NKs Underground Resources Estimated at $2 Trillion

The following is the speech former President Kim Dae-jung delivered at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall in Portland, Oregon, on April 18 under the title of "Will the North Korean nuclear issue be resolved?"

I would like to extend my gratitude to you for inviting me to the World Affairs Council, which is famous for its tradition and prestige. The World Affairs Council of Oregon has the proud history of having been organized in 1947 to encourage discussion of international issues in the wake of America’s growing isolationism after World War II.

In May 1983 during my exile to the U.S., I did give a luncheon speech at the World Affairs Council of San Francisco. I am very glad to see you today.

Today I would like to share a few words about a question we are now faced with, ‘Will the North Korean nuclear issue be resolved?’

On May 12, 1994, I delivered a speech at the National Press, when the U.S. was about to use force as a response to the first North Korean nuclear crisis. ^At that time, I claimed, ‘The purpose of North Korea is not to possess nuclear weapons but to secure an opportunity of direct dialogue with the U.S., so that it can obtain its security assurance, lift economic sanctions and normalize the diplomatic ties with the U.S. Thus, if the U.S. sends a figure such as former President Carter to North Korea and seeks direct dialogue, the current impasse can be settled.’

At that time, my speech was broadcast nationwide in the U.S. and printed in many newspapers. The American public agreed on dispatching President Carter to North Korea. Hence, the U.S. authorities discarded its passive attitude and sent President Carter to Pyongyang.

As you are aware, his trip to North Korea reaped a great success. President Carter later expressed his gratitude to me for having opened an opportunity for his trip to Pyongyang.

Back then and now, I have consistently argued for the Sunshine policy, which is about pulling down the ice ridge of the Cold War and exchanging warm sunshine.

In other words, it is about resolving problems peacefully through dialogues. It is about achieving unification through three different stages, firstly South-North confederation, secondly South-North federation, and finally complete unification based on the three principles of peaceful coexistence, peaceful exchange and peaceful unification.

President Clinton publicly supported my Sunshine policy. He also welcomed the summit that I had on June 15, 2000 as President of South Korea with Chairman Kim Jong-il of North Korea’s National Defense Commission.

After the summit, while high-ranking officials of North Korea and the U.S. were exchanging visits, the U.S. inclined toward removing North Korea from its list of terrorist-sponsoring states, lifting the application of the Trading with the Enemy Act, and normalizing diplomatic relations with North Korea. In return, North Korea agreed to completely abandon its nuclear ambition and not to launch missiles. Everything went smoothly.

However, with the launch of the Bush administration the same year, situation completely changed. President Bush adopted North Korea policy of ‘ABC (Anything But Clinton)’ and cancelled every agreement with North Korea, which was accomplished by his predecessor.

During the following six years, President Bush continued to reject dialogues with North Korea and put pressure on it. Over the years, North Korean nuclear issue only deteriorated without a single progress. North Korea withdrew from the Non-Proliferation Treaty, expelled IAEA inspectors who were staying in North Korea to monitor its nuclear program, lifted moratorium on the launch of long-range missiles, and finally conducted nuclear testing on October 9, 2006.

However, the U.S. couldn’t take military action against such exorbitant provocation of North Korea, since it was tied up in the Middle East. It tried imposing economic sanctions together with Japan, but the sanctions were not enough to give detrimental blow to North Korea. Finally President Bush shifted North Korea policy, and accepted direct dialogues and give-and-take negotiation, which President Clinton and I sought. Then, North Korean nuclear issue started to show signs of settlement within the framework of the six-party talks through the February 13 agreement concluded in 2007.

However, the dispute over the Uranium Enrichment Program in North Korea and the alleged nuclear connection with Syria is once again interrupting the progress of the six-party talks. While the U.S. is arguing that North Korea should tell the truth, North Korea is claiming that it doesn’t have, never had, and will not have such program.

It is very welcoming news that the talks between North Korea and the U.S. was recently held in Singapore just at the right moment, and made progress over the issue of North Korea’s nuclear declaration, which has been so far the biggest obstacle to the resolution of North Korean nuclear issue. Building upon this development, I hope the six-party talks can achieve complete agreement and its implementation

I met Chairman Kim Jong-il in person and had a 10-hour-long discussion. He was aspiring to improve relations with the United States. The reason he developed nuclear weapons was to deal with the pressure from the U.S. and to use it as a bargaining chip to move the U.S. to enhance its ties with North Korea.

With memory of losing sovereignty toward the end of Chosun dynasty, North Korea is wary of such neighboring countries as Japan, China, and Russia. Chairman Kim strongly agreed to my argument that the U.S. forces should be stationed on the Korean Peninsula even after the unification of the two Koreas in order to maintain stability both on the Peninsula and in Northeast Asia.

He later delivered the same message to Secretary of State Albright during her visit to Pyongyang.

Only because they have nuclear power, can they feed their hunger-stricken people? What North Korea needs is not nuclear weapons but its economic recovery, and in order to revive the economy, it needs the help of the U.S. Otherwise, it cannot borrow loans from the IMF or the ADB.

Only when there’s the help of the U.S., North Korea will also be able to normalize its diplomatic ties with Japan and receive about $10 billion for Japan’s wrongdoings committed during past colonial rule. Moreover, it will be able to draw foreign investment from across the world.

North Korea is rich in underground resources such as tungsten, magnetite, gold, copper, and coal. In particular, North Korea has the world’s largest reserves of magnetite, which is rare mineral resource but essential for manufacturing airplanes, cars and electronic goods.

The economic value of the total underground resources in North Korea is estimated at $2 trillion. Once North Korea explores and develops these resources, it will be able to overcome its poverty. As I said before, however, in order for North Korea to develop such resources, the assistance of the U.S. is critical. Without its assistance, North Korea won’t be able to receive proper collaboration from the international community.

^We are living in the age of competition for resources, the age when countries with resources can get rich. Nations with resources and those involved in the exploration of resources can benefit greatly. China already started developing North Korean natural resources. EU nations including UK, France, Germany, Italy and Sweden are also partially participating in such development. However, what North Korea awaits is the U.S. It is because, as mentioned earlier, North Korea can start its economic development in earnest only through the collaboration with the U.S.

Ever since the June 15 inter-Korean summit in 2000, there have been many changes on the Korean Peninsula. First of all, tensions on the peninsula significantly eased, greatly reducing the threat of war. North Korean sentiment toward Southern counterpart is also changing from the past hostile and revengeful feelings to friendly ones. North Korean people found that the South was providing them with food and fertilizer aid from the names of South Korean firms printed on the food and fertilizer sacks. Now they feel grateful to South Korea for such assistance, and they also envy the affluent life of the South.

The change in North Korean’s sentiment toward Southern brethren even leads to cultural change. Nowadays South Korea’s pop songs, TV dramas and movie films are popular with North Koreans. These are very significant achievements of the Sunshine policy. The newly launched Lee Myung-bak administration needs to take good advantage of and further develop such favorable changes.

We changed and democratized the Soviet Union, the suzerain state of communism, and its faithful satellite states in Eastern Europe. We also dramatically changed China and Vietnam. All these have been enabled by leading them to dialogues and opening-up. We’ve never seen a success either through war or economic containment. The same lesson can be applied to North Korea.

When it comes to North Korean nuclear issue, as I mentioned earlier, it would be best to deal with it under the framework of the six-party talks and close collaboration between concerned parties of the talks. We should have confidence. We can achieve denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula. We can encourage North Korea to become a member of international community. I hope my words today can be a helpful guide to you.