U.S. Amb. Kathleen Stevens |
By Kang Hyun-kyung
Staff Reporter
U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Kathleen Stevens, Tuesday, stressed the need for a globally unified action to complete ``unfinished business'' on the Korean Peninsula.
Stevens said ``achieving a denuclearized Korean Peninsula that will eventually be whole, free and at peace'' was very challenging.
In a speech to lawmakers and an association of civic groups for peace at the National Assembly, Stevens underscored that multilateral efforts going beyond Korea's working closely with the United States and other allies were needed to convince North Korea to give up its nuclear ambitions.
``I think it's very important that not only the United States and South Korea are working together extremely closely but also other countries in the region and in the world who believe that North Korea needs to make a choice ... are united in trying to convince North Korea to return to the path of diplomacy,'' she said.
Stevens elaborated on U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's analogy of how the so-called smart diplomatic strategy of the Obama administration could be applied to the U.S. government's North Korea policy.
According to the ambassador, Secretary Clinton believed that the United States needs to make sure its policy has ``three strong legs'' ― namely diplomacy, defense and development.
Answering a question about whether she concurs with the view that inter-Korean economic cooperation would help the North reconstruct its economy or not and if she sees any role that the United States could play, the ambassador said she basically agreed.
``I think North Korea will need a lot of energy, economic and development assistance from the world, and clearly this will be a task and burden to South Korea,'' she said. ``But I believe South Korea will have and does have many friends, including the United States.''
hkang@koreatimes.co.kr
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