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J. DeTrani: Address to World Summit 2022, after S8
Written by Amb. Joseph DeTrani, former U.S. Special Envoy for Six Party Talks with North Korea
Saturday, February 12, 2022
Address to World Summit
February 11-13, 2022
Note: World leaders were invited to World Summit 2022 but due to air travel restrictions, participated by submitting a video message. The following text is a transcription of the recording.
My thanks to Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon for her admirable efforts to bring peace to the Korean Peninsula and to all nations who aspire for peace and security for all people.
The 20th century taught us that peace and security for all people is difficult when there’s war and hostility. World War I and II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, Afghanistan, Iraq, Bosnia and other conflicts in the 20th century took the lives of millions of people. Our goal and the duty of all governments that represent the people is to ensure that there is no war, that we use the tools of diplomacy, negotiations and foreign aid and assistance to ensure that we don’t repeat the lessons of the 20th century.
In North Korea we have this opportunity. Through negotiations we must continue to work to ensure that there’s complete and verifiable denuclearization, in return for security assurances, the lifting of sanctions, economic development assistance and a path to normalization of relations. This then will contribute to the ultimate goal: the reunification of the Korean Peninsula.
This is what this Summit is all about. Let’s get our governments seized with the necessity to peacefully resolve issues with North Korea which will then contribute to the reunification of the Korean Peninsula.
We’ve negotiated for almost 30 years with North Korea, and some say we will never succeed with denuclearization. I disagree. When we engage with North Korea, they are not building and testing more nuclear weapons. When we stop talking, they build more weapons and, as we saw with Syria, they can either sell those weapons or the technical knowhow. When we stop talking, we can stumble into conflict and an accidental war. So, persist with negotiations. Be creative; be flexible.
Peace is achievable, but we will have to work at it, as you are doing with this World Summit 2022.
Thank you.
To go to the World Summit 2022 Schedule page, click here.