Secretary of State Colin L. Powell and Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-Moon
Secretary Colin L. Powell
Seoul, Republic of Korea
October 26, 2004
FOREIGN MINISTER BAN: (in Korean) Just now, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and I held an ROK-US Foreign Ministers
meeting. Directly following the meeting session, we had a luncheon together, and discussed a wide range of issues of
mutual interest. First, Secretary Powell and I shared a common view that the ROK-US alliance is as strong as ever under
the close cooperative relationship between our two governments.
In addition, we took note that the issues concerning the alliance relationship, such as the redeployment of US Forces
in Korea, are being handled smoothly under close coordination between our two countries. We agreed to further enhance
our cooperation under various security, economic, social and cultural-related areas, so that ROK-US relations can
progress into a comprehensive and dynamic alliance relationship. In particular, we also discussed about measures to
adopt a visa exemption agreement in the future to increase exchange between our two countries.
In this regard, we took note of the summit meeting held in May of last year between our two presidents. We look forward
to the upcoming APEC summit meetings that will be held in October. We agreed that the summits will continue with our
close alliance relationship to further enhance our close ties.
In regard to the six-party talks, although the fourth round has not been convened yet, both of our countries agree to
continue to work in close coordination so that the six-party talks can be reconvened expeditiously.
With regard to the North Korean Human Rights Act, Secretary Powell emphasized once again that this act has been adopted
for humanitarian reasons, to improve the human rights situation in North Korea. We have agreed to closely cooperate so
that this act will be implemented in a direction which will bring about real improvements to North Korea's human rights
and contribute to peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula.
With regard to the past experiments on nuclear materials by South Korean scientists, I once again explained in detail
the characteristics of these experiments. I also emphasized that we are handling this matter in a transparent manner
with full cooperation with the IAEA and the international community, so that we could attain mutually satisfactory
results. Secretary Powell has also emphasized that our government has been transparent in our deals with this issue and
we will continue with our peaceful use of nuclear energy.
Secretary Powell explained the current situation in Iraq in which the first elections will be held in January of next
year. He once again expressed his appreciation for the contribution of the ROK towards peace and rebuilding in Iraq.
Furthermore, Secretary Powell expressed appreciation for the full support of the ROK regarding the war against
terrorism.
Last week, Secretary Powell and I shared a common view to continue with the efforts to adopt the ROK-US BIT and FTA for
further progress in our bilateral economic and commercial relations. Thank you.
SECRETARY POWELL: Thank you very much, Mr. Minister. It's a great pleasure for me to be back in Korea. I have visited
Korea many times over the last 30 years and I made my first visit as a battalion commander, in Panmunjom; I lived here
for a year.
I continue to be deeply impressed with the progress that has been made in South Korea for putting in place a firm and
capable democracy, the economic development that's taking place in South Korea, which has made an example for the rest
of the region and the rest of the world.
I'm pleased on this occasion to have the opportunity to meet with my good friend Minister Ban and I also had good
exchanges with President Roh and with Unification Minister Chung.
The productive dialogue I have had today with all three of these gentlemen reflects the strength of our alliance and
our close partnership arranged in a range of endeavors, as well as the economic and personal ties that bind our two
countries together.
Today I made clear that the United States is committed to working even harder with Korea to deepen and broaden our
existing relations. We want to raise our level of strategic dialogue to a new level, a new plateau.
As the Minister noted, I expressed my deep appreciation for the Republic of Korea's vital contribution to the global
war on terror. This includes vital participation in the coalitions in Iraq and Afghanistan. We greatly value the
personal leadership of President Roh, Foreign Minister Ban, and other members of the Korean government have shown
(inaudible) contribute to these efforts, as well as the personal sacrifices made by Korea's soldiers and civilians who
are serving there.
In all of these conversations, we discussed our shared commitment to a peaceful, denuclearized Korean Peninsula. We
agree to continue to devote a maximum effort to achieving this goal through multilateral diplomacy in the six-party
talks. We will remain in close touch on how we can move forward despite North Korea's failure to follow through so far
on its commitment to participate in the fourth round of the six-party talks.
I also expressed my appreciation for the progress we have made in realigning the US troop presence here and
consolidating our bases. These changes, decided through months of close consultations, will return valuable urban land
to our Korean hosts that will allow us to adapt to the new international circumstances and take advantage of new
military technology, while providing a consistent and robust deterrent capability here on the peninsula.
The Minister has already touched on all the subjects that we discussed, so I will just close by once again thanking you
Minister for your hospitality (inaudible).
QUESTION: (in Korean) I'd to ask both Minister Ban and also Secretary Powell a question respectively.
To Secretary Powell, whether Secretary Powell asked Minister Ban with respect to the extension of ROK troops in Iraq.
Question number two would be, after this Iraq issue, there will be a lot of issues that have to be resolved with respect
to the relocation of the Yongsan base and also other realignments of the US forces in (inaudible), despite the political
and economic difficulties that South Korea has been suffering in the spirit of the true alliance between the two
countries. My question is whether Secretary Powell would be willing, or the United States would be willing, to remove
the request for the (inaudible) involved in the supporting C4I with respect to SMA?
FOREIGN MINISTER BAN: (in Korean) With regard to the first question, during the meeting today Secretary Powell has not
officially requested the extension of Korean troops in Zaytun and I would like make this point clear.
