Vol. 22 No. 3 “Building Bridges Between Countries and Peoples” Fall 2016 Pg. 1-2: Chairman at symposium Pg. 3: Vice Chair at War Memorial Pg. 4-5: VP and LMU Programs Pg. 6: 2016 Journalists Exchange Pg. 7: Bill Perry Book Review Pg. 8: BOD Member Activities TheThe PCIPCI NewsNews Chairman Gregg Keynote Speech at the 12th Hankyoreh International Symposium PCI Chairman Donald Gregg gave a keynote speech on “The New U.S. Administration’s North Korean Policies and Peace on the Korean Peninsula” on October 27th at the 12th Hankyoreh International Symposium in Busan, Korea. Following the speech, Amb. Gregg had a dialogue session with Lim Dong-won, Korea’s former Minister of Unification and currently chairman of the Hankyoreh Foundation for Reunifica- tion and Culture. It was moderated by PCI board member Moon Chung-in , Professor Emeritus at Yonsei University. The article below appeared in the English edition of the Hankyoreh Daily on October 29, 2016. For N. Korean denuclearization, “quickly resume dialogue” North Korea-US impasse the result of “mutual demoniza- 1992 on Gregg’s recommendation, and that movement on these tion” two issues had enabled North and South Korea to produce the After former US Ambassador to South Korea Donald inter-Korean basic agreement during the high-level talks. Lim Gregg delivered the keynote address at the Hankyoreh-Busan and Gregg’s talk was moderated by Moon Chung-in, professor at International Symposium on Oct. 27, he was joined on the stage Yonsei University. by Lim Dong-won, director of the board of the Hankyoreh Foun- dation for Reunification and Culture. Before the two began their Is there no hope of North Korea being denuclearized? talk, Lim read a passage from Gregg’s memoirs (called “Pot When Moon asked Gregg and Lim their opinions on recent Shards: Fragments of a Life Lived in CIA, the White House, and comments by US Director of National Intelligence James Clap- the Two Koreas”): “Americans have a tendency of demonizing per that “the notion of getting the North Koreans to denuclearize foreign leaders or groups that we don’t like or can’t understand, is probably a lost cause,” both Gregg and Lim refused to agree and it’s a tendency that constantly gets us into trouble. The tradi- with Clapper’s view. tional American approach of eliminating or overthrowing re- “The road to denuclearization is a long and hard one, but gimes only causes confusion and strife.” since we recently succeeded in the nuclear negotiations with This passage provided support to the argument made by the Iran, I think that we can reach a real breakthrough if we seek one participants in the talk that the North Korean nuclear issue is with patience, persistence and wisdom,” Gregg said. rooted in the North’s hostile relationship with the US. Gregg also expressed his view that Clapper’s attitude was “When Gregg was ambassador [to South Korea], I was the inappropriate. “I also worked for an intelligence service for 30 South Korean negotiator taking part in high-level dialogue with years. Intelligence agents are supposed to collect and analyze North Korea. If the American tactical nuclear weapons had not intelligence and to provide it to the president, who is the final been removed from South Korea on the recommendation of consumer; it’s not to get involved in policy,” he said. Gregg, the Roh Tae-woo administration [1988-1993] could not (continued on page 2) even have discussed the joint statement on the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,” said Lim when the moderator asked SAVE THE DATE! him to introduce Gregg. Lim served as Director of South Korea’s 2017 PCI Annual Award Dinner National Intelligence Service and as Unification Minister during the administration of Kim Dae-jung [1998-2003]. Date: Thursday, February 23, 2017 Lim also recalled how the Team Spirit joint military exer- Venue: InterContinental Hotel, Century City Reception 6:00 pm cises between South Korea and the US had been discontinued in Dinner 7:00pm Pacific Century Institute p. 1 Vol. 22 No. 3 “Building Bridges Between Countries and Peoples” Fall 2016 Hankyoreh Symposium ed his view that the way to convince North Korea to suspend its (continued from page 1) nuclear activity is not pressure and sanctions but rather resum- Gregg also said that one of the reasons why the nuclear ing negotiations. Moon indicated his agreement with this view. talks with North Korea have been sidelined is that “we’ve made Gregg expressed his opinion that the collapse of North the mistake of asking North Korea to yield before we’ve even Korea is not in China’s interests, so it’s pointless to try to force engaged in dialogue.” China to participate in stronger sanctions. “I was surprised that the person in charge