History of U.S. presidents visiting DMZ and their messages
- 5 years ago
역대 미국 대통령의 DMZ 방문... 그들이 남긴 메세지는
President Trump's planned visit to the Demilitarized Zone on Sunday,… will make him the fifth U.S. President to do so.
Our Kan Hyeong-woo takes us through the history of U.S. leaders visiting the DMZ... and the significance of their trips.
In November 1983, Ronald Reagan made a trip to Observation Post Ouellette just south of the Military Demarcation Line separating the two Koreas.
He looked at the North through binoculars... becoming the first sitting U.S. President to travel to the DMZ.
In his speech to American troops at Camp Liberty Bell,... Reagan said they stand between the free world and the armed forces of a system that is hostile to everything Americans believe in,... calling them "the frontlines of freedom".
Bill Clinton's trip to the DMZ in July 1993 came when tensions were high between Pyeongyang and Washington with North Korea leaving the nuclear non-proliferation treaty four months earlier.
Clinton even visited the 'Bridge of No Return' that crosses the Military Demarcation Line in the Joint Security Area.
His warning message to Pyeongyang was loud and clear - if North Korea develops nuclear weapons, the regime will be erased from the earth.
Nine years later,... George W. Bush visited the DMZ in February 2002... a month after he named the North as part of an 'axis of evil' during his State of the Union address.
But Bush toned down his words after his visit to the DMZ.
At a joint press conference with South Korea's then-President Kim Dae-jung,... Bush said he was deeply concerned about a country that is not transparent, allows its people to starve and develops weapons of mass destruction.
He added that both Seoul and Washington have no intention of attacking Pyeongyang.
When Barack Obama paid a visit to the DMZ in March 2012, he told U.S. troops that the contrast between South and North Korea could not be "starker"... saying that the differences in prosperity and freedom between the two Koreas were striking.
Also referring to Pyeongyang's announcement of its intention to conduct a missile launch after it had agreed to suspend long-range missile launches in exchange for food aid from Washington,... Obama warned that North Korea will achieve nothing by threats or provocations and a missile launch would make it even more isolated than it already is.
Kan Hyeong-woo, Arirang News
President Trump's planned visit to the Demilitarized Zone on Sunday,… will make him the fifth U.S. President to do so.
Our Kan Hyeong-woo takes us through the history of U.S. leaders visiting the DMZ... and the significance of their trips.
In November 1983, Ronald Reagan made a trip to Observation Post Ouellette just south of the Military Demarcation Line separating the two Koreas.
He looked at the North through binoculars... becoming the first sitting U.S. President to travel to the DMZ.
In his speech to American troops at Camp Liberty Bell,... Reagan said they stand between the free world and the armed forces of a system that is hostile to everything Americans believe in,... calling them "the frontlines of freedom".
Bill Clinton's trip to the DMZ in July 1993 came when tensions were high between Pyeongyang and Washington with North Korea leaving the nuclear non-proliferation treaty four months earlier.
Clinton even visited the 'Bridge of No Return' that crosses the Military Demarcation Line in the Joint Security Area.
His warning message to Pyeongyang was loud and clear - if North Korea develops nuclear weapons, the regime will be erased from the earth.
Nine years later,... George W. Bush visited the DMZ in February 2002... a month after he named the North as part of an 'axis of evil' during his State of the Union address.
But Bush toned down his words after his visit to the DMZ.
At a joint press conference with South Korea's then-President Kim Dae-jung,... Bush said he was deeply concerned about a country that is not transparent, allows its people to starve and develops weapons of mass destruction.
He added that both Seoul and Washington have no intention of attacking Pyeongyang.
When Barack Obama paid a visit to the DMZ in March 2012, he told U.S. troops that the contrast between South and North Korea could not be "starker"... saying that the differences in prosperity and freedom between the two Koreas were striking.
Also referring to Pyeongyang's announcement of its intention to conduct a missile launch after it had agreed to suspend long-range missile launches in exchange for food aid from Washington,... Obama warned that North Korea will achieve nothing by threats or provocations and a missile launch would make it even more isolated than it already is.
Kan Hyeong-woo, Arirang News