North Korea

“ One need only to glance at a map of Korea to realize that the Communists, Soviet and Chinese, are in a position to pour millions of men into North Korea, dressed as Koreans or otherwise, at their will. ”

“ In June 1950, when the Communist North Korean army invaded the Republic of Korea in a brazen attempt to extinguish the light of freedom there, American forces joined with those of many other nations to repel this unprovoked assault. Weary of war ourselves and ready to lead an era of peaceful recovery, we nonetheless came to Korea's defense because instinct and experience have taught us that freedom can have no borders, that an attack on free men anywhere is an attack on free men everywhere. ”

“ North Korea is a worldwide threat that requires worldwide action. We call on every responsible nation, including China and Russia, to demand that the North Korean regime end its nuclear weapons and its missile programs, and live in peace. ”

“ We cannot allow North Korea to threaten all that we have built — and we have built it very much together, and we’re very, very proud of it, also, together — but all that we’ve built in the decade since our soldiers sacrificed side-by-side in the struggle for freedom. ”

“ And today the North Korean regime is using its nuclear program to incite fear and seek concessions. America and the world will not be blackmailed. America is working with the countries of the region - South Korea, Japan, China, and Russia - to find a peaceful solution, and to show the North Korean government that nuclear weapons will bring only isolation, economic stagnation, and continued hardship. The North Korean regime will find respect in the world, and revival for its people, only when it turns away from its nuclear ambitions. ”

“ Korea was an independent kingdom under Chinese suzerainty for most of the past millennium. Following its victory in the Russo-Japanese War in 1905, Japan occupied Korea; five years later it formally annexed the entire peninsula. After World War II, a republic was set up in the southern half of the Korean Peninsula while a Communist-style government was installed in the north. During the Korean War (1950-1953) , US and other UN forces intervened to defend South Korea from North Korean attacks supported by the Chinese. ”

“ Our nations are speaking with one voice: North Korea must abandon its nuclear weapons programs, and we will not tolerate North Korea's proliferation of nuclear technology to hostile regimes and terrorist networks. ”

“ North Korea has begun to move, ever so slowly, in the direction of greater contact and openness with the outside world. While maintaining our firm policy of deterrence, we will also continue to make clear the benefits of cooperation. ”

“ Following World War II, Korea was split with the northern half coming under Communist domination and the southern portion becoming Western oriented. KIM Chong-il has ruled North Korea since his father and the country's founder, president KIM Il-song, died in 1994. After decades of mismanagement, the North relies heavily on international food aid to feed its population, while continuing to expend resources to maintain an army of about 1 million. ”

“ North Korea’s sixth test of a nuclear device and its missile launches are a threat not only to the people of South Korea but to the people all across our globe. We will together confront North Korea’s actions and prevent the North Korean dictator from threatening millions of innocent lives. ”

“ Recent statements by members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, as well as other regional and global voices, have made clear the international community holds one view regarding North Korea’s provocative and dangerous actions: They must stop. ”

“ So I hope that your visit to Korea and to the Asia Pacific region will serve as an opportunity to relieve some of the anxiety that the Korean people have due to North Korea’s provocations, and also serve as a turning point in resolving the North Korean nuclear issue.
The Korean people welcome you as one, and we have great expectations. ”

“ North Korea withdrew across the 38th parallel, and the Republic of South Korea regained its status as a free, democratic nation. For the first time in history, a world organization of nations had taken up arms to oppose aggression and, thanks largely to the valor, skill, and perseverance of almost 2,000,000 Americans, had succeeded.
In later years, the Korean War would sometimes be called "the Forgotten War." But we have not forgotten. ”

“ Gaining the summit, they drove forward and saw the entire crest suddenly come alive with infantry-crewmen of the 226th NKPA Regiment’s mortar company. Spiritless and dazed from the pounding by air and naval gunfire, the North Koreans to a man threw down their weapons, filed quietly from trenches and bunkers, and marched to the base of the hill where a small detachment kept them under guard. Hardly a shot had been fired by the 2d Platoon, still without a single casualty, and the capture of Cemetery Hill had required about ten minutes. ”

“ North Korean forces, including prisoners of war in the hands of the United Nations Command, will continue to be given the care indicated by civilized custom and practice and permitted to return to their homes as soon as practicable. ”

“ In September, 1945, United States Army Forces, pursuant to instructions contained in General Order Number 1 of the Supreme Commander Allied Powers, occupied Korea south of the 38° North parallel and accepted the surrender of Japanese troops south of that line. This arbitrary line of demarcation between the United States and Soviet Union occupation areas rapidly became a complete barrier to free movement between agricultural South Korea and the more industrialized North Korea. ”

“ That is what Pyongyang has done for the last 20 years, is cause us to have to negotiate to get them to sit down. We’ll sit down when they’re ready to sit down under the right terms. So that’s North Korea. ”

“ In June 1950, the North Koreans attempted to force unification of Korea under Communist control by crossing the 38th Parallel with seven infantry divisions heavily supported by artillery and tanks. Acting on a resolution presented by the United States, the United Nations responded by declaring the North Korean action a “breach of the peace” and called upon its members to assist the South Koreans in ousting the invaders. Many free countries around the globe offered their aid. ”

“ There, too, we are helping to shape an Asia Pacific community of cooperation, not conflict.
Let our--let our progress there not mask the peril that remains. Together with South Korea, we must advance peace talks with North Korea and bridge the Cold War's last divide. And I call on Congress to fund our share of the agreement under which North Korea must continue to freeze and then dismantle its nuclear weapons program.
We must pursue a deeper dialogue with China for the sake of our interests and our ideals. An isolated China is not good for America. ”

