Source: Government of the Republic of Korea
My fellow Koreans, compatriots overseas, decorated independence activists and surviving family members of national heroes,
Today marks the 81st anniversary of Liberation Day, when we restored our lost national sovereignty and regained our independence.
As a poet wrote in an ode to liberation, “Hymns to the sun have only ever been voiced in places bereft of sunshine.”
In other words, even in times of utter darkness, we were blessed with patriots and independence activists who sacrificed themselves and never ceased dreaming of reclaiming the light.
They lived through dark times, with no future in sight, yet did not succumb to despair. To build a better tomorrow for their homeland, they quietly gave everything they had.
They were born in different places and came from all walks of life, but they all shared the same resolute determination to reclaim their country. Social rank and class were inconsequential, as were distinctions between left and right. From Hallasan Mountain to Baekdusan Mountain, one united resounding cry echoed across the Korean Peninsula.
I bow my head in profound respect and gratitude to the fallen patriots who devoted their lives with one mind and one purpose, as well as to the surviving decorated independence activists and family members of deceased heroes.
To properly honor their noble spirit, we will hold our surviving patriotic heroes and decorated independence activists in greater esteem, while stepping up efforts to identify and confer honors upon independence activists who have yet to receive formal recognition.
We will also actively work to establish memorial facilities dedicated to independence movement activities both at home and abroad, so that the value of the movement can become more deeply rooted in our daily lives. At the same time, we will impart the proud legacy of our independence heroes to more members of future generations.
Having promulgated on July 2 the Special Act on Asset Confiscation for Pro-Japanese and Anti-National Collaborators to the State, we will investigate and recover assets illicitly accumulated by pro-Japanese, anti-national collaborators and hold them fully accountable before history.
We will take a more responsible approach to managing the state-confiscated assets of pro-Japanese collaborators, ensuring that all proceeds go toward honoring and supporting decorated independence activists and surviving family members.
We will spare no effort in redressing the lingering vestiges of our painful history and safeguarding the honor and well-being of those who devoted themselves to our independence.
My beloved fellow Koreans,
Just as our forebears never surrendered their yearning for independence, even after sovereignty had been snatched away, our people have continued to forge a path to a better tomorrow at every moment of crisis.
Amid the ruins of war and national division, we nurtured dreams of economic growth and industrialization.
Under the jackboots of brutal dictatorships, we brought popular sovereignty and democracy into full bloom.
During the sovereign default crisis, we kindled a new light, joining the information revolution and rising as an IT powerhouse.
The past eighty-one years have been a time of hopes and dreams, as we have overcome one seemingly impossible challenge after another and brightened the light of reclaimed sovereignty. We have gone from being a nation that received aid to one that provides it; a country ruled by military dictatorship to an exemplary democracy that even overcame an insurrection; a country unable to make even a single rifle to a defense powerhouse the world can trust and rely on; and a nation that once looked with envy upon the cultures of advanced countries to a cultural powerhouse that has captured hearts across the globe.
Our turbulent modern history raises a question: “With what light will the Republic of Korea illuminate its future?”
Having kindled the light of liberation, industrialization and democratization, we now need a new liberation in order for the Republic of Korea to rise further.
Today, the Republic of Korea stands at a decisive juncture – it can either be swept away and wrecked by towering waves or surge forward as a global leader, enjoying boundless opportunities.
Faced with a civilizational transformation and a seismic shift in the international order, we must create possibilities rather than dwell on impossibilities.
Together, we must strive to build an irreplaceable Republic of Korea – a country the world cannot do without, a country every nation wants to work with and a country no nation can supersede.
We will fundamentally realign Korea’s resources and capabilities and redraw the nation’s plans for growth, rekindling the hopes and dreams that have been fading in our hearts.
We will create bastions of growth throughout the country and build a nation of hope where everyone, wherever they are, can pursue their dreams.
