assembly speaker chung distinguished members of this assembly ladies and
gentlemen thank you for the extraordinary privilege to speak in this
great chamber and to address your people on behalf of the people of the united
states of america in our short time in your country Melania and I have been
awed by its ancient modern wonders and we are deeply moved by the warmth of
your welcome last night President and mrs. moon showed us incredible
hospitality in a beautiful reception at the blue house we had productive
discussions on increasing military cooperation and improving the trade
relationship between our nation's on the principle of fairness and
reciprocity through this entire visit it has been both our pleasure and our honor
to create and celebrate a long friendship between the United States and
the Republic of Korea this alliance between our nation's was forged in the
crucible of war and strengthened by the trials of history from the Indian
landings to pork chop hill American and South Korean soldiers have fought
together sacrificed together and triumphed together almost 67 years ago
in the spring of 1951 they recaptured what remained of this city where we are
gathered so proudly today it was the second time in a year that our combined
forces took on steep casualties to retake this capital from the Communists
over the next weeks and months the men soldiered through steep mountains and
bloody bloody battles driven back at times they will their way
north to form the line that today divides the oppressed and the free and
their American and South Korean troops have remained together holding that line
for nearly seven decades
by the time the armistice was signed in 1953 more than 36,000 Americans had died
in the Korean War with more than 100,000 others very badly wounded they are
heroes and we honor them we also honor and remember the terrible price the
people of your country paid for their freedom
you lost hundreds of thousands of brave soldiers and countless innocent
civilians in that gruesome war much of this great city of Seoul was reduced to
rubble large portions of the country were scarred severely severely hurt by
this horrible war the economy of this nation was demolished but as the entire
world knows over the next two generations something miraculous
happened on the southern half of this peninsula family by family city by city
the people of South Korea built this country into what is today one of the
great nations of the world and I congratulate
in less than one lifetime South Korea climbed from total devastation to among
the wealthiest nations on earth today your economy is more than 350 times
larger than what it was in 1960 trade has increased 1,900 times life
expectancy has risen from just 53 years to more than 82 years today like Korea
and since my election exactly one year ago today I celebrate with you
the United States is going through something of a miracle itself our stock
market is at an all-time high unemployment is at a 17-year low we are
defeating Isis we are strengthening our judiciary including a brilliant Supreme
Court justice and on and on and on currently stationed in the vicinity of
this peninsula are the three largest aircraft carriers in the world loaded to
the maximum with magnificent f-35 and f-18 fighter jets in addition we have
nuclear submarines appropriately positioned the United States under my
administration is completely rebuilding its military and is spending hundreds of
billions of dollars to the newest and finest military equipment anywhere in
the world being built right now I want peace through strength
we are helping the Republic of Korea far beyond what any other country has ever
done and in the end we will work things out far better than anybody understands
or can even appreciate I know that the Republic of Korea which has become a
tremendously successful nation will be a faithful ally of the United States very
long into the future
what you have built is truly an inspiration your economic transformation
was linked to a political one the proud sovereign and independent people of your
nation demanded the right to govern themselves you secured free
parliamentary elections in 1988 the same year you hosted your first Olympics soon
after you elected your first civilian president in more than three decades and
when the Republic you won faced financial crisis you lined up by the
millions to give your most prized possessions your wedding rings heirlooms
and gold luck keys to restore the promise of a better future for your
children
yo wealth is measured in more than money it is measured in achievements of the
mind and achievements of spirit over the last several decades your scientists
have engineers and engineered so many magnificent things you've pushed the
boundaries of Technology pioneered miraculous medical treatments and
emerged as leaders in unlocking the mysteries of our universe
Korean authors penned roughly 40,000 books this year
Korean musicians fill concert halls all around the world young Korean students
graduate from college at the highest rates of any country and Korean golfers
are some of the best on earth
in fact and you know what I'm going to say the women's US Open was held this
year at trump National Golf Club in Bedminster New Jersey and it just
happened to be won by a great Korean golfer
seung-hyun Park and eight of the top 10 players when were from Korea at the top
for golfers 1 2 3 4 the top 4 were from Korea congratulations
and that's something that is really something here in Seoul architectural
wonders like the 63 building and the Lotte World Tower very beautiful grace
the sky and house the workers of many growing industries your citizens now
help to feed the hungry fight terrorism and solve problems all over the world
and in a few months you will host the world and you will do a magnificent job
at the 23rd Olympic Winter Games good luck the Korean miracle extends exactly
as far as the armies of free nations advanced in 1950 325 miles to the north
there it stops it all comes to an end dead stop
the flourishing ends and the prison state of North Korea
sadly begins workers in North Korea labor grueling hours in unbearable
conditions for almost no pay recently the entire working population
was ordered to work for 70 days straight or else pay for a day of rest families
live in homes without plumbing and fewer than half have electricity parents
bribed teachers in hopes of saving their sons and daughters from forced labor
more than a million North Koreans died of famine in the 1990s and more
