2004 Van Fleet Award Honoree
BAN KI-MOON
MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND TRADE
REPUBLIC OF KOREA
Past recipients of the Van Fleet award have generally been distinguished individuals whose public service career had been completed. Included among these recipients are a former American president, a former secretary of defense, a retired four-star general, and a former chairman of the Federation of Korean Industries, who received the award posthumously.
Tonight, we are presenting the Van Fleet award to a man who is actively serving in a key position at a time of great historical and political turbulence in Northeast Asia. We feel that this award is very much in keeping with the spirit of the man for whom the award is named. General James A. Van Fleet developed a deep admiration for the Korean people as he observed them coping bravely with the devastation of the Korean War. He recognized them as a people of action. It was this high regard for the Korean people that led him to establish the first incarnation of The Korea Society in 1957.
Tonight's awardee, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Ban Ki-Moon, is clearly a man of action, who brings to his vital position a wealth of experience acquired during 34 years of service to his country. At a time when the regional relationships in Northeast Asia are in flux and Korea is emerging as a hub of the region, Minister Ban has been coping admirably with such issues as the multilateral talks designed to defuse the North Korean nuclear issue, changes in longstanding patterns of U.S. troop deployments and the highly charged issue, between China and Korea, of the basic identity of the ancient kingdom of Koguryo.
All of us in this distinguished audience tonight feel deeply reassured that it is Minister Ban Ki-Moon who is responsible for dealing with these complex issues. As members and friends of The Korea Society, it is our hope that he will accept the 2004 James A. Van Fleet Award as a kind of "battlefield decoration," a token of our admiration for his achievements during a distinguished career in public service and his continuing contributions as the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of the Republic of Korea.
Today, as the U.S.-Korea alliance continues to grow and prosper in a new century, President Bush is still remembered with great respect and affection by the Korean people for all that he contributed to this key relationship during his presidency.