The generations before us sold their farmland to educate their children and helped build the Republic of Korea of today. With a similar resolve, we will strengthen the economy’s growth potential through bold investments in the future and ensure that the fruits of that growth are enjoyed equitably by our people across the nation.
As the fruits of innovation and the opportunities of future growth are shared evenly across the nation, our bold vision will brighten all citizens’ daily lives, inspiring them with the courage to embrace new challenges.
In particular, we will build a strong “ladder of opportunity” that is available to all age groups, so that young people taking their first steps into society can overcome setbacks and always find a second chance.
A yearning for independence and passion for industrialization and democratization made the young people of earlier eras the driving force of a new nation. Likewise, the government will firmly back the youth of today, helping them become the proud leaders of the future.
I am well aware that this will be a difficult and arduous undertaking. But when we look back on the countless crises the great Republic of Korea has overcome, I am convinced that there is nothing we cannot achieve.
The workers powering Korea’s industrialization helped make remarkable progress and left us with a solid foundation – our world-class manufacturing competitiveness, robust digital infrastructure and innovative industrial ecosystem.
The democracy that our sovereign citizens stepped forward to attain has fostered rationality, transparency and predictability – the essential conditions for growth – and has created an environment where boundless creativity and a desire to take on challenges can flourish.
Through our experience of successfully achieving in just a few decades what took other countries centuries, our people have gained a remarkable capacity to actively embrace new technologies and cultures.
The present-day Republic of Korea was wrought through fierce struggles, and the citizens of today will usher in a new future for the nation.
My fellow Koreans,
The vision of an “irreplaceable Republic of Korea” encompasses both the dreams of our independence activists, who sought to contribute to world peace and human prosperity, and the resolve of present-day Koreans.
In an age of barbarity, when even human dignity was trampled underfoot, our forebears yearned for “the power of a highly developed culture.” Even while fighting the brutality of Japanese colonial rule, they longed for “peace in the East.”
Even when our nation was dominated by a ruthless international order, when survival of the fittest was the rule and the strong preyed upon the weak, they dreamed of an era of peace and coexistence, a time when all countries could live together.
Building on those desperate aspirations, the present-day Republic of Korea is establishing itself as a strong nation that commands the world’s attention, an enticing nation that captures hearts around the globe.
A prosperous Republic of Korea can never be achieved through economic growth alone. It must be underpinned by a stable and peaceful international order.
At this very moment, we are keenly aware of the impact a war on the other side of the world can have on our people’s lives. How much greater, then, would be the cost of tension and conflict on this very land?
Last year, standing in this exact spot, I stated that we respect North Korea’s system, will not pursue any form of unification by absorption and have no intention of engaging in hostile acts.
Now, one year on, I would like to lay out a roadmap for putting those principles into practice.
First is inclusive peaceful coexistence built on mutual respect. The South and the North must respect each other and avoid unnecessary confrontation. We must each work to become less hostile, starting with our perceptions, norms and institutions.
I hope the South and the North can sit down together to pursue peaceful coexistence and shared growth. Rather than a concession, this would mark the start of coexistence.
Second is stable peaceful coexistence with no need to fight. We will institute mechanisms for managing tensions and conflicts, along with multiple safeguards for preventing crises and escalation.
We will comprehensively review the regional security situation and take proactive, sustained measures for peace. Securing a positive response from the North will allow us to start working toward stability on the Korean Peninsula.
I hope that every step we take helps ease military tensions in the border areas and greatly fosters trust and stability on the Korean Peninsula.
Third is responsible peaceful coexistence contributing to world peace.
Peace on the Korean Peninsula will, in turn, bolster security and cooperation in Northeast Asia and mark a milestone on the path toward a nuclear-weapon-free world. It will offer hope and new possibilities to a conflict-ridden world.
We will embark on a journey to end war and transform the Korean Peninsula’s unstable armistice into a peace regime.
Let’s drop all intentions of threatening one another and initiate dialogue among directly concerned parties in order to conclude this long war. Through such dialogue, we can also devise effective ways to curb advances in the North’s nuclear capabilities.
