Induction of New Korea Institute at SAIS Comes Amid North Korea’s Nuclear Test U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill made headlines when he said that North Korea “can have a future, or it can have these weapons. It cannot have both,” referring to the regime’s testing of a nuclear weapon. Although the comment—which came shortly after Pyongyang sent shockwaves throughout the world by announcing it would test a nuke, which it indeed did a few days later—drew a lot of media attention, the setting in which the comment was made was widely overlooked. Hill spoke at the inauguration of the new U.S.-Korea Institute at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), and although the event wasn’t as earth shattering as Kim Jong-il’s announcement the day earlier, it was nevertheless a critical development on the Washington educational landscape. The U.S.-Korea Institute— which marks the first time SAIS students can graduate with a degree specifically in Korean studies—is a major effort by the school to improve knowledge and understanding between the United States and Korea through academic studies, research and outreach efforts in the Washington area and elsewhere. The fact that its official induction came a day after North Korea’s nuclear ambitions once again grabbed the world’s attention only underscores the important role that the Korean Peninsula continues to play in global affairs. Hill spoke at the inauguration along with South Korean Ambassador to the United States Lee Tae-sik, which was followed by a discussion on the future of the Korean Peninsula involving an all-star diplomatic team of five former U.S. ambassadors to the Republic of Korea: Stephen W. Bosworth, Donald Gregg, Thomas C. Hubbard, James T. Laney and James R. Lilly. More notably, the inauguration came right on the heels of North Korea’s announcement on Oct. 3 that it would test fire a nuclear weapon underground—as the world tried, in vain, to prevent Pyongyang from making good on its promise and all eyes in the SAIS audience focused on Hill to gauge the U.S. response. But before Hill addressed the anticipated topic, Ambassador Lee—a former SAIS graduate himself—gave his views on the complexities of U.S.-Korean ties. “Although there is skepticism in the press and in academia, let there be no mistake: To the Korean people, our relationship with the U.S. is the most important among all its foreign relations. To the Korean government, its partnership with the U.S. is the backbone of the region’s past, present and the future. “This enduring reality has not changed,” he continued. “What is changing however is that we are working together to modernize our alliance. Korea-U.S. relations are going through a deep transition and transformation,” he said, citing the realignment of U.S. military forces in Korea and the ongoing negotiations over a bilateral free trade agreement, for which both President Bush and South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun reaffirmed their support at a White House summit last month. “The two presidents also reaffirmed their shared belief that North Korea’s nuclear program should be resolved peacefully and diplomatically through the six-party talks,” Lee added. The ambassador concluded by quoting Don Oberdorfer, a Korea expert and founding chairman of the institute, who said, “Hold onto your hats. Korea is a land of surprise.” “That is the case even nowadays,” Lee added to audience laughter. “Today, with the official launch of the U.S.-Korea Institute, we are all holding onto our hats because we expect it to be a great adventure full of stimulating intellectual discourse, superior training and deeper understanding between our peoples.” Assistant Secretary of State Hill certainly knows a thing or two about holding onto his hat when it comes to North Korea. As the main U.S. negotiator in the tedious and oftentimes fruitless six-party talks over Pyongyang’s nuclear program, he has experienced firsthand the difficulties of dealing with Kim Jong-il’s regime. But before he directly addressed the issue that everyone had on their minds, Hill highlighted some of the major milestones in the U.S.-South Korean relationship. “We have come through 50 tough years. There’s no question this is a difficult period for us now, but I think we’re going to get through this,” said the amiable, plainspoken diplomat from Rhode Island who also served as a former U.S. ambassador to the Republic of Korea—a posting that he described as “the best job I ever had.” He said Seoul and Washington have made progress on a number of fronts, including improvements in the U.S. visa waiver program for Korean students, the building and evolution of a “strong military alliance,” Korea’s troop contributions to Iraq, and the talks over the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement. “Those are very tough negotiations—they’re not like, you know, nuclear things, easy stuff,” Hill joked. “I mean … you get into farm products, agricultural things and that’s where I think emotions get very frayed in these FTA negotiations, and we’re getting through that.” He also took on a light-hearted tone when broaching the thorny subject of North Korea, saying, “There’s something I’ve forgotten. Let’s see, I mentioned the FTA. Ah, now I remember: We are working with Korea on a multilateral process that goes by the very prosaic name of the six-party talks.” But his message to North Korea was serious, and although he reaffirmed the Bush administration’s commitment to