버락 오바마 전 미국 대통령은 3일 “북한이 계속해서 세계 질서에서 벗어나 있기를 선택한다면 반드시 그에 걸맞은 결과를 직면하게 될 것”이라고 말했다.
오바마 전 대통령은 이날 오전 조선일보가 서울 워커힐호텔에서 주최한 제8회 아시안리더십콘퍼런스(ALC) 기조연설에서 “미래는 파괴하려는 이들의 것이 아닌, ‘만들어가는 이들(those who build)’의 것임을 알아야 한다”며 이렇게 말했다.
오바마 전 대통령은 이날 대통령 재임 8년간의 경험과 ‘세상을 바꿀 리더십’에 대해 강연했다.
오바마 전 대통령은 “세계는 지금 중대한 변곡점에 있다”고 말했다. 그는 “세계는 과거 어느 때보다도 번영하고 있지만, 경제적 불평등의 심화와 테러·민족주의 양상 등 불확실성이 어느 때보다 높다”고 말했다. “과학기술로 인해 사람들은 과거 어느 때보다 연결돼 있지만, 이로 인해 테러리즘과 독재자들은 어느 때보다 파괴적인 무기를 가지고 있다”는 것이다.
그는 이어 “이런 상황에서는 때로 부족·민족에 기대거나, '우리'와 '그들'을 나누는 정치가 득세할 위험이 있다”며 “지난 두 번의 세계 대전은 이런 변곡점에서 변화에 적응하지 못할 경우 나타날 수 있는 끔찍한 결과물이었다”고 말했다.
오바마 전 대통령은 “하지만 이럴 때일수록 우리에게는 두려움을 극복하고, 분열을 넘는 새로운 사고와 행동의 방식을 가질 것이 요구된다”고 말했다.
이어 “지난 10년간, 세계의 평균 수명이 늘고 극빈층 인구는 절반으로 줄었으며 여성 참정권을 얻어냈고, 원하는 누구와도 결혼할 자유를 얻었다”며 “이런 놀라운 성과로부터 자신감을 갖고, 공포 대신 희망을 바탕으로 세계 변화에 대응해야 한다”고 말했다.
오바마 전 대통령은 세계가 직면한 문제들을 해결하기 위해 “국제적인 질서를 중시할 것”을 강조했다. 특히 북한을 향해 “안보와 번영은 신(新) 무기를 추구하는 것이 아니라 규칙과 규범을 강화하는 데서 온다”고 충고했다.
오바마 전 대통령은 이어 “신기술을 기반으로 한 경제가 소수가 아닌, 모든 사람을 위해 작동하도록 해야 한다”고 했다. 그는 “소수가 부를 독점하는 경제 체제는 오랫동안 작동할 수 없다”고 말했다.
오바마 전 대통령은 “민주주의는 때론 이루기 어렵고 그 성과가 쉽게 부서지기도 한다”며 “하지만 자유주의적인 국제 질서가 힘에 의한 질서보다 우선이라는 것을 믿는다”고 말했다.
이어 “한국과 미국이 함께한다면 극복하지 못할 문제가 없다”면서 “우리가 공통의 가치와 이상을 함께 지켜나간다면 우리 다음 세대의 리더들도 자랑스러운 유산을 이어갈 것으로 믿는다”고 말했다.
다음은 오바마 전 대통령의 연설 전문.
Good morning. Joh-eun achim [joe-nah-CHEEM.] Thank you all for having me, and congratulations to the Chosun Daily Newspaper for recently publishing its 30,000th edition.
It’s so good to be back here in Seoul. I visited here four times as President of the United States – that’s as many times as I visited any other city outside of the United States. That’s a testament to the strength of the alliance between the United States and the Republic of Korea, and the friendship between our people. It’s also a sign of how much I like kimchi.
I’m pleased to be back here during my first trip to Asia as a former President. And though my visit is brief, I look forward to catching up with my old friend, President Lee, and sitting down with your new leader, President Moon.
I’m also glad we’re joined here today by my good friend and long-time aide, Mark Lippert. Mark was a terrific Ambassador here in Seoul, and I know he and his family loved getting to know the Korean people. Thank you, Mark, for your service to our country and to this alliance.
I look forward to sitting down Dr. Hahm Chaibong and taking some questions. But first, let me offer a few observations on the world today.
It’s been clear for a while that the world is at an inflection point. From a city like this, we see clearly the value of the rules-based international order that the United States has been invested in building since the end of World War II, and since our soldiers fought together to protect freedom here on the Korean peninsula.
There is, perhaps, no greater testament to the power of free markets, democratic governance, and interconnection with the wider world than the stark differences on display on the Korean peninsula. Here in Seoul, we see the enormous prosperity, opportunity, and vibrant culture that comes with an open society, while in North Korea, we see the tragic poverty, repression, and suffering that comes with a closed society, and hostility to the wider world.