The Republic of Korea is currently trapped in hostility and confrontation – a condition that prevents our people from realizing their full potential and dynamism.
We will transform hostility and confrontation into the driving force for peaceful coexistence and shared prosperity. We will fulfill our role and responsibilities as a “pacemaker” and a stakeholder in peace on the Korean Peninsula.
Peaceful coexistence on the Korean Peninsula is a duty, not a choice. As such,
we will begin our forward-looking relationship with our eastern neighbor by taking on greater responsibilities and roles on the global stage.
Over the past year, Korea and Japan have built a foundation of trust through dynamic shuttle diplomacy. We have broadened our cooperation in supply chains, energy and advanced industries, and we also have steadily expanded the basis for exchanges between younger people.
Guided by its pragmatic diplomacy centered on national interests, my administration will continue to broaden the horizons of cooperation in pursuit of our shared interests and pool our collective wisdom to resolve common challenges together.
Above all, consolidating our past achievements requires solid trust between the peoples of our two nations.
Trust is formed through mutual empathy and a sincere recognition of one another’s pain.
To this day, victims and bereaved families are still living with the wounds and pain of the past.
Korea-Japan relations have sometimes been marked by discord, but there have also been efforts to forge a better future together through courageously and sincerely facing up to the past, as seen in the South Korea-Japan Joint Declaration of 1998, agreed to between former leaders Kim Dae-jung and Keizō Obuchi.
Korea-Japan cooperation is now more important than ever. The new bilateral relationship we are building must warmly illuminate those who are still suffering from pain in the shadows of history.
I hope that Korean and Japanese administrations can build upon an even deeper sense of trust to usher in another sixty years of peace and prosperity – “not as close yet distant neighbors, but as truly close neighbors.”
My beloved fellow Koreans,
I am well aware that current realities make it hard for our people to harbor grand hopes and dreams.
High prices continue to weigh us down. Microbusiness owners and the self-employed are in deep agony, and young people are struggling with anxiety over jobs and the future.
Thus, the vision of an “irreplaceable Republic of Korea” is neither a catchy slogan nor a hope to be fulfilled in the distant future. It is an urgent pledge to overcome this grave reality together and achieve growth for all.
Our great forebearers proved that the bigger the people’s shared dreams, the greater their effect on the nation’s destiny, and a common resolve to embrace hope changes the course of history.
It is our duty to make the light passed down by our forebears shine further and brighter in order to improve the people’s lives and the world’s future.
To this end, we must first break down our internal obstacles. Differences must not engender hostility, nor should hatred, exclusion or conflict be allowed to hinder the nation’s progress.
In the face of international competition, which is reshaping the global economy, we must all work together – the people and the government, the central and local governments, and businesses and workers.
No matter how different our thoughts and interests may be, the country we and future generations will live in is one. All our people share the aspiration to “pass down a better country.”
My government, founded on popular sovereignty, will lead the way with a politics of compromise and coexistence. We will seek universal solutions while respecting differences and pool our strength for the sake of the nation’s future, even amid competition.
In this way, I, together with the people, will write a new chapter in our history of liberation.
We will achieve a liberation of hope that eases frustration over slow growth and anxiety about the future; a liberation of opportunity that allows everyone to overcome imbalances and inequalities in order to take on challenges; a liberation of balance that helps new possibilities bloom across the land; and a liberation of peace that involves a complete cessation of threats of war and confrontation.
We will achieve the liberation of an “irreplaceable Republic of Korea,” which will surge forward to achieve global prosperity, with our culture bridging nations and peace on the Korean Peninsula contributing to global peace.
With the wisdom of the great sovereign citizens as our guiding light, we will boldly lead efforts to help create a world of freedom and equality, coexistence and mutual prosperity – the world that our forebears so ardently desired.
I believe this is the proper way to honor the devotion of our forebears, who never stopped dreaming of a new Republic of Korea, even in the face of adversity.
Thank you.