Secretaries Clinton and Panetta at the U.S.-Korea Ministerial Dialogue
Remarks at the U.S.-Korea Ministerial Dialogue 2+2 Meetings
Remarks
Hillary Rodham Clinton Secretary of State
Secretary
of Defense Leon Panetta, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of the
Republic of Korea Kim Sung-Hwan, Minister of National Defense of the
Republic of Korea Kim Kwan-Ji
SECRETARY CLINTON:
Well, thank you very much and let me welcome you to the plenary session
of the second U.S.-Republic of Korea Ministerial 2+2 with the foreign
ministers and defense ministers of both of our countries. It’s a real
pleasure to have you here for this occasion. The relationship between
our two countries has never been stronger.
In the three years that we have been working to implement our joint
vision for the alliance between our nations, we have reached several
milestones. Last October, we hosted President Lee in this room for the
first state visit by a Korean president to the United States in over a
decade. During that visit, we also celebrated the passage of the
U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement, which has already begun to spur job
creation and greater economic opportunity in both our nations.
At the same time, Korea has taken on a rising global profile. In the
past few years, Korea hosted the G-20 showcasing its economic power; the
Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Busan, which I was very
pleased to attend; the Nuclear Security Summit, highlighting its
leadership on global security; and now the World Expo in Yeosu, building
ties between the Korean people and visitors from around the world.
So it’s clear that on many of the pressing issues of the 21st
Century, the world is looking to Korea, and Korea has shouldered and
welcomed its new and growing responsibilities. We share an unshakable
partnership and we continue to seek new opportunities to strengthen our
cooperation. We’ve enjoyed unprecedented coordination on a number of
bilateral, regional, and global issues.
And most importantly, we consult closely and regularly on
developments in North Korea. We continue to stand shoulder to shoulder
with our Republic of Korea allies in the face of threats and
provocations. And I look forward to continuing these consultations
today.
Finally, I’d like to note that we are not only building our
institutional ties through dialogues like this, we are also building
connections between our people. This year we inaugurated our diplomatic
exchange program between the United States State Department and the
Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. And we have enjoyed
hosting Kim Jae-shin. She’s become an invaluable member of our team
enhancing our work with her insight and building connections between our
offices. We would keep her forever if we could, Minister. And Minister
Kim, I hope you will feel similarly when we send our first exchange
officer to work with you later this year.
So thanks again to both Foreign Minister Kim and Defense Minister
Kim. Thanks to Ambassador Choi for his presence here in Washington and
working on our relationship year round. And thanks to my colleagues from
the State and Defense Departments. We look forward to a productive
discussion. And on that note, let me turn it over to Foreign Minister
Kim. FOREIGN MINISTER KIM: (Via interpreter) Secretary Clinton,
Secretary Panetta, about two years ago the ROK and the U.S. held a 2+2
ministerial meeting for the first time. And now that we are holding this
meeting the second time, I am very pleased.
Just as Secretary Clinton commented just a while ago, during the past
year there have been great changes in the Republic of Korea, as well as
the world as a whole, in keeping pace with the changes in the security
environment. It is very significant that we are here today to review the
changes that we need to continue making based on a very solid trust
between our two leaders.
During the past four years we have laid very strong foundations for
our alliance. Despite the continuing North Korean threat, the sinking of
Cheonan warship, or with the shelling of the Yeonpyeong Islands,
or the long-range missile launch, and we have shown an almost perfect
cooperation. We’ve also handled some very complex alliance issues such
as the OPCON transition or the base relocation.
And the Free Trade Agreement that entered into effect earlier this
year has increased the scope of our alliance into the economic sector.
Now we must ensure that we are not complacent with the achievement we’ve
made thus far and try to move out into the world as an alliance under
the slogan of a global Korea, that the Republic of Korea will continue
to contribute to global issues, and we’ll continue to cooperate with the
United States in this regard.
Hopefully this meeting will not only strengthen our alliance and send
clear message to North Korea, but also try to seek what we can
contribute to the region and the world as a whole. Thank you very much. SECRETARY CLINTON: Thank you, Minister Kim. Secretary Panetta? SECRETARY PANETTA: Thank you very much, Secretary Clinton. I
would also like to join in welcoming Minister Kim and Defense Minister
Kim to this second 2+2 ministers meeting dialogue.
We greatly appreciate the opportunity to assess the ongoing efforts
of the alliance between the United States and the Republic of Korea,
particularly as we continue to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Korean War.
I want to extend my sincere and solemn appreciation for the shared
sacrifice of our two nations’ veterans of the Korean War. It’s through
their sacrifice and it’s through their commitment, and it’s through
their continuing service that our men and women in uniform truly put
their lives on the line in order to protect both of our countries. We
are privileged to sit here today because of their efforts, and we
embrace as always a very strong and enduring friendship.
As we face the many security challenges and opportunities on the
horizon on the peninsula regionally and globally, we must forge a common
strategic approach and address these issues collectively, rooted in
friendship and in mutual interest.
One of the things that we have done at the Defense Department is to
enact a new defense strategy that has made clear the importance of
rebalancing to the Asia Pacific region. One of the cornerstones to our
ability to effectively implement that strategy is the close partnership
and relationship that we have with the Republic of Korea. That’s why
it’s so important for us to come together, to meet to discuss our common
views on the shared security challenges that we face, and to forge a
common strategic approach to those challenges.
Thank you for your friendship and most importantly thank you for this historic alliance. MODERATOR: (Inaudible) Defense Minister (inaudible). DEFENSE MINISTER KIM: (Via interpreter) We are holding today
here in Washington our second 2+2 ministerial meeting. And this is a
very significant event. I want to first thank the U.S. side for hosting
such a wonderful event. The current ROK-U.S. relationship, just as our
two leaders named it last October, a partnership for peace and
prosperity, is developing into a multi-dimension strategic alliance
which address not only the security issues of the Korean Peninsula but
moves out into the Asia Pacific and into the world. A recent poll show
that over 80 percent of the ROK public believe that the alliance is
contributing to the security of the ROK peninsula, of the Korean
Peninsula, which is contributing also for the peace and stability of the
region.
Especially in the defense area, the two countries have managed very
stably the situation in the Korean Peninsula following the death of Kim
Jong-il through a very close policy and military cooperation, especially
the intelligence sharing and the combined crisis management system that
we operated before and after North Korean long-range missile launch
shows that we are very much prepared to counter North Korean threats.
And we are going over – beyond these cooperations by addressing regional
and global cooperation to show that we are indeed becoming
multi-dimension strategic alliance.
Through our historic 2+2 meeting today, we want to reconfirm our will
and our commitment for the peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula
as well as this region and the world as a whole, and demonstrate to the
world the solidness of our alliance. SECRETARY CLINTON: Thank you very much, Minister.