continued to die of hunger today among children under the age of five nearly
30% of afflicted and are afflicted by stunted growth due to malnutrition and
yet in 2012 and 2013 the regime spent an estimated 200 million dollars or
almost half the money that it allocated to improve living standards for its
people to instead build even more monuments towers and statute to glorify
its dictators what remains of the meager harvest of the North Korean economy is
distributed according to perceived loyalty to a twisted regime far from
valuing its people as equal citizens this cruel dictatorship measures them
scores them and ranks them based on the most arbitrary indications of their
allegiance to the state those who score the highest and loyalty may live in the
capital city those who score the lowest starve a small infraction by one citizen
such as accidentally staining a picture of the tire imprinted in a discarded
newspaper can wreck the social credit rank of his entire family for many
decades an estimated 100,000 North Koreans suffer in gulags toiling and
forced labor and enduring torture starvation rape and murder on a constant
basis in one known instance a nine year old boy was imprisoned for ten years
because his grandfather was accused of treason in another a student was beaten
in school for forgetting a single detail about the life of Kim jong-un soldiers
have kidnapped foreigners and forced them to work as language tutors for
North Korean spies in the part of Korean that was a stronghold for Christianity
before the war Christians and other people of faith who
were found praying or holding a religious book of any kind are now
detained tortured and in many cases even executed North Korean women are forced
to abort babies that are considered ethnically inferior and if these babies
are born that newborns are murdered one woman's baby born to a Chinese father
was taken away in a bucket the guard said it did not deserve to live because
it was impure so why would China feel an obligation to help North Korea tohara
of life in North Korea is so complete that citizens pay bribes to government
officials to have themselves exported aboard as slaves they would rather be
slaves than live in North Korea to attempt to flee is a crime punishable by
death one person who escaped remarked when I think about it now I was not a
human being I was more like an animal only after leaving North Korea did I
realize what life was supposed to be and so on this peninsula we have watched the
results of a tragic experiment in a laboratory of history it is a tale of
one people but two Koreas one career in which the people took control of their
lives and their country and chose a future of freedom and justice of
civilization and incredible achievement and another Korea in which leaders
imprison their people under the banner of tyranny fascism and oppression
the result of this experiment are in and they are totally conclusive when the
Korean War began in 1950 the two Koreas were approximately equal in GDP per
capita but by the 1990s South Korea's wealth had surpassed North Korea's by
more than ten times and today the South's economy is over 40 times larger
so you start at the same a short while ago and now you're 40 times larger
you're doing something right considering the misery wrought by the
North Korean dictatorship it is no surprise that it has been forced to take
increasingly desperate measures to prevent its people from understanding
this brutal contrast because the regime fears the truth above all else it
forbids virtually all contact with the outside world not just my speech today
but even the most commonplace facts of South Korean life are forbidden
knowledge to the North Korean people Western and South Korean music is banned
possession of foreign media is a crime punishable by death
citizens spy on fellow citizens their homes are subject to search at any time
and their every action is subject to surveillance in place of a vibrant
society the people of North Korea are bombarded by state propaganda
practically every waking hour of the day North Korea is a country ruled as a cult
at the center of this military cult is a deranged belief in the leaders destiny
to rule as parent protector over a conquered Korean Peninsula and an
enslaved Korean people the more successful South Korea becomes the more
decisively you discredit the dark fantasy at the heart of the Kim regime
in this way the very existence of a thriving South Korean Republic threatens
the very survival of the North Korean dictatorship this city and this assembly
are living proof that a free and independent Korea not only can but does
stand strong sovereign and proud among the nations of the world
here the strength of the nation does not come from the false glory of a tyrant it
comes from the true and powerful glory of a strong and great people the people
of the Republic of Korea a Korean people who are free to live to flourish to
worship to love to build and to grow their own destiny in this Republic the
people have done what no dictator ever could you took with the help of the
United States responsibility for yourselves and ownership of your future
you had a dream a Korean dream and you built that dream into a great reality in
so doing you performed the Miracle on the Han that we see all around us from
the stunning skyline of Seoul to the plains and peaks of this beautiful
landscape you have done it freely you have done it happily and you have done
it in your own very beautiful way this reality this wonderful place your
success is the greatest cause of anxiety alarm and even panic to the North Korean
regime that is why the Kim regime seeks conflict abroad to distract from total
failure that they suffer at home since the so called
armistice there have been hundreds of North Korean attacks on Americans and
South Koreans these attacks have included the capture and torture of the
brave American soldiers of the USS Pueblo repeated assaults on American
helicopters and the 1969 drowning of a US surveillance plane that killed 31
American servicemen the regime has made numerous lethal
incursions in South Korea attempted to assassinate senior leaders attacked
South Korean ships and tortured otto warmbier ultimately leading to that fine
young man's death all the while the regime has pursued nuclear weapons with
a diluted hope that it could blackmail its way to the ultimate objective so and
that objective we are not going to let it have we are not going to let him have
all of Korea is under that spell divided in half South Korea will never allow
