Event: Diplomacy in a Global Age: Ambassadors Discuss Free Trade, Nuclear Proliferation, and the U.S.-South Korea Relationship
Speaker(s): Ambassador Lee Tae-sik and Ambassador Alexander Vershbow
Date: January 28, 2008
Length: 91 minutes
Description: Korean Ambassador to the U.S. Lee Tae-sik and U.S. Ambassador to Korea Alexander Vershbow spoke at a recent Strauss Center event about the U.S. - South Korea relationship.
Ambassador Vershbow began by emphasizing the strong political and economic relationship that has developed between the two countries over the past 50 years and argued for the quick ratification of the Korea - U.S. Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA) signed in June 2007, which would create the third largest free trade area in the world next to the European Union and NAFTA. Ambassador Lee Tae-sik also extolled the many benefits that both countries can expect from implementation of the KORUS FTA and highlighted the strong connection shared between our two countries since the Korean War, honoring members of the Korean War Veterans Association present at the talk. Both ambassadors expressed cautious optimism concerning the progress made in the six-party talks towards dismantling North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, and Ambassador Vershbow called South Korea the most important party to those talks after China.
The statements made here represent the speakers' own thoughts. Neither the LBJ School of Public Affairs, The University of Texas at Austin, nor any organization providing support for this effort necessarily endorses the views and statements included here.