Make no mistake: this progress was hard-earned. It depended upon the strength of alliances, and the ironclad commitment of the United States of America to stand by the people of the Republic of Korea year after year, decade after decade. And today, I want to pay tribute to the American servicemen and women who remain stationed here in South Korea – I had no higher honor in my life than serving as their Commander-in-Chief.
Of course, this progress also depended on the ingenuity, creativity, and commitment to democratic progress embraced by the Korean people year after year, decade after decade. Through your commitment to innovation; your work ethic; your ties of trade and commerce with the nations of the world, including your trade agreement with the United States, you’ve created a better future for generation after generation.
You’ve also become an exporter of popular culture to the rest of the world. Some of our young people in America have even learned to speak some Korean so they can keep up with the band “SHINee” [pronounced “shiny”]. In exchange, I understand SHINee has developed a passion for America’s In-N-Out Burgers.
So we have much to be proud of. But that doesn’t mean we can rest easy. For we can see that the same international order that we have invested so much in has become increasingly strained by the accelerating forces of change – globalization, technology, and here on the Korean peninsula, the proliferation of nuclear weapons – these shifts have shaken the foundations of individual families and our collective politics, in developed and developing countries alike.
The world is more prosperous than ever before, but alongside these changes, we’ve also seen a rise in inequality and wage stagnation across many advanced economies, leaving too many workers and communities fearful of diminishing prospects for their children. The world is by most measures less violent than ever before; but it remains riven by old divisions and new conflicts. The world is more connected than ever before, but even as technology spreads knowledge and the possibility of greater understanding between peoples, it also empowers terrorists and tyrants who acquire the most destructive weapons of war.
What’s more, in an age of instant information, where TV and Twitter can feed us steady streams of bad news, it can seem like there’s too much uncertainty; that maybe, the center cannot hold. It leaves people searching for some sense of control. It leads to new calls for isolationism or nationalism; to roll back the rights of others, or retreat into the comfortable view that says what’s good for me is good enough, everyone else is on their own.
Those can be understandable, even tempting reactions to changing times. But it’s important to remember, I think, that the world went through a similar moment in the shift from the agricultural era to the industrial age. Then, too, there was a temptation to respond to great uncertainty by falling back into the comfort of tribes, and nationalist thought, and xenophobia, and a politics of “us” versus “them.” And the first and second world wars showed us all too terribly what happens when we fail to adapt to such change.
We know that there’s a better way – to overcome our fears, to reach across our divides, to think anew and act anew – and emerge stronger than before.
Just look at the ways the U.S. and the Republic of Korea have worked together. We’re bound by the service of those who fought together to protect the freedom of South Korea. We’re linked by the alliance we built to guard that freedom. We benefit from the vast web of commerce that carries goods from one side of the Pacific to the other. Our history together; our efforts together – at their best, they speak to a common set of values. Values of pluralism and tolerance. Openness and the rule of law. A liberal, market-based order that placed primacy on our individual rights – our freedoms of speech, press, religion, and assembly – along with a commitment to the dignity and human rights of all people. And we must fight to promote these values every day.
Just in my lifetime, this international order did more than prevent a third world war – it also helped grow the global average life expectancy by about two decades, and cut extreme poverty in half. It helped make it possible for women to vote in every democracy, and the freedom to marry who you love to become a reality in a growing number of nations. That’s why I often tell young people that if you had to choose one moment in history into which you could be born, but you didn’t know ahead of time who you were going to be – what nationality, what gender, what race, whether you’d be rich or poor – you’d choose right now.
But while the extraordinary progress we’ve made over the decades should give us confidence, it should not feed complacency. We have to summon the same capacity to adapt to new circumstances; to meet changing times while upholding timeless ideals; to replace fear with hope.
At this defining moment, that is the spirit we need. Consider what we’ve done together over the past decade. We wrestled the global economy from the brink of depression, and put the world on the path to recovery. We helped stop Ebola in West Africa, saving countless lives. We rallied the world around new sustainable development, including our goal to end extreme poverty. In Paris, we came together around the most ambitious agreement in history to fight climate change – an agreement that, even with the temporary absence of American leadership, will still give our children a fighting chance.
Here in the Asia Pacific, my Administration pursued a rebalance of our foreign policy to focus on this region that holds so much potential to promote peace and prosperity in the 21st century. We strengthened our alliances, and expanded our military cooperation across the region. We increased the bonds of trade, commerce, and people-to-people ties. We deepened our ties with the nations of Southeast Asia, like Indonesia, where my family and I just visited – nations that are brimming with potential. We extended a hand to Myanmar as it began a democratic transition. And we worked to strengthen the rules-based order that has allowed this region to grow, and thrive, and avoid the wars of the past.
Still, we must acknowledge the very real problems that exist in our world today – the forces that sometimes make our people feel like they are powerless in the face of change; the unresolved conflicts, like the one that continues to cast a shadow over this peninsula.
