Ladies and GentlemenMy name is Gary Alan Spanovich and I am deeply honored to be here tonight to offer some remarks on this 11th anniversary of the winning of the 2000 Nobel Peace Prize by President Kim Dae-jung of the Republic of Korea. I am the Executive Director of the Wholistic Peace Institute-the WPI for short. We are an international Non Governmental Organization (NGO) whose mission is to reduce and end the killing in the world especially due to war and conflict. We work primarily with Nobel Peace Laureates who we feel are the world’s greatest contemporary peace leaders.

President Kim Dae-jung was a world peacemaker and he was also one of God’s holy peacemakers. In Matthew 5:9 we read “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.” President Kim Dae-jung was truly a son of God and did his work on Earth; we can only assume what great place he occupies in Heaven today. As he was in service to the Lord here on Earth, I know his soul is in service to the Lord in Heaven now. For President Kim Dae-jung’s faith was truly amazing to observe.

When I and the WPI had the honor of hosting President Kim Dae-jung and his gracious wife Madame Lee Hee-ho in Portland in 2008 the University of Portland, a Catholic University bestowed upon him an honorary doctorate of letters degree. The University did this in order to honor President Kim’s life and great personal attributes and to hold him up as a model to their students for all time and to encourage their students as to the possibilities for their own lives. In 2008 President Kim Dae-jung spoke in front of audience of 3,200 students and faculty about the role God played in both his world peace work and democracy work. There are many ways I could honor President Kim Dae-jung but perhaps these are the best words that can summarize a life of “service to the Lord and to the people” for President Kim Dae-jung was both a man of God and a man of the people.

President Kim Dae-jung had a strong personal faith and philosophy that sustained him throughout his decade’s long fight for democracy and human rights in his homeland, the Republic of Korea and his human rights and democracy messages around the world. He displayed Incredible grace and courage under duress and attack in exile. He displayed a prayerfulness and faith in the Lord that could not be questioned by any force on earth; not by kidnapping; not by being on death row; not by assassination attempts. He had an unquestionable faith in the Lord that could not be stopped. President Kim Dae-jung also had a relentless patriotism to the nation of his birth and he believed with all his heart that the Republic of Korea could and would rise from the ashes of history as a dictatorship to take its rightful place among the most admirable democracies of the world; which it is today.

President Kim Dae-jung was always steadfast in his stunning refusal to be cowed silenced or intimidated. He was a creative and perceptive leader of the Korean people and he never lost his faith in the courage and the wisdom of the Korean people who he loved deeply. He was a passionate advocate for reconciliation; for forgiveness; for communion; and for collaboration. He was an eloquent and an articulate agent for free speech; for free elections; and for free will; not only in the Republic of Korea but also around this bruised and blessed planet.

These are all the hallmarks of one mans’ remarkable life and times; Nobel Peace Prizewinner; former President; devoted Catholic and man of faith and letters; and a man of deep family ties and bonds. We gather tonight prayerfully and to renew our admiration on this immensely brave and generous man; a man the world admires for his courage and patience and for his grace and heart almost beyond imagination.
When President Kim Dae-jung came to Portland in 2008 he made many friends, including then Mayor Tom Potter and all of those friends send their greetings tonight as do the WPI Board of Directors. In 2008 Mayor Tom Potter proclaimed April 18 as “A Day of Appreciation For President Kim Dae-jung”; as a result the WPI organizes an event on April 18th every year to commemorate President Kim’s achievements in: democracy, human rights and world peace.

Compassion for our fellow human beings is one of the foundation stones of civilization and forgiveness is the basic value that allow human beings to live together without conflict. President Kim Dae-jung of the Republic of Korea, with great courage, offered the North Korean people forgiveness and compassion through the authoring and the establishing of the “Sunshine Policy”, as well as his ongoing peace work. This resulted in a great reduction in the threat of war on the Korean Peninsula as well as the development of the Kaesong Industrial Area and the Mt. Kumkang area in the DPRK; as well as the influx of humanitarian and food assistance to the people of North Korea and the beginning of the bringing together of both North and South Korean relatives. The Sunshine Policy was in effect for ten years, under President Kim Dae-jung and under President Roh Moo-hyun.

