Page 52 - NKHR Hawaii Conference 2023

CLOSING REMARKS

“If only you would just reward North Korea, if you would just hug them,
they will, you know, they’ll sort of come around.”

T ey claim that the real problem is between the US and South Korea and that we need
to treat North Korea dif erently. Some of these so-called “advocates” are well-meaning
but hopelessly naive. Others need to have their motives—and their sources of funding—
carefully examined.

My response to them is,

“Been there, done that.”

We have seen time and time again ef orts to entice North Korea and in many cases to
reward Pyongyang not for good behavior, but just for the absence of bad behavior, while
hoping that this is going to change the North Korean regime and bring it around.

President Obama, you will remember his inauguration address, said that he would reach
out his hand to anyone who would unclench their f sts. T e North Koreans gave him a
dif erent hand gesture in the form of a ballistic missile being f red—a violation of UN
Security Council Resolutions that the Russians, Chinese and others are supposed to
enforce and unfortunately have not.

I think at the end of the day the North Koreans, as many people have pointed out,
understand strength not weakness, and understand how critically important it is to play
“divide and conquer.” T at’s why it’s critically important for the United States and South
Korea to continue to speak with one voice. And we’ve heard that voice I think being
echoed today. Walking hand in hand through the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) is not
helping the North Korean people. It is just empowering the dictatorial regime. Speaking
out and holding Pyongyang (and those who empower the regime) accountable is what
will make a dif erence.

Let me close with a couple of brief comments about China. China is mentioned often
today. China is a strange player in all of this. For many years South Koreans—and
we’ve heard a little of that today—South Koreans have been hesitant to speak ill of
China because they’ve believed that it is impossible to solve the problem on the Korean
peninsula without China’s help.