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  • The President: 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 and 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 nations 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 nations was forged in the

  • crucible of war, and strengthened

  • by the trials of history.

  • From the Inchon 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 willed their way north to

  • form the line that today divides the oppressed

  • and the free.

  • And there, American and South Korean troops have

  • remained together holding that line

  • for nearly seven decades.

  • (Applause)

  • 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 you.

  • (Applause)

  • 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.

  • (Applause)

  • 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.

  • (Applause)

  • 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.

  • (Applause)

  • 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.

  • (Applause)

  • Your 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

  • of engineers -- have 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.

  • (Applause)

  • In fact -- and you know what I'm going to say --

  • the Women's U.S. 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, Sung-hyun Park.

  • An eighth of the top 10 players were from Korea.

  • And the top four golfers -- one, two, three, four

  • -- the top four were from Korea.

  • Congratulations.

  • (Applause)

  • Congratulations.

  • And that's something.

  • That is really something.

  • Here in Seoul, architectural wonders like

  • the Sixty-Three Building and the Lotte World Tower --

  • very beautiful -- grace the sky and house the

  • workers of many growing industries.

  • 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.

  • (Applause)

  • The Korean miracle extends exactly as

  • far as the armies of free nations advanced in 1953 --

  • 24 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 bribe 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 continue to die of hunger today.

  • Among children under the age of five, nearly 30

  • percent of afflicted -- and are afflicted by

  • stunted growth due to malnutrition.

  • And yet, in 2012 and 2013, the regime spent an

  • estimated $200 million -- or almost half the money

  • that it allocated to improve living standards

  • for its people -- to instead build even more

  • monuments, towers, and statues 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 in loyalty may

  • live in the capital city.

  • Those who score the lowest starve.

  • A small infraction by one citizen, such as

  • accidently staining a picture of the tyrant

  • printed 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 in forced labor, and enduring torture,

  • starvation, rape, and murder on a constant basis.

  • In one known instance, a 9-year-old boy was

  • imprisoned for 10 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 Korea that was a stronghold for

  • Christianity before the war, Christians and other

  • people of faith who are 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, the newborns are murdered.

  • One woman's baby born to a Chinese father

  • was taken away in a bucket.

  • The guards said it did not "deserve to live

  • because it was impure."

  • So why would China feel an obligation to help North Korea?

  • The horror 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 Korea 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 10 times.

  • And today, the South's economy is over 40 times larger.

  • You started 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 leader's 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.

  • (Applause)

  • 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 Hahn

  • 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 U.S.

  • 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 the deluded hope that it could

  • blackmail its way to the ultimate objective.

  • And that objective we are not going to let it have.

  • We are not going to let it 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, test 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 --

  • (Applause)

  • -- 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 line that has been drawn many times, in many

  • places, throughout history.

  • To hold that line is 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 Nazism, 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.

  • (Applause)

  • That is why I have 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.

  • (Applause)

  • 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 U.N.

  • 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.

  • (Applause)

  • And to those nations that choose to

  • ignore this threat, or, worse still, 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 are 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 denuclearization.

  • (Applause)

  • 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.

  • (Applause)

  • 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 turned

  • 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 Korea 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, and our hearts

  • praying for the day when all Koreans can live in freedom.

  • (Applause)

  • Thank you.

  • (Applause)

  • God Bless You.

  • God Bless the Korean people.

  • Thank you very much.

  • Thank you.

  • (Applause)

The President: Assembly Speaker Chung,

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