02/22/2002
EDITORIAL NUMBER=0-09721

BUSH VISITS KOREA

On his trip to Asia, President George W. Bush visited the South Korean side of the demilitarized zone separating Communist North Korea from democratic South Korea. Mr. Bush peered through binoculars to look across the border at a country whose government supports an army of more than one million soldiers, while its people face starvation.

Today, over thirty-seven thousand American troops help more than six-hundred thousand South Korean soldiers defend South Korea. During the Korean War, fought from 1950 to 1953, the U-S led United Nations forces in countering a North Korean invasion supported by Communist China and the Soviet Union. An armistice ended the fighting but no peace treaty was ever signed.

In the fifty years since then, South Korea has blossomed, achieving rapid economic growth and a per capita income thirteen times higher than that in the North. The contrasts between the two are extreme. When satellites take pictures of the Korean peninsula at night, the South is brilliantly lit. The North is completely dark. South Korea poses no military threat to the North. Rather, South Korea stands as a showcase -- a miracle of peaceful development with Asia’s third-largest economy.

For half a century, the U-S has been firmly committed to the security of South Korea. It has no intention of invading the North. But America is concerned about North Korea’s efforts to develop weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles. These weapons could be used against U-S allies in Asia. North Korea is ruled by an oppressive and secretive regime that is a danger to peace and stability. President Bush cited North Korea as one of three countries in an "axis of evil."

Another concern is the North Korean regime’s policy of devoting most of the country’s resources to creating and supporting a giant military machine, while North Korean citizens starve. The U-S provides more food to the North Korean people than any other nation in the world, donating nearly three-hundred thousand tons each year. And as President Bush said, "We’re more than willing to speak out publicly and speak out in private with the North Korean leadership." In the meantime, the U-S will continue to help protect South Korea and its achievements from any potential aggression.

Ultimately, the U-S hopes one day to see a Korean peninsula re-united in commerce and cooperation instead of divided by barbed wire and fear. As President Bush put it, "No nation should be a prison for its own people."