaving the two Koreas technically still at war. Ever since, inter-Korean relations have seen a few periods of dialogue and reconciliation, but were mostly characterized by military tension and mutual hostility.  Thus, in order to attain a sustainable peace, we must work, not only to denuclearize North Korea, but also to ultimately replace the Armistice with a peace treaty that will define the legal parameters of peaceful co-existence between South and North Korea.

Third, with complete denuclearization and peaceful co-existence between the two Koreas, the doors will open to development and economic cooperation for North Korea. North Korea would join the ranks of thriving economies in East Asia, and the Korean Peninsula can become a bridge that links the Eurasian continent to the north and South East Asia to the south. The positive dynamics this would create for peace and prosperity in the region and the world would be enormous. 

Establishing peace on the Korean Peninsula will not be an issue for the Peninsula alone.  As history tells us, the security of the Korean Peninsula is inextricably linked with the peace in Northeast Asia. The ramifications of peace on the Korean Peninsula will spread, reaching beyond Northeast Asia and Eurasia. 

It is with such a vision that President Moon announced earlier this month the ‘New Korean Peninsula Regime’ through which we will pursue the establishment of a new order of peace and security in Northeast Asia. In pursuit of this vision, we have engaged in proactive diplomatic endeavors, to bring together the political will of leaders of key countries, most notably the United States and North Korea, but also Japan, China and Russia, and to win the support of the international community.  The three inter-Korean summits in April, May and September, and the first-ever US-North Korea summit in June were the culmination of these efforts.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I understand that many are interested in how Korea plans to move forward on the two tracks of inter-Korean cooperation and denuclearization negotiations. My government has pursued developments in inter-Korean relations in line with our basic approach to advance the inter-Korean track and denuclearization track in a mutually reinforcing manner.

While we have led the inter-Korean track, the denuclearization track has been led mostly by the United States. And as we move forward, close coordination between Korea and the United States has been vital in ensuring that the two tracks are synchronized. In particular, we hope to find ways in which advancements in inter-Korean relations can help denuclearization negotiations and US-North Korea relations to move forward.
I would like to reiterate that my government has been faithfully implementing relevant UN Security Council resolutions and will continue to do so until we are assured that we are firmly and irrevocably on our way toward complete denuclearization. And in pursuing inter-Korean cooperation, we are doing so within the framework of the international community’s sanction regime.

Meanwhile, inter-Korean cooperation to implement the Panmunjeom Declaration and the Pyeongyang Joint Declaration has yielded concrete results in many fields. Not only have the two Koreas declared to refrain from acts of hostility against each other, we are also implementing numerous confidence building measures.

Military communication lines linking the South and North Korean militaries have been reconnected along the east and west coasts, both militaries have each demolished 11 guard posts in the Demilitarized Zone, no-fly zones have been designated and joint remains recovery operations are scheduled to start in the near future. 

The reunion of 170 separated families took place last August, for the first time in three years, moving many hearts around the world.
In September, the Joint Liaison Office was established in Gaeseong, opening a direct channel for communications between officials of the two Koreas.

Also, after conducting joint railway and road surveys, an initiation ceremony was held last December to commemorate the beginning of inter-Korean cooperation in the connection of railways and roads.

Ladies and gentlemen,

The circumstances are indeed challenging, but my government remains undaunted in its optimism. The denuclearization of North Korea and building peace on the Korean Peninsula has never been an easy issue.

Nonetheless, my government and the Korean people will press on because for us this is not an issue of choice or preference. It is our destiny and it is a matter of survival.

It has been with such determination that my government has pursued peace on the Korean Peninsula for the last two years and against many odds, we have opened a new road to peace. We are determined to stay the course until we achieve our goal of complete denuclearization and the establishment of permanent peace on the Korean Peninsula. 

The task ahead of us will take time, focus and unity among all who share our common objective. In this process, it would be extremely helpful if the international community could stand together and voice support for the continuation of dialogue which we have worked so hard to attain. I also hope that our friends and partners around the globe will join us and support us on our journey to achieve complete denuclearization and build a lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula.

Ladies and gentlemen,

I was told that the theme of your gathering this year is the ‘role of journalism in establishing peace on the Korean Peninsula’. This theme implies that journalists are not just indifferent chroniclers of world events but active participants who have a role to play in shaping events at important junctures in history.

It is my hope that what you learn during your stay here in Korea will shed light on what you can do at this pivotal moment on the Korean Peninsula.

Thank you.

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