Roh Moo-hyun Quotes

The Korean Peninsula is located at the heart of the region. It is a big bridge linking China and Japan, the continent and the ocean. Such a geopolitical characteristic often caused pain for us in the past. Today, however, this same feature is offering us an opportunity. Indeed, it demands that we play a pivotal role in the age of Northeast Asia in the 21st Century.

I have believed for a long time that North Korea was willing to give up nuclear weapons, and there is no change in my belief. That is, I believe that North Korea thinks it is more beneficial not to have nuclear weapons than to have them, and that if the circumstances were right, they would have no reason to possess nuclear weapons. I have no doubt about such assertions from North Korea. I think there are sufficient grounds to think so.

During his tenure, President Roh contributed to the strong and vital relationship between the United States and the Republic of Korea.

No dogmatic thinking will be able to prevent social changes any more. No dictatorship will emerge again to trample civil rights and repress freedom. Illegal acts committed by the government agencies and the collusion of the Government and business and that of the government and the press will all become matters of the past.

Japan's present claim to Dokdo is an act negating the complete liberation and independence of Korea. This is a matter where no compromise or surrender is possible, whatever the costs and sacrifices may be.

Korea-U.S. relations were important in the past and will be important in the future. We have had dark moments in our relationship and times when we needed very close cooperation. During the beginning of my term, it was a tense time when both governments needed to work very closely together to resolve these very difficult and sensitive problems between the two countries. That is why cooperation between South Korea and the U.S. was even more important.

When I drink a little, I sometimes recall my old days. Then I ask myself: 'What does Roh Moo-hyun mean in my life?' He really defined my life. My life would have changed a lot if I didn't meet him. So he is my destiny.

We have overcome numerous challenges with inner strength. We have the wisdom to turn even crisis into opportunity. With such wisdom and strength, let us again overcome the challenge facing us today. Let us make future generations remember us as proud ancestors just as, today, we remember our forefathers.

The country failed to nurture its strength because the ruling group that refused to make accommodations for any changes whatsoever and because those who had vested interests also allied with the ruling group. Indulged in exclusive and dogmatic ideologies, the ruling group rejected alternative thoughts and systems; they did not even spare the lives of those advocate new ways of thinking. Their justifications might have been grand; unfortunately, however, their conclusions were always to protect the vested interests.

As a result of the great choice of the people, I have been given the honoured responsibility of presiding over the new administration of the republic. I am very grateful to each and every one of you; with your support, I promise to follow this great call to duty.

History now gives us another calling. It is none other than putting an end to the history of divisiveness and opening an age of national unity. It is also to build a springboard to overcome the age of national division and usher in a new age of national unification for peace and prosperity. I am going to work with every citizen to carry out that historic mission.

However, with great speaking skills and strong Busan dialect, the former human rights lawyer was always confident, in fact bold enough to throw his nameplate in a protest against military dictator Chun Doo-hwan in 1989. The politician was nicknamed "fool" and called a "roly poly" who never gave up his long-cherished dream: break the rigid wall of regionalism between the nation's eastern Gyeongsang Provinces and the western Jeolla Provinces.

I hope to see the kind of political culture that solves problems through dialogue and compromise, not through confrontation and conflict.

When he came to office, Roh appeared to offer South Korea a new start. He was relatively youthful, independent and seemed ready to tackle the country’s deeply embedded political corruption. In addition to promising not to “kowtow to the Americans” he also supported the “sunshine” policy of diplomatic approach towards North Korea. Yet Roh’s term was riddled with problems. At one point he threatened to quit and on another he voiced his fears that he was too “incompetent” to serve as the president. There was also controversy when he and his supporters left the Millennium Democratic Party in 2003 to form a new party, the Uri Party. His decision to send South Korean troops to Iraq was deeply unpopular while his diplomatic pursuit of the north was seized on by his opportunist as appeasement.

The first order of business is to reform politics. We have to realise politics that respect our citizens as a genuine source of power. We should nurture a political climate in which the well-being of the people takes precedence over partisan interests.