President Kim Dae-jung “Sunshine Policy” originated from one of Aesop’s fables called “The North Wind and the Sun”. In the fable, the sun and the wind compete to remove a man’s coat. The cold north wind blew strongly, but the man clutched his coat and kept it on. The sun shone warmly, and the man voluntarily took off his coat to enjoy the fine weather. The aim of the “Sunshine Policy” was to change North Korea’s attitudes towards the South by encouraging interaction and economic assistance.

President Kim Dae-jung said in his April 22, 2008 speech at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government that “it is not the use of force or containment policy of the Cold War that can successfully change communism. Such change is only possible by providing security assurances through peaceful coexistence and peaceful exchange and by promoting economic, cultural and human exchanges.”

At his presidential inauguration in 1998, he officially proclaimed the Sunshine policy, and proposed the inter-Korean summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il. After that, on June 15, 2000, the first historic summit between the South and the North was held. President Kim Dae-jung’s visit to Pyongyang was welcomed by 500,000 Pyongyang citizens and considered a great success. President Kim Dae-jung emphasized to Chairman Kim Jong-il, “The Republic of Korea would never accept communism, but neither would Kim Dae-jung under the Sunshine Policy have an intention to overthrow the North Korean regime. Kim Dae-jung’s Sunshine Policy did not want unification by force or through absorption. Instead, the Sunshine Policy wanted a unification which would be a win-win to both South and North Korea under the principles of peaceful coexistence, peaceful exchange and peaceful unification.” On this historic visit President Kim Dae-jung also stressed that the improvement of the U.S.-DPRK relations were critical for peace on the Korean Peninsula, and he proposed to mediate between the parties. Chairman Kim Jong il indicated that he earnestly aspired to enhance ties with the U.S.

I met with President Kim Dae-jung perhaps twelve time before and after his visit to Portland in 2008. In each and every meeting I always asked the question, “What can the WPI as an NGO do to help bring peace to the Korean Peninsula”? Each time President Kim Dae-jung told me in one way or another; “the WPI should work directly with the North Korean government and many U.S. NGO’s should work with the North Korean Government. In this way President Bush and the U.S. Government would perhaps see that and follow suit”. Preisdent Kim Dae-jung felt that two countries who have a conflict would find it impossible to realize peace as long as one of more parties refuse to talk to one another. He felt strongly that if the U.S. government began a dialogue directly with North Korea that peace would flow from this; that the Korean War could be ended and North and South Korea could exchange ambassadors.
In President Kim Dae-jung’s speech in Portland on April 18, 2008 he told the audience during the 2000 inter-Korean summit that he met Chairman Kim Jong-il in person and had a 10-hour-long discussion. Kim Jong-il said he was aspiring to improve relations with the United States and that the reason he developed nuclear weapons was to deal with the pressure from the U.S. and to use it as a bargaining chip to move the U.S. to enhance its ties with North Korea.

With memory of losing sovereignty toward the end of Chosun dynasty, North Korea is wary of such neighboring countries as Japan, China, and Russia. President Kim said that Chairman Kim Jong-il strongly agreed to his argument that the U.S. forces should be stationed on the Korean Peninsula even after the unification of the two Koreas in order to maintain stability both on the Peninsula and in Northeast Asia. President Kim Jong-il later delivered the same message to Secretary of State Albright during her visit to Pyongyang.

President Kim Dae-jung also at that time explained North Korea’s stance to President Clinton, and asked him to engage the North. President Clinton, consistently supported the Sunshine policy and readily accepted the offer, and invited Vice-Chairman Jo Myung-rok of the DPRK National Defense Commission, the second most powerful man in North Korea to the White House, and had Secretary of State Madeline Albright make a visit to Pyongyang to meet Chairman Kim Jong-il. They reached agreement on the peaceful resolution of North Korean missile and nuclear issues and the prospect of normalization of diplomatic ties between the two nations seemed hopeful. These initiatives might be considered an effort to implement an American type of Sunshine policy.