of the US intelli- gence community spoke so openly and so blatantly,” Lim said, Nukes for South Korea, a preemptive strike on North Korea referring to Clapper’s remarks. But when asked about Clapper’s When Moon asked about the recent calls for South Korea observation that the most the US can hope for is limiting North to acquire nuclear weapons or to deploy tactical nuclear weap- Korea’s nuclear ability (by carrying out a nuclear freeze), Lim ons, Gregg said that he was “completely opposed” to the idea. quoted an interview with former US Defense Secretary William “It’s regrettable that such things are being said in South Korea, Perry in which Perry said that the North Korean policies of and that would be one of the worst choices that South Korea George W. Bush and Barack Obama had failed. could make,” Gregg said. “It’s too late to force North Korea to abandon its nuclear Lim had the same opinion: “It’s not feasible for South Ko- program. We need to look for realistic ways to respond. That rea to acquire nuclear weapons, and even if it were, it’s not ad- would mean quickly resuming negotiations that move gradually visable.” “The only way for us to overcome this crisis is for us toward the goal of preventing nuclear proliferation through put- to work to establish peace and to improve the hostile relation- ting a freeze on nuclear activ- ship, which is the primary ity rather than by scrapping cause of the North Korean the program,” Lim added. nuclear issue. It isn’t helpful for anyone in South Korea -- Are North Koreans crazy except the military-industrial to cling to their nuclear complex – for South Korea program? to acquire its own nuclear Moon also asked weapons,” he added. whether the two figures The idea of a preemp- thought that North Korea’s tive strike against North Ko- commitment to its two-track rea that has occasionally program of strengthening its been proposed in South Ko- nuclear arsenal and building rea and the US in recent its economy was delusional, months is “extremely idiot- or whether they thought this ic,” said Gregg, who wished was a rational decision. the question did not need to Lim drew attention to a be asked. He warned that column called “North Korea, Moon Chung-in, Don Gregg, Lim Dong-won (left to right) even a small mistake was Far from Crazy, Is All Too Rational” that ran in the New York very likely to lead to the outbreak of a full-scale war on the Ko- Times after North Korea’s fifth nuclear test in September. Since rean Peninsula. North Korea is small and globally isolated, Lim argued, it is not “When Perry was Secretary of Defense in 1994, the US crazy but rational to conclude that acquiring nuclear weapons is was planning to launch a precision air strike to eliminate North the only way to survive. Korea’s capacity to produce nuclear materials. Even that plan Moon noted that US intelligence describes North Korea as was built on the assumption that it might lead to a full-scale unpredictable and irrational and asked how we should interpret war,” Lim said. “I think we should refrain from all actions that this considering that the US boasts the world’s finest intelli- could lead to a war that would result in the destruction of the gence agencies. Gregg responded by describing this as “the re- people of North and South Korea.” sult of mutual demonization.” During the talk, which lasted for about one hour and 30 minutes, Gregg and Lim fielded more than 30 questions from Could sanctions and pressure on North Korea resolve the the audience. One member of the audience pointed out that North Korean nuclear issue? Gregg had praised UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and “The administration of South Korean President Park Geun- asked what role Ban could play in the denuclearization of the hye is implementing hardline policies on the belief that the Korean Peninsula. North will not collapse until it is mortally wounded. Do you “Ban has worked cautiously on many things, and though it think that sanctions and pressure on North Korea can bring may not appear so on the surface, he has striven to bring about about the North’s denuclearization?” Moon asked. the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. He has worked on Lim summarily rejected that possibility. Arguing that the this for his entire life, and I think that he’ll be able to play a current administration is taking the wrong approach, he reiterat- major role in this,” Gregg said. www.pacificcenturyinst.org p. 2 Vol. 22 No. 3 “Building Bridges Between Countries and Peoples” Fall 2016 PCI Vice Chair on Korean War Memorial after men like John Stevens were defending the Pusan Perimeter; we marveled and were humbled in reflecting on what had oc- curred 60 years earlier.