Former US Ambassador to Korea Donald P. Gregg contributed this article to The Korea Times. ― ED.
I am delighted to have been invited to attend the inauguration of President-elect Lee Myung-bak, and look forward to extending my congratulations to him in Seoul on Feb. 25. I have been most impressed by the energetic and business-like manner in which Lee is preparing to take office.
He has appointed excellent people to key positions, and has made clear that a central objective of his administration will be the strengthening of Korean-American relations. This is a welcome message to all Americans.
We highly value Korea as a staunch ally, but the past several years have been marked by unfortunate episodes, on both sides of the Pacific, which have placed considerable strain on the relationship between our two countries.
By doing all he can to clear the way for passage of the Korean-American free trade agreement, and by keeping closely coordinated with Washington in working toward the denuclearization of North Korea, Lee can propel the Korea-U.S. alliance to new levels of significance.
When I served as American ambassador in Seoul from 1989 to 1993, my central objective was to help broaden the Korean-American relationship from a military alliance into an economic and political partnership.
I believe that we are heading in that direction, but for the relationship to be truly transformed, military tensions between North and South Korea will have to subside, trade barriers (formal and informal) between South Korea and the United States will have to be markedly reduced, and the political dialogue between Seoul and Washington will have to rise from tactical to strategic levels.
Lee's election as president comes at a time well-suited for him to make significant progress in all three of these areas.
Two summit meetings between the leaders of North and South Korea in 2000 and 2007 have done much to reduce tensions, and the six-party talks have brought a regional focus to the problems of North Korean denuclearization.
Lee's two-part message to North Korea is astutely constituted. When Lee says that he wants to raise per capita income in North Korea to $3,000, he sends a friendly and reassuring message to Pyongyang that should be conducive to further North-South cooperation on the denuclearization issue.
And when Lee says that wants to see more reciprocal returns from the North on the denuclearization issue, in return for southern economic generosity, he sends a reassuring message to Washington, allaying fears that Pyongyang might be receiving a great deal of aid from Seoul, while giving very little in return.
Ratification of the free trade agreement will transform the Korean-American economic relationship, raising it to a far higher level of significance, and at last settling nagging issues such as beef and automobile tariffs that have long been a cause for mutual anger and recrimination.
Lee's outstanding background as a businessman makes him well-suited to be a strenuously effective advocate for this pivotal agreement.
Northeast Asia is indeed fortunate to be free of the incubus of terrorism, and the tremendous economic potential of the area is unmatched in the world.
Some historical issues remain, and Lee's initial gestures toward Japan and China are well calculated to place Seoul's relations with Tokyo and Beijing on a better footing.
In saying to Prime Minister Fukuda that he wants Korean-Japanese relations to be forward-looking, Lee has signaled that he wants to shift his focus from those problems related to the Japanese occupation of Korea whose solution seem to lie beyond the reach of any apology that the Japanese are willing to give. This is a wise and pragmatic decision.
Equally significant is his appointment of Park Geun-hye as his special envoy to China.
Park is a political figure of great talent and stature, and the size and significance of the Korean-Chinese relationship will be a worthy challenge for her. At the same time, the Chinese will recognize, through her appointment, the high importance that Lee places on his relations with Beijing.
Since the holding of the 1988 Olympics, Korea's international stature has increased by leaps and bounds. And the role Korea has played as America's friend and ally is unmatched by any country in the world with the exception of the United Kingdom.
Lee, as the first Korean businessman to be elected President, is a man well-suited to capitalize on what Korea has achieved, and to move his country to new levels of significance in Northeast Asia and throughout the Pacific Rim. A productive and friendly era of Korean-American relations appears to lie before us.