{"id":1920565,"date":"2023-04-27T21:25:53","date_gmt":"2023-04-28T01:25:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/south-korean-president-hails-us-ties-in-face-of-north-korea-threat-during-address-to-congress\/"},"modified":"2023-04-27T21:27:58","modified_gmt":"2023-04-28T01:27:58","slug":"south-korean-president-hails-us-ties-in-face-of-north-korea-threat-during-address-to-congress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/south-korean-president-hails-us-ties-in-face-of-north-korea-threat-during-address-to-congress\/","title":{"rendered":"South Korean President Hails US Ties in Face of North Korea Threat During Address to Congress"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">32<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fsouth-korean-president-hails-us-ties-in-face-of-north-korea-threat-during-address-to-congress%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1920565&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div class=\"post_content\">\n<div class=\"aplayer_app\" data-source=\"https:\/\/vs1.youmaker.com\/assets\/2023\/0427\/83800e12-699a-4715-a271-0a01ce4c9d17\/audio.mp3?length=6312141&#038;duration=526\"><\/div>\n<p>The 70-year-old alliance between the United States and South Korea has been crucial in preserving peace and allowing a new nation founded on the principles of free-market democracy to prosper, according to South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol in his address to Congress.<\/p>\n<p>But now, in a \u201cdecisive moment\u201d in history, South Korea will use its economic prowess as a \u201ccompass of freedom for citizens of the world,\u201d he said during a 45-minute speech in which he quoted U.S. Presidents Ronald Reagan and John F. Kennedy.<\/p>\n<p>South Korea is a shining example of the benefits of taking the \u201cright path\u201d to democracy instead of the \u201cwrong path\u201d to totalitarianism, which is being pushed by China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea, Yoon said. He emphasized that no nation offers a better example than South Korea.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u201cThere is one regime determined in pursuing a wrong path,\u201d he said, referring to Kim Jong Un\u2019s North Korean regime. \u201cThe difference is stark. North Korea has abandoned freedom and prosperity.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div class=\"video_fit_container\">\n\t\t<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"671\" height=\"377\" class=\"video_frame\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/FK1B4XOpajs?wmode=transparent&#038;wmode=opaque\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n\t<\/div>\n<p>Yoon spoke of \u201cunprecedented and horrendous\u201d accounts of abuses from more than 500 defectors in the past five years that include people executed by firing squads for violating COVID-19 restrictions, for watching South Korean television programming, and \u201cfor possessing the Bible and having faith.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Kim\u2019s communist cadre has impoverished and shackled North Koreans to develop an arsenal of about 20 nuclear weapons and conduct intimidating missile tests to augment saber-rattling rhetoric against South Korea, Japan, and the United States.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNorth Korea\u2019s obsession with nuclear weapons and missiles [has thrown] its population into severe crisis and human rights abuses,\u201d Yoon said, calling on democracies to \u201craise global awareness of the gravity of North Korea\u2019s human rights violations,\u201d especially with the specter of famine materializing.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_5172050\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/img.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/uploads\/2023\/04\/04\/id5172050-Kim-Jong-Un-1200x863.jpg\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/img.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/uploads\/2023\/04\/04\/id5172050-Kim-Jong-Un-1200x863.jpg\" alt=\"North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visits a hall displaying various types of warheads in North Korea on March 27, 2023.\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><\/noscript><\/figcaption><\/a><br \/>\n\t<\/figure>\n<h2>Denuclearization Still the Goal<\/h2>\n<p>The seventh South Korean president to address Congress, Yoon was on the fifth day of a six-day U.S. tour that concludes April 28 with a speech at Harvard University.<\/p>\n<p>The day before his congressional address, Yoon and U.S. President Joe Biden announced revisions to the 70-year-old U.S.\u2013South Korea alliance in a joint \u201cWashington Declaration.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The revised treaty spells out a set of \u201cextended deterrence\u201d measures to be exerted visibly by U.S. \u201cstrategic assets\u201d\u2014nuclear forces\u2014in the skies and waters around the Korean Peninsula.<\/p>\n<p>The agreement douses momentum among South Koreans to build their own nuclear weapons arsenal rather than rely on the United States, which many in South Korea and elsewhere believe to be distracted in paralyzing partisan feuds.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Under the \u201cextended deterrence\u201d doctrine, there will be increased port visits of U.S. Navy 7th Fleet \u201cboomers\u201d\u2014large submarines that carry nuclear submarine-launched ballistic missiles\u2014for the first time in four decades, U.S. Air Force rotational deployments of strategic bombers, combined operations between South Korean conventional forces and U.S. strategic units, and \u201cpresidential-level\u201d consultations in a newly created nuclear consultative group.