Word: kim
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South Korea's Kim Young...
...Kim: To be honest with you, North Korea is my greatest concern. I think seriously about this every day. I am sure that they are intent on acquiring nuclear weapons, but I don't think that there is any crystal-clear evidence that they have already acquired them. Unfortunately, we cannot trust any promises or pledges they make. In our experience, they abruptly broke all of them. It is also our experience that if you make concessions toward the North, then they come up with another demand for concessions, rather than making a positive response...
...Kim: It will be a great burden for South Korea to try to absorb North Korea, as it was for West Germany to absorb East Germany. I made it very clear several times that we are not interested in unilaterally absorbing North Korea. Instead we must take time and patience to move closer together. Instant gratification is out of the question. Based on this philosophy, we are trying not to provoke North Korea unnecessarily...
...Kim: We have a long, unfortunate history. When the Prime Minister admitted last year that Japan invaded Korea, I think he honestly apologized. I have made it very clear that we don't need any monetary compensation. What we need from Japan is moral recognition of its wrongdoing. We should not be burdened by what happened in history, although we should not forget what happened in the past. It is very important for Korea and Japan, and for that matter, for peace in Asia...
...Kim: My philosophy is that we should handle the rising competition by opening our markets and upgrading the quality of our products rather than just trying to protect ourselves. I admit that in the past there were unnecessary regulations that were very cumbersome for foreigners to deal with. I established a special task force to find these unnecessary regulations and make the business climate for foreigners much more favorable. Now, for example, foreigners can buy land in Korea, which was impossible before. Someday foreigners will say it is easiest to do business in Korea...