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D. Trump: Address to Summit 2022, Session III
Written by The Honorable Donald Trump, President (2017-2021), USA
Friday, August 12, 2022
Address to Summit 2022 and Leadership Conference,
Seoul, Korea, August 11-15, 2022
It is my very profound honor to address this World Summit and International Leadership Conference, to speak to each of you today on a cause I care very much about: bringing peace, unity and stability to the Korean peninsula.
I enjoyed speaking at the World Summit last February, very much so. And I want to thank the Universal Peace Federation for hosting this wonderful event. In particular, let me express my gratitude to Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon for her incredible efforts on behalf of peace all over the world. She is an amazing and wonderful woman. Her personal story of escaping from North Korea at five years old is a true inspiration. And her dream that one day harmony will be restored to the Korean peninsula is a hope we all share.
I have heard about the outstanding work you’re doing through Pastor Paula White and I am confident that your efforts are having a tremendous impact.
I also want to thank both Dr. Moon and her late husband Reverend Moon for founding The Washington Times and congratulate you on a remarkable 40 years of publication. It is a very, very important and powerful paper and voice. Since The Washington Times founding in 1982, it has made invaluable contributions to the defense of truth, faith, family and freedom, both here in America, and all around the globe. And as we approach the 10th anniversary of Reverend Moon’s passing, I want to extend my respects to all who loved him, and there were many.
We’re also honored to be joined at the Summit by representatives from among the 157 nations that have diplomatic relations with North and South Korea. I particularly want to recognize the many distinguished guests from Africa, as well as from Asia and the Americas.
It is a pleasure to speak with you all today.
As President, it was my great honor to work toward a safer and more prosperous future for the people of North Korea, South Korea and the entire world.
When I took office, the so-called “experts” told me that the situation on the Korean peninsula was absolutely hopeless. There was nothing you could do. In fact, when I met President Obama in the Oval Office just days after the election, he told me his greatest fear was a war in North Korea. He said it was going to happen in his opinion. And if nothing had changed, that was exactly where we were heading.
Far too long American presidents and other world leaders had failed to address the growing threats of conflict and nuclear escalation in East Asia. Business as usual would only lead to more danger and ultimately, in my opinion, nuclear war.
Instead, my administration launched a bold new diplomatic initiative based on the principle of “Peace Through Strength.” We rallied the nations of the world to join us in trying to solve this grave challenge, building an unprecedented international coalition for our efforts, and it did what no American president had done before. It was a great success. It was something I was so proud of and continue to be, combining both the toughest-ever pressure on the regime with unprecedented outreach and engagement.
Everyone said that my approach was going to get us into a war. But no, my approach is what kept us out of war.
Working with our allies, we passed several unanimous resolutions through the United Nations Security Council. We brought back our hostages to American shores, and we negotiated with North Korea to return the remains of our fallen heroes to rest in American soil.
I was proud to become the first US President to meet with the leader of North Korea, Chairman Kim, in a series of historic summits, and we got along very, very well. I also had the honor of becoming the first U.S. president to set foot in North Korea at the DMZ.
For the duration of my term, Chairman Kim kept the pledge he made to me that he made at our first summit, to cease all long-range missile testing. And he did that. The entire world was much more secure as a result.
Under our administration, the region was safe, and the world was calm because America was strong and respected. Indeed, we were stronger than ever before.
Not only on North Korea, but also in many other critical issues, including China. I forged an exceptionally productive partnership with President Moon of South Korea. We also got along very well. We wanted the same thing. As well as my friend Prime Minister Abe of Japan, a great man.
Prime Minister Abe’s assassination was a horrific crime and a horrible loss for the entire planet. He was a good friend, a great man, and a once-in-a-generation statesman for his country. He will be missed. I want to express my profound condolences to his family and to all of the people of Japan. With the help of many of you here today, Prime Minister Abe’s dream of a free and open Indo-Pacific will live on.
Working closely with Prime Minister Abe, under my administration, we restarted the quad security group to respond to China’s increasing aggression in the region. I stood up to China like no president in history, including the fact that tariffs and taxes gave us hundreds of billions of dollars right into the treasury of the United States.
Around the globe, we made unprecedented progress towards peace. We had Iran in check. We reached a historic agreement for normalization of relations between Kosovo and Serbia, something we’re very proud of, and we even achieved peace in the Middle East with the historic Abraham accords.
Yet unfortunately, over the past two years, the world has become a vastly different and more dangerous place. We are, once again, learning the painful lessons of weakness, or being a weak country, or having weak leadership.
In the wake of the Afghanistan disaster, the world has been tragically reminded that weakness never leads to peace and tranquility. It only leads to danger and peril.
Now China is threatening Taiwan. Iran is on the verge of a nuclear bomb. And Russia has invaded Ukraine, killing tens of thousands of people, and it will only get worse. This is something that never, ever would have happened during the Trump administration. And it didn’t.
As the rest of the world is falling apart, the Korean Peninsula is also now at a very pivotal crossroads, perhaps like never before. The next several years will determine whether we will build on possibilities for peace created under my administration, or whether we will hurdle headlong into new dangers, sadly, and that includes war.
Unfortunately, in the first seven months of 2022, North Korea has launched 31 missile tests including its longest-ranging missiles since 2017. This is a discouraging sign.
I continue to believe strongly, as I said many times as President, denuclearization is not the greatest risk for North Korea, it is the greatest opportunity for North Korea. There is no limit to their nation’s potential, but they must denuclearize. They have to do it. They have to do it quickly. They have to do it soon.
To achieve that progress, it will be necessary to turn away from the path of aggression and provocation and continue down the road that we started together when I was in office.
This summer marks the four-year anniversary of our historic first summit in Singapore, which was the beginning of a new era in the leadership and relationship between the United States and North Korea. It is my sincere hope that in the future our countries will be able to recapture that incredible spirit of goodwill, optimism and hope that characterized the first meeting.
The United States has no permanent enemies. Many of America’s closest friends and allies today, in the past, they were our foes. All we seek is security for our people and a better future for the entire world. We are protecting the world and that’s always been very important to me, as the President. There is nothing Americans would love more than to see the possibilities of friendship between our nations come to life.
Together, we have it in our power to turn the page on years of division, adversity and strife, and work toward a stable and lasting peace.
All it takes is leaders who have the courage to set aside the conflicts of yesterday and forge a tomorrow of commerce and cooperation.
So, to all that hear this message, please join me in praying for the Korean peninsula, that it once again flourishes, and for a world in which we finally have security, prosperity and the blessings of peace for all the people on earth.
Thank you. God bless you. God bless everybody. God bless North Korea and South Korea, the United States and entire world. Thank you all very much.
To go to the World Summit 2022 Schedule page, click here.