SECRETARY POWELL: With respect to the second question, we understand that there will be political and economic costs
associated with the relocation of forces, but the net benefit to our forces and to the Korean people will be such that I
think it will be worth the political and economic costs. We will have to spend a great deal of time in close
consultations with each other determining how these costs will be distributed, especially the costs associated with the
SMA. The SMA has been an important arrangement that has facilitated our presence in the peninsula. But, with these
deployments that we agreed upon to change the force posture, obviously, we will have to examine the SMA and renegotiate
it. We look forward to beginning these discussions in the very near future, principally between our military authorities
and the Ministry of Defense.
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, did the alleged infiltration attempt by the North Koreans through the DMZ come up in your
discussion this morning? If so, could you tell us what you can about the nature of those discussions and your personal
reaction to the disclosure?
SECRETARY POWELL: Well, the only thing I It did not come up in our discussions. I got word earlier this morning and
reconfirmed a few moments ago that there is an apparent small breach in the wire system coming south out of the DMZ and
its being looked into. And, that's the extent of the information I have.
QUESTION: (in Korean) My name is Kang Tae-ho from the newspaper called Hankyoreh Shinmun. My question is in regards to
the six-party process. I understand all the participants in the process are hoping to have a resumption of the talks
within this year. My question is: through your visits to Korea, Japan and China, whether you ever discussed the timeline
for the next round of the six-party talks? And the second part of the question is: North Korea proposed what is called
"freeze for compensation." I understand the United States is not participating in this proposal and if that proposal,
that freeze proposal should include, as the United States wants, peaceful nuclear activities in North Korea, in my view
that suspension should be compensated. I'd like to hear your position on this matter and whether the US is making
changes in its position with respect to this proposal for freeze for compensation.
SECRETARY POWELL: In my conversations here in Seoul, as well as in my conversations in Beijing and in Tokyo over the
last couple of days, currently everybody wants to see the next round of six-party talks get started. We are all
together, the three of us, plus I think I can speak for Russia, as well, believing that this is the time to move forward
to bring this matter to a conclusion, and frankly, as a result of bringing this matter to a conclusion, putting us all
in a position to help the North Korean people, and to help the North Korean people to a better life, providing food
sufficiency for them and the other needs that they have as a people and as a nation.
We don't intend to attack North Korea. We have no hostile intent, (inaudible). In fact, it is this nuclear issue that
is keeping the international community from assisting North Korea. So, we would like to see the talks get underway again
as quickly as possible. And that's the message that I'm carrying back to President Bush from all of us here in Seoul, in
Tokyo and in Beijing, and I'm sure that the Russians are of the same view.
Let's get going. We were ready in September. We were ready in October. The North Koreans elected to hold back and keep
putting forward conditions to talks. We hope that in the very near future the North Koreans will see that it is their
interest to have the talks started again.
At the last round of talks, the United States put forward a new position, which we believe was a balanced position,
showing flexibility on our side as we all try to deal with the concerns raised by the DPRK. It was a proposal that was
welcomed by our partners in this effort. We are waiting for a response from all of the parties, including North Korea.
We hope that we'll receive it at the next round of talks. And our position is clearly laid out and what we can't do is
lay out a position and have it immediately rejected by the North Koreans and then ask for yet another position. This is
not the way to negotiate. The way to negotiate is for all of us to get together again in the six-party format and
discuss all outstanding issues.
QUESTION: I'm Barbara Slavin with USA Today. I'd like to follow on the question of my South Korean colleague. Minister
Ban, I'd like to ask you whether you urged Secretary Powell to show greater flexibility in the US proposal. I know that
the Chinese have said that they did, and would like the United States to participate in the immediate compensation to
North Korea, perhaps by paying administrative costs, did you raise this? Mr. Secretary, would you be willing to consider
it despite what you just said? And also on the human rights law, I would ask, Minister Ban, whether you think this new
law is going to help or hurt efforts to bring the North Koreans back to the negotiations.
FOREIGN MINISTER BAN: (in Korean) With regard to your first question about whether there was a detailed proposal on the
resolution of the North Korean nuclear issue, last June, the Republic of Korea, the United States and the DPRK had
tabled their respective, detailed proposals on these first steps.
The US proposal, as Assistant Secretary Kelly has revealed in the past, is based on a close consultation with the ROK
and the other concerned countries. In order to resolve the nuclear issue and to hold the fourth round of talks in an
expeditious manner, I proposed to Secretary Powell that not only the efforts of the ROK and the US are important, but
also the efforts of the other countries are also important to urge the DPRK to come back to the table. So, this was the
proposal that I made and Secretary Powell was also of a similar view.
With regard to the North Korean Human Rights Act, my government is of the view that human rights is a universal value,
which should be upheld by all humanity, and that human rights should be upheld anywhere in the world. That was the first
point, the second point is: my government also has a great deal of interest with regard to the issue of human rights.
The third is that, with regard to a particular country, whether it might be the DPRK, the particular situations of that
particular country have to be taken into account when we deal with these kinds of issues. Lastly, this matter should not
have a negative effect on the current South-North talks that are going on and also the six-party talks process. This
kind of view that the ROK and US have agreed to work in close consultations with regard to this issue, and Secretary
Powell has also a very similar view with what I just mentioned.
SECRETARY POWELL: With respect to your question on changing our proposal, we had a good proposal on the table. We
modified it for the third round of six-party talks, showing flexibility in trying to accommodate the interests of the
other parties. The way to move forward is to have the next round of six-party talks so that we can discuss that proposal
and not have negotiations with ourselves at press conferences.
FOREIGN MINISTER BAN: (in Korean) Due to the time constraints, the press conference will be over now.
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