외교부

    Colleagues, Ladies and Gentlemen!

     IFANS hosts a brown bag lunch seminar on a monthly basis to encourage free discussions on the most current issues of international affairs, particularly inviting domestic and international guest speakers from a wide range of sectors.

     Today, it is my great honor to introduce a most distinguished guest, the US Ambassador to the Republic of Korea, His Excellency Mr. Alexander Vershbow.

     We are pleased to welcome Mr. Ambassador as the highest dignitary the IFANS has received since I assumed the post of the IFANS' Chancellor in mid-January 2006.

     Due to frequent media coverage, Mr. Ambassador is already quite a familiar figure among Korean citizens. His accomplishments and achievements are so numerous and well-known that I will only refer to them only briefly at this time.

     Mr. Ambassador has extensive and in-depth  experience in East-West relations, nonproliferation and European security affairs.

     Mr. Ambassador has sucessfully served as Ambassador to the Russian Federation, Ambassador to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for European Affairs at the National Security Council, to name a few. Notably, during his tenure. Mr. Ambassador has achieved outstanding personal success and led the way in a number of important decisions in US foreign affairs.

     Therefore, when Mr. Ambassador arrived in Seoul to take the post of Ambassador to the Republic of Korea last October, it became clear to the Korean people that the Korean-US relations and the issues on the Korean Peninsula, including the Six Party Talks, were matters of the highest priority for President George W. Bush and the US Department of State.

     In the light of the hugely influential role that the Korea-US security alliance has played for over 50 years to maintain peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and the whole North-East Asian region, we can not stress too much the importance of consolidating Korean-US relations.

     Moreover, this is a particularly significant time for our relations as, early this month in Washington DC, the trade ministers of from both governments jointly announced the launch of Free Trade Agreement negotiations between Korea and the United States.

     Vice Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan recently referred to the FTA talks as"a bold move to complete Korea's strategic alliance with the United States."Indeed, I believe that the talks signify a great advancement of our two countries towards a new chapter in the history of the Korea-US relations.

     I believe that we may look forward to an enlightening talk by Mr. Ambassador today, not only regarding the current Korea-US relations and its future visions, but also on his wealth of first-hand experiences as a career diplomat.

     Please join me in a round of applause to welcome Mr. Ambassador.