Fellow citizens, compatriots, and seven million overseas Koreans, we were liberated 62 years ago. On that day, everyone in the nation embraced one another with overwhelming joy and shed tears of elation. The country set out to make a fresh start with new hope. We have finally carved out the Republic of Korea of today where everyone fully enjoys freedom and independence.
I pay wholehearted tribute to our patriotic forefathers, who dedicated everything they had for the independence of the homeland. I offer my deepest respect and gratitude to our patriots who sacrificed themselves for the nation’s independence and to their bereaved families. Fellow Koreans, we helplessly lost our country 100 years ago when we had no power to safeguard ourselves. After numerous hardships and much suffering, the country was finally liberated, but had to sustain yet other tragedies of the division of the nation and a fratricidal war.
But we refused to cave in; we rose up again. Weathering countless adversities, we have made miraculous and legendary achievements. The national per capita income even fell short of a meager $100 half a century ago, but we are now about to enter the era of $20,000 in per capita income. The country has a gross domestic product and trade volume that has grown into the 10th largest in the world, and it holds the fifth largest foreign exchange reserves.
With the splendid development of science and technology, Korea posted the fourth largest number of patent applications in the world. The country is building up sufficient defensive power commensurate with its economic growth. With the 10th strongest elite military power, the Korean armed forces are firmly safeguarding peace on the Korean Peninsula and greatly contributing to peace and stability in the world.
There has been great development in democracy as well. Freedom House, the world-renowned human rights watchdog, rated Korea’s political freedom in the top-tier in the world. Reporters Without Borders also listed Korea above even the United States and Japan in the ranking of freedom of the press. Our achievements in democracy and economic development are unprecedented in world history. There have been about 100 newly independent nations since the Second World War, but none of them has come close to the doorstep of becoming an advanced country except for Korea.
All these accomplishments are the outcome of the prowess of the ambitiously motivated Korean people and their painstaking efforts. I am grateful to our parents and all the people for the Republic’s success. Fellow Korean citizens, We will continue to set our economy in dynamic motion and will move forward toward an advanced democracy both in name and in fact, a country where the entire people can live with dignity. There is, however, a daunting task that must be resolved in the course of marching forward. Incapable of casting off the yoke of the Cold War, Korea is still the only remaining country divided by Cold War rivalries. The sounds of gunfire have ceased, but we are not yet firmly confident of peace on the Korean Peninsula. Before it is too late, we have to overcome this adverse situation and open a new front for the future of the nation.
The situation surrounding us in Northeast Asia is changing rapidly. China is growing at an astounding pace, and Russia is bracing for a new growth surge. Japan is attempting to become a normal nation by shaking itself free from the postwar regime, and the United States is changing course and charting new global strategies. Even with the dissolution of the Cold War system, an order of peace and coexistence has yet to take firm root. The confrontational atmosphere is likely to boil over again at anytime.
My Participatory Government has outlined an era of peace and prosperity in Northeast Asia as one of the three administrative goals based on an accurate understanding of the changing situation in Northeast Asia, an excruciating self-reflection on our history and a dispassionate evaluation of the nation’s capabilities. Without a successful framework of peace and prosperity in Northeast Asia, it is difficult to bring about stable peace on the Korean Peninsula. The ambitious aspiration also reflects our awareness and willingness to proactively pioneer our destiny by taking the initiative to usher in the era of Northeast Asia within that framework.