​However, before these understandings were actually put in place, President Clinton’s term ended. Then, the situation dramatically changed. President Bush adopted a North Korea policy of “ABC: Anything But Clinton” and totally retracted everything advanced by his predecessor. The days of warm sunshine were replaced by those of a cold north wind. During the following eight years of the Bush administration, North Korea withdrew from the Non-Proliferation Treaty, expelled IAEA inspectors who were monitoring North Korean nuclear facilities, launched long-range missiles and eventually conducted nuclear testing in October 2006. The North Korean nuclear issue has not been settled yet.

Meanwhile, President Kim Dae-jung’s Sunshine policy had reaped a great success through the first inter-Korean summit. Tension on the Korean Peninsula were greatly eased. The South built an industrial complex in North Korea and started a tourism business. About 1.8 million people visited Mt. Kumkang in North Korea. While only 200 people had been able to be reunited with their separated families during the previous 50 years, the number now reaches 16,000. South Korea had been providing North Korea with 400,000 tons of food and 300,000 tons of fertilizers every year. Tens of millions of sacks containing food and fertilizer were distributed to every corner of North Korea, with names of South Korean producers printed on them.

The North Korean people were stunned to find that the food and fertilizer were sent by South Korea to help address their hunger, contrary to their belief that the nation hated North Korea and planned to invade it as a pawn of American Imperialism. The hostility North Koreans had against its Southern counterpart turned to friendly sentiment. And now they envy their brethren in the South and wish to enjoy the affluent life of South Koreans. This change of sentiment led to cultural change as well; people in North Korea began to enjoy South Korean popular songs, TV dramas and even movies; secretly, of course. What a huge change. What a proud success for the Sunshine policy.

The Sunshine policy, which advocated the settlement of problems through dialogue, exchange and cooperation while excluding the use of force or confrontation which characterized the Cold War, had not only achieved success in Korea but also proved to be an effective model internationally.

President Kim Dae-jung said in Portland that “it is obvious that what North Korea needs is not nuclear weapons but its economic recovery, and in order to revive the economy, it needs the help of the U.S. Otherwise, it cannot borrow loans from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) or the Asian Development Bank (ADB). Only when there’s the help of the U.S., North Korea will also be able to normalize its diplomatic ties with Japan and receive about 10 billion dollars for Japan’s wrongdoings committed during past colonial rule. Moreover, it will be able to draw foreign investment from across the world.”

North Korea is rich in underground resources such as tungsten, magnetite, gold, copper, and coal. In particular, North Korea has the world’s largest reserves of magnetite, which is rare mineral resource but essential for manufacturing airplanes, cars and electronic goods. The economic value of the total underground resources in North Korea is estimated at 2 trillion US dollars. Once North Korea explores and develops these resources, it will be able to overcome its poverty. As President Kim Dae-jung has said before; in order for North Korea to develop such resources, the assistance of the U.S. is critical. Without its assistance, North Korea won’t be able to receive proper collaboration from the international community.

We are living in the age of competition for resources, the age when countries with resources can get rich. Nations with resources and those involved in the exploration of resources can benefit greatly. China already started developing North Korean natural resources. EU nations including UK, France, Germany, Italy and Sweden are also partially participating in such development. However, what North Korea awaits is the U.S. It is because, as mentioned earlier, North Korea can start its economic development in earnest only through the collaboration with the U.S.

President Kim Dae-jung said in Portland that the West, including the U.S., had confronted the Communist camp led by the Soviet Union, and maintained a containment policy of the Cold War for 50 years. However, the West did not achieve success, nor bring about fundamental change until the U.S. changed its stance and started pursuing dialogues, exchanges and collaboration with the Soviet Union.