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Yoon quoted Reagan in saying the United States\u2019 tolerance for North Korea\u2019s nuclear brinksmanship is limited and that Pyongyang would learn the hard way that there is \u201ca point at which they will not advance\u201d in threatening a growing span of the globe with nuclear weapons.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe must make his words clear to North Korea,\u201d he said. \u201cWe need to speed up Korean, U.S., and Japan trilateral security operations to counter the increased North Korean nuclear threat.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The language in the tweaked treaty appears to shift the long-standing goal of \u201cdenuclearization\u201d of North Korea to \u201cnuclear deterrence\u201d in dealing with Pyongyang.<\/p>\n<p>But Yoon told Congress that denuclearization is still a viable goal. He said South Korea \u201cwill keep the door open to dialogue with North Korea about denuclearization\u201d and said Seoul has offered Kim Jong Un \u201can incentive package to improve North Korea\u2019s economy\u201d to help \u201cend its privations\u201d and encourage it to \u201ctake the right path.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAll Pyongyang has to do,\u201d he said, \u201cis stop its nuclear program and begin a denuclearization process.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4335896\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/img.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/uploads\/2022\/03\/1.download-52-1200x799.jpg\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/img.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/uploads\/2022\/03\/1.download-52-1200x799.jpg\" alt=\"Protesters in Manila, Philippines, demonstrate against incursions into Philippine waters by Chinese ships, on Feb. 24, 2021.\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><\/noscript><\/figcaption><\/a><br \/>\n\t<\/figure>\n<h2>Yoon Avoids Specific References to China<\/h2>\n<p>Other than mentioning the alliance\u2019s presence in ensuring the rule of law in the Western Pacific, Yoon didn\u2019t directly address issues related to China.<\/p>\n<p>South Korea and China have a complicated relationship. On one hand, Beijing props up Kim Jong Un\u2019s regime. On the other hand, China is South Korea\u2019s biggest trading partner.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Rep. Jim Costa (D-Calif.) was among the representatives who told The Epoch Times they wanted Yoon to elaborate on South Korea\u2019s relationship with China.<\/li>\n<li>\u201cI wish he had spoken [in] greater detail about China,\u201d he said. \u201cThe nuclear deterrence that we are continuing to increase and improve can deal with the challenges of North Korea. But China, in the 21st century, is an adversary. They\u2019re a competitor. And they\u2019re a vast market. And I think we have to have a strong strategy, not only with our Indo-Pacific partners but with Europe, as we deal with China, because they are the larger challenge.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<figure id=\"attachment_3874781\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/img.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/uploads\/2021\/06\/25\/GettyImages-160046778.jpg\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/img.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/uploads\/2021\/06\/25\/GettyImages-160046778.jpg\" alt=\"U.S. Army troops fight in the streets of Seoul, South Korea, on Sept. 20, 1950.\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><\/noscript><\/figcaption><\/a><br \/>\n\t<\/figure>\n<h2>Weapons Deter War, Prosperity Preserves Peace<\/h2>\n<p>Yoon emphasized that weapons deter war, but prosperity preserves peace. He urged the United States and South Korea to continue to work together to promote peace and prosperity in the region and around the world.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The 70-year-old alliance between the United States and South Korea preserved a frail peace that allowed a new nation founded on the principles of free-market democracy to prosper, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said in an address to Congress. And now, in a \u201cdecisive moment\u201d in history, South Korea will use its economic prowess<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":509,"featured_media":1920566,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[543],"tags":[4795,4402,8914,5220,11811,5213,3669,3960,4104,3864],"class_list":["post-1920565","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-epoch-times","tag-address","tag-congress","tag-hails","tag-korea","tag-korean","tag-north","tag-president","tag-south","tag-threat","tag-ties"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1920565","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/509"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1920565"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1920565\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1920566"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1920565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1920565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1920565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}