I I r'.
SPEECH BY THE PRIME MINISTER, THE HON P J KEATING
STATE DINNER FOR PRESIDENT KIM YOUNG SAM
PARLIAMENT HOUSE CANBERRA
17 NOVEMBER 1994
Mr President, we meet again.
On this occasion it is here, in Australia, where you and
Mrs Kim are very welcome guests and friends.
For me it is a real and personal pleasure to welcome you
and your distinguished party to our country.
Before I turn to our very healthy bilateral relationship,.
I must say something about our work together on APEC.
In many respects nothing nearly so important would have
come from Bogor Mr President had it not been for your
vision, and persistence.
From its inception there have been APEC doubters and
critics. Korea has never been in that company.
More importantly, you Mr President, have been at the
frontline of our efforts to make something substantial
and significant of APEC.
We have shared a view about what was needed and have
joined our efforts to get the best possible outcome.
Through your efforts you have stamped Korea and yourself
as leaders in the Asia-Pacific.
That we were able at Bogor to agree an historic
declaration for free trade throughout the Asia-Pacific by
2020 is evidence of this.
Our agreement there is, of course, just the start of the
work and effort that is needed to turn this commitment to
reality.
One thing you can be sure of, however, is that we would
never have secured a result as significant as we did had
leaders not had the will to lead.
As we now develop ways of taking forward and acting on
the Bogor declaration I know I will work closely again
with you Mr President.
While APEC is a broad regional body, it also stimulates
the development of bilateral relations. We saw in
Indonesia dozens of meetings between Asia-Pacific leaders
which preceded Bogor all ensuring better understanding
and co-operation between countries in the region.
Mr President, your visit to Australia, like mine to Korea
last year, is a sign that we both believe now in the time
to take the relationship between Australia and Korea to a
new level.
Our ties go back many years and are of the deepest kind.
Between 1950 and 1953, 17,000 Australian men and women
served in Korea to help defend its people from
aggression. More than three hundred died there. I paid
tribute to some of them when I visited the United Nations
cemetery in Pusan during my visit to Korea last year.
I am pleased to announce tonight that the Australian
Government will contribute $ 200,000 towards the
construction of a national monument on Anzac Parade in
Canberra to mark the sacrifice of the Australians who
served in Korea and to commemorate the links between our
two countries.
Australia has been a firm supporter of Korea's security
since that time. We are also conscious that, despite
recent hopeful developments, the security problems of the
peninsula continue to require vigilance and the active
interest of all nations in the region.
While an earlier generation of Australians knew Korea as
a country ravaged by war, the current generation knows a
very different country a strong democracy and one of
the most dynamic economies in the world.
Australia has been a partner in that growth.
In the late 1960s, for example, Australian engineering
support and consultancy helped to build POSCO's Pohang
steelworks. Australia has been proud to be associated
with POSCO and with the development of other Korean
industries.
There is a natural complementarity between our economies
which benefits us both and adds breadth and depth to the
relationship. Over recent years, our economic links have grown at an
astounding rate.
The Republic of Korea is now our third largest export
market and is likely to be our second largest in the next
two years. It is our eighth largest source of imports.
Two way trade grew by 16 per cent in 1993-94 to more
than $ 6.5 billion.
Korea's growing status as a world trading nation is one
of the reasons, in addition to Trade Minister Kim
Chul-Su's long experience and personal qualities, that
Australia is supporting him for the post of Director
General of the World Trade Organisation.
We are also encouraged to see Korean and Australian
companies increasingly working together in a range of
major projects.
I attach real significance to your decision to bring with
you a distinguished group of senior Korean
businesspeople. I have no doubt they will find new
opportunities here for trade and investment, and that
their Australian colleagues will find new opportunities
in Korea.
Investment both ways has lagged behind our trading
relationship and is one area which we should work to
strengthen over the coming years.
Scientific research, industrial technology and energy cooperation
are other fields in which we can do more
together.
Each of us has the sense, I think, Mr President, that
this vital and growing economic relationship needs still
to be matched by greater bonds between our people. We do
not yet know enough about each other although we are both
working hard on this aspect of our relationship.
For Australia's part, we have nominated Korean as one of
the principal Asian languages to be taught in Australian
schools under our national languages strategy.
Nine Australian universities now offer a degree program
in Korean, compared with only one in 1988.
Education and closer human contact, through tourism for
example, will help to reinforce the economic
relationship. But it will do more: it will enrich the
lives and deepen the cultural understanding of those who
take part.
So the President and I have much to talk about tomorrow.
I began by saying that it was a great personal pleasure
to welcome you to Australia, Mr President.
One reason for that is because of my admiration, and the
admiration of Australians, for your deep commitment to
democracy, expressed at times at considerable personal
risk. Throughout your career you have stood unwaveringly and
courageously for civil and political freedom, for
I r4 democratic parliamentary institutions and for the
observance of human rights. Your political life has left
a lasting legacy to your country, and a lasting example
to the world.
For this reason, it is particularly appropriate for me to
welcome you here in our country's Parliament House on
behalf of the Government and people of Australia and to
invite you to speak to us.
I now call on the leader of the National Party,
Mr Fischer, to join me in welcoming you.
ends