In order to support this new approach, the OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) Treaty, the so-called Helsinki Treaty was concluded. Participants agreed that they would pursue economic, cultural and human exchanges and that they would respect the sovereignty of Eastern European countries. As a result of the treaty, people in the communist bloc could go outside, and also receive visitors from outside. They were greatly shocked to find out that the outside world, which they were taught to be a bad society, is actually attractive, and that they were living in a society which was like hell, not paradise. Finally, public sentiment changed. It was commotion from within that then led to democratization of the Soviet Union and Eastern European countries. Although Western communities couldn’t succeed in taking off the coat of communism through the north wind of the Cold War, they could do so with warm sunshine.

Likewise, they couldn’t reap success in changing China or Vietnam through war or containment, but they could see considerable change by establishing diplomatic ties and seeking exchanges and collaboration with them. The Communist empire which once threatened humanity is now gone from the main stage of history. Remaining Stalinist states are also undergoing drastic change. Aren’t these all great successes of the Sunshine policy?

The Sunshine Policy under President Kim Dae-jung and continued under President Roh Moo-hyun reduced tensions on the peninsula significantly, greatly reducing the threat of war. North Korean sentiment toward South Korea also changed from the past hostile and revengeful feelings to friendly ones. North Korean people found that the South was providing them with food and fertilizer aid from the names of South Korean firms printed on the food and fertilizer sacks. They felt grateful to South Korea for such assistance.

However and sadly in early 2008 the cold North Wind blew again on inter-Korean dialogue and relationships and a new “Get Tough Policy” was implemented replacing the ten year Sunshine Policy. As a result the South Korean and North Korean relationships have come to their lowest ebb since the Korean War which ended with an Armistice on July 27, 1953. Since then there have been hostilities and provocations; continuance of the North’s nuclear program; the shutting down of the Mt Kumgang area and the end of hundreds of thousands of South Korean tourists; peacemakers traveling to North Korea; and the reduction of the Kaesong industrial area, plus many other consequences. The current “Get Tough Policy” is not working and it is time to return to the Sunshine Policy for the “Get Tough Policy” has made the world and especially the Korean Peninsula much more dangerous. For our children’s sake as well as our sake; the Sun must return.

President Kim Dae-jung always felt that the North Korean nuclear issue would be best to deal with it under the framework of the six-party talks and close collaboration between concerned parties of the talks and the world should have confidence in them. He firmly felt that denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula could be achieved and that North Korea could be encouraged to become a member of the international community.

President Kim Dae-jung supported the vision of the WPI to engage in a “Multi Nobel Peace Laureate World Peace Conference” to explore new ideas for ending the Korean War and exchanging ambassadors. In this way when problems occurred the generals of North Korea, South Korea, the U.S. would not be charged with the responsibility of solving it. Rather the diplomatic core of the two Korea’s would solve the problems peacefully. I have talked to many Nobel Peace Laureates who would like to attend such a conference on the Korean conflict to help solve it and who would be willing to offer a “Nobel Peace Action Plan For Ending the Korean War”. The WPI hopes to work with the Kim Dae-jung Peace Center and others on holding this Nobel Peace Laureate conference. It might be best held in China, perhaps at Yanbian University.

In conclusion President and Nobel Peace Prizewinner Kim Dae-jung was a man who beyond many odds maintained both a faith filled, even holy attitude and displayed great tenaciousness with his beliefs in reconciliation, forgiveness, and compassion. Truly he did the Lord’s will when he taught from Aesop’s fable such a simple story but one of such great meaning.

How mysterious and wondrous the works of God are that he placed such a person among us and we had the privilege to know this man and have our lives touched by him and how lucky the Republic of Korea was to have him as the Father of democracy. We ask the Lord tonight to let our brother in Christ, President Kim Dae-jung know of this event and of our tremendous admiration and heartfelt regard for him.

Thank you Ladies and Gentlemen