S. Korean president vows to build trust on Korean peninsula
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E-mail Xinhua, May 9, 2013
South Korean President Park Geun-hye on Wednesday vowed at the U.S. congress to push forward trust-building on the Korean peninsula.
"I will remain steadfast in pushing forward a process of trust-building on the Korean peninsula," Park said before a joint meeting of the U.S. congress. "I'm confident that trust is the path to peace, the path to a Korea that is whole again."
She promised not to link humanitarian aid to the people in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) to the "political situation."
"And with the trust that gradually builds up through exchange, through cooperation, we will cement the ground for durable peace, and eventually, peaceful reunification," the South Korean president said on her first overseas trip since taking office in February.
In her speech, Park also proposed to establish "an international park" inside the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ).
"I believe, we can start to grow peace, to grow trust," she said. "It will be a zone of peace, bringing together not just the Koreans separated by a military line, but also the citizens of the world."
Citing the saying that "it takes two hands to clap," Park meanwhile urged Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear weapons in a bid to build trust.
"North Korea must make the right choice. It must walk the path to becoming a responsible member in the community of nations," she said.
Park also made it clear that Seoul will never accept a "nuclear-armed" DPRK, and "Pyongyang's provocations will be met decisively. "
In a joint press conference at the White House with Park on Tuesday, U.S. President Barack Obama reiterated defense commitment to South Korea with both conventional and nuclear forces.
Tensions have been running high in the Korean Peninsula since the DPRK conducted its third nuclear test on Feb. 12 in a protest against the joint military drills between Seoul and Washington.
The DPRK declared that it entered "a state of war" with South Korea, threatening to launch a preemptive nuclear strike for self-defense. It named military bases in the U.S. territory of Guam and the U.S. state of Hawaii as possible targets.
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