resolving the standoff diplomatically, he also took a tough stance on the issue, saying that the onus now lies squarely on Pyongyang: “I think it is pretty clear that the rest of the world is rather outraged by this, and so I think what we really come to is a very important fork in the road. The DPRK [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea], if it wants an economic future, indeed I would argue if it wants a future, needs to get rid of these weapons. It can have a future, or it can have these weapons. It cannot have both,” Hill declared. He expressed his frustration over North Korea’s “excuses” to avoid the joint statement that the five parties came up with Beijing back in September 2005, which Hill called a “real triumph” that still provides the “roadmap” to resolving the conflict peacefully. “[It’s] very short, but it really does address all the issues that need to be addressed. It basically provides a roadmap far better than anything you can find on Mapquest—a roadmap that will get North Korea into the international community, should they want to choose that road. And it spelled out precisely what we needed. We needed North Korea to get rid of its nuclear weapons, but not just nuclear weapons, we needed them to get rid of all of their nuclear programs,” Hill explained. But when it came down to implementing the agreement, Hill argued that the “North Koreans blinked. They looked at what they had agreed to do and they decided they weren’t sure they wanted to do it. Now of course they came up with excuses,” he added, pointing to myriad reasons such the money laundering investigation in Macau and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s label of North Korea as an “outpost of tyranny.” Hill also denied that the United States was unwilling to talk with Pyongyang directly. “We have told them consistently that we will meet with them bilaterally, but it has to be in the context of the six-party talks. By that I mean we cannot have a situation where North Korea is allowed to take apart these talks and to begin a bilateral process with the U.S.,” Hill said. “We are no longer in a situation—and I think this new institute symbolizes that—where South Korean diplomats have to wait at the airport for American diplomats to come back and tell them what’s going on. South Korean diplomats deserve to be at the table. “I think the problem is that North Korea lacks the will to fulfill this obligation to do away with its nuclear programs. We have worked very hard and we continue to work very hard to figure out … a way to get these talks going,” Hill said. “This test, there is no doubt it would pose a threat to peace and stability in Asia, and the world. It would pose a particular threat to the Korean Peninsula, not even to speak of the ecological issues of taking such a small piece of land, this Korean Peninsula, with a population of some 70 million people, and exploding a nuclear weapon in the soil of the Korean Peninsula. It’s frankly unthinkable.” But the unthinkable has happened, and now U.S. officials including Hill, as well as the rest of the world, are scrambling to find a way to get the North to abandon its nuclear weapons. Whatever the outcome, Hill stated the obvious when he ominously concluded: “I think it’s pretty clear that the North Koreans simply have not come to the conclusion that the rest of the world has come to, which is that they’ve got to get out of this business and into the rest of the world.” Tomorrow, Hill speaks at a high-level conference sponsored by Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School and Foreign Policy magazine at the National Press Club as part of it’s “Newsmakers” series. The event, which runs from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., is titled “The Current State of North Korea and the Future of the U.S.-Korea Alliance.” At the inauguration of the U.S.-Korea Institute at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill made headlines when he said that North Korea “can have a future, or it can have these [nuclear] weapons. It cannot have both.” Kazakh President Touts Nuclear Dismantlement All of the media and political hype surrounding Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s Washington visit in late September reflected the newfound global prominence that Kazakhstan has achieved over the last decade. (The fact that the country took out a four-page color advertisement in the New York Times prior to the visit also didn’t hurt.) Following its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, Nazarbayev brought stability and prosperity to Kazakhstan, a geo-strategic nation wedged between China and Russia with tremendous oil and gas reserves—not to mention a key ally in the U.S. war on terror. President Bush was all too happy to heap praise on Nazarbayev, who has transformed the country into an economic powerhouse that has generated a stunning growth rate of 9 percent a year since 2000. The fact that Nazarbayev has been widely criticized by human rights groups for stifling opposition and maintaining an iron grip on power for more than 15 years, however, didn’t seem to be as high on the White House agenda. What did figure prominently into the agenda was Kazakhstan’s nuclear disarmament—a major decision that Nazarbayev voluntarily undertook following the Cold War that has earned him credit and clout across the world. That clout was evident as hundreds came out to a dinner at the Capital Hilton Hotel to toast Nazarbayev’s bold nuclear