I’ll just offer a few thoughts on how to do that.
First, we have to insist that the future belongs to those who build, not those who are committed to destroy.
North Korea’s pursuit of a nuclear weapon has done nothing to secure the North Korean people. Instead, they live in a prison of fear – cut off from the rest of the world, and denied the most basic human rights. Together, the nations of the world must continue to send a clear message that security and prosperity will not come from the pursuit of new weapons. The international order depends upon the enforcement of clear rules and norms. So long as North Korea chooses to remain outside of that order, they must face the consequences.
Sometimes it is easy to think that this is only a problem for South Korea, or Japan, or for the United States. But the entire world has a stake in what happens – because it must be clear that the path of peaceful cooperation is the only one that can lead to true security and prosperity.
Second, we have to make sure that a high-tech economy works for everybody, and not just a few. Capitalism and open markets have raised standards of living around the globe. But globalization and the relentless pace of automation have weakened the position of workers and their ability to secure decent wages.
We know that economies don’t work as well or grow as fast when a few prosper at the expense of a growing middle class. We also have to recognize that economies that are increasingly unequal pose a threat to our liberal international order. When the top one percent amasses a bigger share of wealth and income, it leaves everybody else feeling as if the game is fixed against them; that their governments only serve the interests of the powerful. It’s a recipe for more cynicism and polarization, and less trust in our institutions and each other.
We can’t unwind integration, pull up the drawbridge, or stuff technology back in a box. Instead, we must invest in our people – their skills, their education, their capacity to take an idea and turn it into a business – and modernize the social safety nets that empower them to take those risks. We must build new social compacts – to give workers the power to organize for better wages, and reform our tax codes so that those who reap the most from the new economy can’t avoid their obligations to the countries that made their success possible. And just as we work to alleviate inequality within our economies, I believe we still need to do more to close the gap between rich and poor nations. Making sure fragile states don’t collapse in the first place, and helping emerging economies become markets for our goods is not just the right thing to do, but the smart thing to do.
Third, we have to recognize that the only way to resolve disputes is through the rule of law – otherwise we will all live with the insecurity that comes with the law of the jungle. Across the Asia Pacific, there are territorial disputes that risk the peaceful co-existence that has enabled so much progress. Without the rule of law, these tensions could lead to settlements based on the principle that might makes right – that is the path that has led to escalation and conflict in the past. That is why my Administration underscored basic international principles – like freedom of navigation, upon which commerce depends; while also supporting the peaceful resolution of disputes, consistent with international law.
I have said many times that the world should welcome the rise of a strong, peaceful and prosperous China. And I also believe that China – and the world – will be better off if a strong China becomes an increasing stakeholder in the international order that supported its rise. Because ultimately, as the history of the United States shows, it is not only small nations that benefit from the enforcement of international law – it’s the large and powerful ones as well.
Finally, we have to recognize how technology has changed the way in which people receive information. We’re more technologically connected than we’ve ever been, but that also makes it easier to retreat into our own bubbles, surrounded by people who think like us, who never challenge our assumptions. This makes us so secure in our beliefs that we accept only information, whether true or not, that fits our opinions, rather than base our opinions on readily-available facts, evidence, and reason. So we need to find new ways to push back on propaganda, cultivate independent journalism, listen to those with whom we disagree, and ultimately bridge our differences to find common ground.
For if our citizens’ expectations are not met; if they believe they have no control over the decisions that are made by distant bureaucrats or a dysfunctional government; they’ll turn from democracy to populist, nationalist, even authoritarian movements.
Democracy is hard. Progress does not move in a straight line. Its gains are often fragile. But the future does not favor the strongman. I believe deeply that the liberal international order; order based not just on military power or national affiliations, but on principles – the rule of law, human rights, individual freedoms – is the only choice. It is what has brought us this far. It is what has promoted economic opportunity, prevented another world war, and lifted millions out of poverty around the globe.
So those of us who believe in democracy need to speak out forcefully. Because both the facts and history, I believe, are on our side. That doesn’t mean democracies are without flaws. It does mean that the cure for what ails our democracies is greater engagement by our citizens – not less. And that’s what I’ll focus on for the rest of my career – active citizenship.
The Obama Foundation will be based in Chicago, but it will have projects, programs, and digital networks all over the world. Many of these will be in partnership with local organizations currently doing great work in their communities. Our international programming will focus on creating space for a wide range of diverse participants to come together to solve local problems – and for training the next generation of citizens and leaders. And I look forward to working with counterparts in the Republic of Korea on this generational project.
Because I believe that the future is on our side, as well. There’s not a challenge on the planet that our two nations don’t take on together. And I have great faith that if we stand up for our values and ideals, then the next generation of leaders – in both our nations and around the world – will carry on that proud legacy.
Thank you all very much.