“ North Korea's neighbors have the most at stake, and they are North Korea's principal sources of food, energy, and trade, so it makes sense to enlist them in the effort to get the North Korean regime to end its nuclear program. ”

“ The key at this moment is to exercise and apply pressure against North Korea in a robust manner. And together with Donald, we’ve been successfully demonstrating our strong will to exercise pressure against North Korea. ”

“ Ladies and gentlemen, war must not break out again on the Korean Peninsula. And in this respect, the United States has provided enormous support. The close coordination between Korea and the United States, and the overwhelming superiority of power that stems from the ROK-U.S. alliance, will eventually make North Korea cease its reckless provocations and make North Korea come out to dialogue for denuclearization. ”

“ June All U.S. troops are withdrawn from South Korea except for a small military training mission.
1950
June North Korean forces invade South Korea.
October U.N. forces cross 38th parallel in pursuit of North Korean forces; Chinese Communist forces intervene. ”

“ The Chinese leadership will put up with a recalcitrant Pyongyang, make platitudes about upholding peace and stability in the region, and counsel Washington on the need for patience and dialogue as North Korea continues to march to its own drumbeat of internal repression, periodic provocations, proliferation, weapons tests, and nuclear blackmail. ”

“ So long as Soviet troops remain in occupation of North Korea, the United States must maintain troops in South Korea or admit before the world an “ideological retreat.” The military standing of the United States would decline accordingly; not only throughout the Far East, but throughout the world. Withdrawal of United States Occupation Forces from Korea would result in a growing unrest among the Japanese people because of their uncertainty regarding future United States policy in the Far East, and their consequent fears of expanding Soviet influence. ”

“ You’re going to have a very, very successful North Korea, and you’re going to have a very successful — and you already do — South Korea. I mean, South Korea was in condition that was as bad as North Korea many years ago, when they started this great experiment that worked out so well for them. ”

“ Because of its occupation by two nations of radically differing ideologies and policies, and the corresponding separation into two parts economically, there is little that Korea, even as a liberated nation, can do to improve its situation. South Korea lacks the experience and industrial potential to create or support its own armed forces.
An American organized and equipped Korean military force would serve to counteract in large measure the North Korean People’s (Communist) Army when the American and the Soviet forces are withdrawn from Korea. ”

“ We think relationships are building with North Korea. We’ll see how it all works out. Maybe it will, maybe it won’t. But it can be a great thing for North Korea, South Korea, Japan and the entire world. ”

“ Citizens in free societies would do well to remember that sending information into North Korea is not merely a defense of the principle of the freedom of information; rather, it is an act that saves real lives. In this effort, the U.S. can provide South Korea, Japan, and other free nations with moral, financial, technical, and logistical support. ”

“ Behind the 38° North parallel the Soviet Union has established a Democratic Front Government modelled along Soviet lines and has eliminated all political parties of a non-Communist character. North Korean Communist groups have thus been able to encourage and assist the activities of the Democratic Front and other Communist-dominated leftist groups in South Korea hostile to the United States by the infiltration of agents from North Korea into the American zone of occupation. ”

“ In countries like Belarus, Cuba, and Zimbabwe, we continue to stand with those who struggle for democracy. We will continue to call on Burma's ruling junta to release political prisoners and engage in an inclusive dialogue with the democratic opposition to bring democracy to Burma. We also look forward to the day when the men and women of North Korea can live in a free society.
Freedom is the right of mankind and the future of every nation. It is not America's gift to the world; it is God's gift to every man and woman who lives in this world. ”

“ Hundreds of enemy dead were strewn along the road, hillsides and ridgelines. On the MSR between Hill 117 and Kang-ni lay a long column of North Koreans who had been caught by Marine air and artillery while attempting to reinforce Red lines. ”

“ North Korea may respond with small-scale military provocations. But, as I wrote in a March oped, “the absence of justice in inter-Korean relations is a greater problem than the presence of tension. There can be no justice without freedom, and no true peace without justice.” [7] Human rights discourse should not be sacrificed at Pyongyang’s altar of temporary diplomatic outreach. ”

“ This is a sample of the methods used to reduce North Korea to a police state, just as similar states were being organized in occupied lands of Europe by local Reds doing the bidding of Moscow. In the Soviet zone of Korea all banks, factories and industries of any consequence were nationalized by the so-called People’s Committee.10 Military training for offensive warfare was given to men armed with captured Japanese weapons. Pressure was put upon these recruits to “volunteer” for combat service with the Chinese Reds waging a civil war against the Nationalists.11
10 Dallin, op. ”

“ The more people in democratic societies think about the North Korean regime as a threat to humanity and less as an idiosyncratic abstraction, the more they will be resolved not to allow their leaders to resort to politically expedient measures with each future provocation by Pyongyang or defer Korean reunification. ”

“ The risk of starvation, the threat of persecution, and the lack of freedom and opportunity in North Korea have caused large numbers, perhaps even hundreds of thousands, of North Koreans to flee their homeland, primarily into China. ”

“ This should be the tacit goal of the U.S. Unless Kim Jong Un faces the specter of regime collapse, he will neither disarm nor free his downtrodden people. The change in government in Seoul this spring neither precludes nor triggers one in the North. Still, it may yet accelerate the latter by showing the long-suffering people in the North the immutable truth—that the voice of the people sometimes does morph into Vox Dei; and that the voice of the people, inaudible and inarticulate as it may be, can in both democracies and tyrannies alike, effect, change, and even end regimes. ”