initiatives, which have resulted in the dismantling of the world’s fourth-largest nuclear arsenal. “If every head of state had your vision, there would not be a nuclear threat,” said Ted Turner, media mogul and co-chairman of the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI), which works to secure nuclear, chemical and biological stockpiles (see November 2005 issue of The Washington Diplomat). “Nuclear weapons are the worst threat man has ever created. You’ve created the best example for man,” Turner added, noting that being sandwiched between Russia and China is not an easy “neighborhood” in which to live without nuclear weapons. That sentiment was echoed by Susan Eisenhower, president of the Eisenhower Group, who said that despite being “between a bear and a dragon, this great leader chose to cast his lot with Uncle Sam.” And Uncle Sam has been generous in return. The United States now accounts for one-third of all foreign investments in Kazakhstan, which has helped the country attain a per-capita income of $3,000, far surpassing its Central Asian counterparts. And as the first country to voluntarily renounce its nuclear weapons, Kazakhstan has won the admiration of many in the U.S. Congress, including former Sen. Sam Nunn, who co-founded the NTI and spoke at the Capital Hilton reception about Nazarbayev’s youth, recalling the story of how his grandmother would not allow a rifle in their home because “the weapon brought nothing but suffering.” As a result, Nunn said that Nazarbayev created a sickle out of the rifle’s bayonet and used it to cut hay, comparing it to the Biblical analogy of converting swords into plowshares. Even more ardent in his praise was Rep. Eni Faleomavaega (D-American Samoa), who in a passionate and at times emotional speech, argued that Nazarbayev should have won the Nobel Peace Prize for his brave decision, especially considering that Kazakhstan could have easily profited from the massive nuclear arsenal it inherited from the Soviet Union and become the world’s first Muslim nuclear power. Despite “vast offers of personal wealth and threats from Russia,” Nazarbayev “made history” by sealing the world’s second-largest nuclear test site at Semipalatinsk, said Faleomavaega, who visited the test sites in Kazakhstan firsthand. Nazarbayev himself was far less humble, initially joking when he came up to the podium that he was struggling to stay awake because it was 5 a.m. back home. But on a serious note, he spoke of the “tragic pages” in his country’s history, when the Soviet Union conducted more than 450 nuclear tests at the Semipalatinsk site, affecting the lives of millions with radiological contamination and haunting generations to come. Since then, Nazarbayev has pursued a policy of nonproliferation with projects such as the recent joint venture with NTI and Kazakhstan’s national atomic company that downgraded three tons of highly enriched uranium into fuel. “Our planet has become less stable,” Nazarbayev said. “The concept of deterrence has outlived itself.” He added that the global nuclear threat has been exacerbated by the rise in regional nuclear capabilities. So whereas before, nations had a “mutual early warning” time of 30 to 40 minutes before a nuclear weapon was deployed, now that “approach time is two to five minutes,” Nazarbayev explained, citing neighboring nuclear powers India and Pakistan. And although he denounced nuclear ambitions by countries that don’t currently possess any nuclear weapons, he added that “total global disarmament can only be solved by both nuclear and non-nuclear countries … based on the principles of congeniality and equality,” he said. “We must return from the concept of deterrence to the concept of trust. Trust is a key category which we create as a new basis of security.” Nazarbayev concluded by pointing to the many economic and political rewards Kazakhstan has received since giving up its nuclear arsenal, offering some timely advice given the current nuclear crises with North Korea and Iran: “[Everyone] with nuclear ambitions should think about that—where are they going?” Media mogul Ted Turner, left, and U.S. Rep. Eni Faleomavaega (D-American Samoa) spoke at a reception at the Capital Hilton Hotel in honor of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev (pictured on the front page) and his decision to renounce nuclear weapons. Two Former Leaders Reunite for German Unity Two former world leaders recently reunited to celebrate the reuniting of a country: On Oct. 3, former U.S. President George H.W. Bush and former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl came out to commemorate the 16th anniversary of German unification at German Ambassador Klaus Scharioth’s residence. The popular annual German Unity Day reception—which was co-hosted by Saxony Minister President Georg Milbradt—drew throngs of partygoers numbering well over 1,000 to feast on bratwurst and German beer on the lawns of the sleek German residence complex off Foxhall Road. Ambassador Scharioth welcomed the two former heads of state, whom he said “were determined to grasp this historic chance and thus were instrumental in making [unification] happen.” In addition to crediting Bush Sr. and the American public, without whom “unification would not have been possible,” the ambassador thanked the former chancellor for his vision. “You sensed in November 1989 that the vast majority of Germans wanted to be reunited and more importantly, you also sensed that there was a chance to realize our dream. You