Even stronger Korea-U.S alliance than ever.

This year's Korean-American Friendship Night, hosted by Korean-American Association in a hotel Seoul on Sep. 17th, 2015, became a venue among distinguished speakers including MOFA Minister Yun Byung-se as well as U.S. Amb. Mark W. Lippert to reaffirm even stronger Korea-U.S alliance than ever.

▲ MOFA Minister Yun Byung-se delivering his congratulatory remarks during the opening ceremony of the 2015 Korean-American Friendship Night, hosted by Korean-American Association. (Courtesy: Ministry of Foreign Affairs).

In his congratulatory speech, MOFA Minister Yun spoke in conjunction with such even stronger alliance between Korea & U.S.: "Let me start with three simple words, “never been better.” This is the facebook message recently suggested by a senior U.S. official if he had to set a current “relationship status” for Korea and the U.S. In fact, this chimes well with the latest U.S. Congressional Research Service report, that the Korea-U.S. alliance is “the most robust” ever. And I think that all of us here tonight will agree with those views.

Further, Yun said: "With particular regard to our security alliance, it gains even more importance as the Korean peninsula and Northeast Asia undergo a significant transformation. We witnessed a case in point just last month. Thanks to this superb alliance, we were able to turn the challenge caused by North Korea’s DMZ provocations into an opportunity for inter-Korean talks.

▲ U.S. Amb. Mark Lippert(left) and MOFA Minister Yun Byung-se shake hands with each other, reaffirming even stronger alliance between Korea and U.S than ever at a venue of the 2015 Korean-American Friendship Night. (Courtesy: MOFA)

My hope is that North Korea will make a right choice, he added. If so, the international community could engage North Korea with a variety of cooperative measures. If not, there will certainly be consequences. In case of Pyongyang’s non-compliance of UN Security Council resolutions, the international community will respond firmly. Especially, the Security Council is already mandated to consider further significant measures. To prevent North Korea from taking provocative actions, regional and extra-regional countries are already working in collaboration, Minister Yun pointed out. Furthermore, in the recent and upcoming high-level meetings, between Korea-China, Korea-EU, U.S.-China, Korea-U.S.-Japan and Korea-U.S., the international community has sent and will send out very clear-cut and consistent messages: don’t misjudge and test our resolve. North Korea should listen carefully to them, he said.

In conjunction with the challenges caused by North Korea's DMZ provocations, Minister Park Sung-choon also from the Ministry of Patriots & Veterans Affairs said: "With the firm leadership of President Park, the nation's unity & strong military alliance between Korea-U.S. etc., such threats were able to be suppressed.

▲ From right, Minister Park Sung-choon from the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs, former Korea Amb. Hyun Heung-joo to U.S, MOFA Minister Yun Byung-se, U.S. Amb. Mark Lippert and former prime minister Lee Hong-goo at a dinner for the 2015 Korean-American Friendship Night, hosted by Korean-American Association.

U.S. Amb. Lippert also stressed that for Korea and the U.S., our relationship goes beyond strong political and security ties. More than ever before, our peoples are becoming closely connected. Businesses are seizing the trade and investment opportunities offered by the KORUS FTA.

 

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