what's going on in North Korea to continue to happen the North Korean
regime has pursued its nuclear and ballistic missile programs in defiance
of every assurance agreement and commitment it has made to the United
States and its allies it's broken all of those commitments after promising to
freeze its plutonium program in 1994 it repeated the benefits of the deal and
then and then immediately continued its illicit nuclear activities in 2005 after
years of diplomacy the dictatorship agreed to ultimately abandon its nuclear
programs and return to the treaty on non-proliferation but it never did and
worse it tested the very weapons it said it was going to give up in 2009 the
United States gave negotiations yet another chance and offered North Korea
the open hand of engagement the regime responded by sinking a South Korean navy
ship killing 46 Korean sailors to this day it continues to launch
missiles over the sovereign territory of Japan and all other neighbors tests
nuclear devices and develop ICBMs to threaten the United States itself the
regime has interpreted America's past restraint as weakness this would be a
fatal miscalculation this is a very different administration than the United
States has had in the past today I hope I speak not only for our countries but
for all civilized nations when I say to the north do not underestimate us and do
not try us we will defend our common security our shared prosperity and our
sacred Liberty we did not choose to draw here on this Peninsula
this magnificent Peninsula the thin line of civilization that runs around the
world and down through time but here it was drawn and here it remains to this
day it is the line between peace and war between decency and depravity
between law and tyranny between hope and total despair it is a lie that has been
drawn many times in many places throughout history to hold that line as
a choice free nations have always had to make we have learned together the high
cost of weakness and the high stakes of its defense America's men and women in
uniform have given their lives in the fight against nauseas imperialism
communism and terrorism America does not seek conflict or confrontation but we
will never run from it history is filled with discarded regimes that have
foolishly tested America's resolve anyone who doubts the strength or
determination of the United States should look to our past and you will
doubt it no longer we will not permit America or our allies to be blackmailed
or attacked we will not allow American cities to be threatened with destruction
we will not be intimidated and we will not let the worst atrocities in history
be repeated here on this ground we fought and died so hard to secure
that is why I come here to the heart of a free and flourishing Korea with a
message for the peace-loving nations of the world the time for excuses is over
now is the time for strength if you want peace you must stand strong at all times
the world the world cannot tolerate the Menace of a rogue regime that threatens
with nuclear devastation all responsible nations must join forces to isolate the
brutal regime of North Korea to deny it and any form any form of it you cannot
support you cannot supply you cannot accept we call on every nation including
China and Russia to fully implement UN Security Council resolutions downgrade
diplomatic relations with the regime and sever all ties of Trade and Technology
it is our responsibility and our duty to confront this danger together because
the longer we wait the greater the danger grows and the fewer the options
become
and to those nations that choose to ignore this threat or worse ill to
enable it the weight of this crisis is on your conscience I also have come here
to this Peninsula to deliver a message directly to the leader of the North
Korean dictatorship the weapons you're acquiring are not making you safer they
are putting your regime in grave danger every step you take down this dark path
increases the peril you face North Korea is not the paradise
your grandfather envisioned it is a hell that no person deserves yet despite
every crime you have committed against God and man you are ready to offer and
we will do that we will offer a path to a much better future it begins with an
end to the aggression of your regime a stop to your development of ballistic
missiles and complete verifiable and total D nuclearization
a sky top view of this peninsula shows a nation of dazzling light in the south
and a mass of impenetrable darkness in the north we seek a future of light
prosperity and peace but we are only prepared to discuss this brighter path
for North Korea if its leaders cease their threats and dismantle their
nuclear program the sinister regime of North Korea is
right about only one thing the Korean people do have a glorious destiny but
they could not be more wrong about what that destiny looks like the destiny of
the Korean people is not to suffer in the bondage of oppression but to thrive
in the glory of freedom
what South Koreans have achieved on this peninsula is more than a victory for
your nation it is a victory for every nation that believes in the human spirit
and it is our hope that someday soon all of your brothers and sisters of the
north will be able to enjoy the fullest of life intended by God your Republic
shows us all of what is possible in just a few decades with only the hard work
courage and talents of your people you turn this war-torn land into a nation
blessed with wealth rich in culture and deep in spirit you built a home where
all families can flourish and where all children can shine and be happy this
Korea stands strong and tall among the great community of independent confident
and peace-loving nations we are nations that respect our citizens cherish our
Liberty treasure our sovereignty and control our own destiny we affirm the
dignity of every person and embrace the full potential of every soul and we are
always prepared to defend the vital interests of our people against the
cruel ambition of tyrants together we dream of a career that is free a
peninsula that is safe and families that are reunited once again we dream of
highways connecting north and south of cousins embracing cousins and this
nuclear nightmare replaced with the beautiful promise of peace until that
day comes we stand strong and alert our eyes are fixed to the north in our
hearts praying for the day when all Koreans can live in freedom thank you
god bless you god bless the Korean people thank you
very much
you
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