acted on it, you convinced others … and you succeeded.” Similarly, Bush praised his German counterpart, calling him a “valued colleague, a trusted friend” and a man who will be ranked by history “as Europe’s greatest leader in the last half of the 20th century.” Bush also commended Russian leader Mikhail Gorbachev, who “had the courage of his convictions—and he held fast to the path of political reform, putting the interests of common man before the ambitions of what was clearly a fading empire. For this, history will be very kind to Mikhail Gorbachev. “For my part, it was a great honor to represent the American people as, together with our allies, we helped to roll back the Iron Curtain—and extend the promise of human freedom to millions who had been denied it for too long,” Bush added. “Such was certainly the case in Germany 15 years ago, when what was once a distant, dubious dream for separated families—and a cleaved nation—became a sudden reality.” For Kohl, that reality represented a “triumph of liberty. This triumph became possible because of the people, because of the people’s courage and strength, the people who rose up against the dictatorship in the cities and communities all over the German Democratic Republic,” he said, stressing that “they were not intimidated by threats and violence. Instead, they demonstrated peacefully until the wall and the dictatorship fell.” The former chancellor also emphasized Germany’s enduring bond with the United States: “We can’t say it often enough—we Germans could always rely on the Americans. They always assisted us during the last decades…. Therefore, we Germans, we Europeans want to stand firmly by our transatlantic partnership. For us Germans, there is no ‘either-or’ in choosing between the transatlantic partnership and our friendship with the United States and our construction of our House of Europe. Because Europe needs the United States, and the United States also needs Europe.” German Ambassador Klaus Scharioth, left, and Saxony Minister President Georg Milbradt tour the German residence, which was decorated to celebrate the 16th anniversary of German unification. Front page: Former U.S. President George H.W. Bush, left, sits with former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl at the 16th annual Germany Unity Day reception. Globe-Trotting Interns Advocate for Civil Society Ambassador of Liechtenstein Claudia Fritsche hosted a group of well-traveled young people at her residence as part of a reception honoring the most recent batch of interns for the Advocacy Project, a nonprofit organization formed in 1998 to serve the needs of civil society—particularly community-based advocates for peace and human rights. This is the third time that Ambassador Fritsche has hosted the annual reception, which is a culmination of the year’s “Without Borders” internship program at Advocacy. As part of that program, Advocacy sent 18 graduate students from top U.S. universities to work with the group’s partner organizations all over the world—from places as far-flung as Afghanistan and Nepal to Kosovo and Nigeria. “I have great admiration for what you did, particularly so because this is something I wanted to do at your age,” said Fritsche. “From now on, we regard you as the Advocacy Project’s ambassadors.” Iain Guest, Advocacy’s executive director, pointed to the many diverse projects that these “ambassadors” successfully worked on, including a quilt created by widows of the victims of the Srebrenica massacre in Europe, as well as Internet support for a group called eHomemakers, which uses information and communications technology to help improve the lives of women homemakers in Malaysia. “It’s a very tough time to work with the rest of the world right now,” said Guest. “But [you’ve] engaged with the world in a very constructive and productive manner. Executive Director of Advocacy Project Iain Guest and Ambassador of Liechtenstein Claudia Fritsche, center, stand with the 2006 group of students who participated in the Advocacy Project’s “Without Borders” internship program. Photos: Lili Iravani A Circle of Giving at National Gallery The National Gallery of Art paid tribute to the national philanthropic group the Circle on its 20th anniversary with an elaborate gala reception at the gallery’s West Building. Since 1986, the 1,100 members of the Circle have raised more than $30 million through annual gifts to fund art acquisitions, special exhibits, conservation, scholarly and scientific research, films, publications, symposia, and other educational and outreach programs. In fact, one of the National Gallery’s prized possessions, Leonardo da Vinci’s “Ginevra de’ Benci”—the only painting by the master in the Western Hemisphere—were made possible thanks to Circle funds. According to Earl A. Powell III, director of the National Gallery, “The generous and enthusiastic support of Circle members over the years enables us to collect, conserve and exhibit important works of art, and to reach out to diverse audiences in exciting new ways.” Members of the philanthropic organization the Circle of the National Gallery of Art enjoy a reception honoring the group’s 20th anniversary. Front page: Director of the National Gallery of Art Earl A. Powell III greets members of the Circle during the group’s 20th anniversary celebration. Photos: Lili Iravanii SPONSOR THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT P.O. Box 1345 Wheaton, MD 20915-1345 Tel: 301.933.3552 • Fax: 301.949.0065 www.washdiplomat.com