"May 18 Democratic Uprising and Peace on the Korean Peninsula" Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates

     From June 15 to 18, Mikhail Gorbachev visited the Republic of Korea, where he together with the former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung co-hosted “May 18 Democratic Uprising and Peace on the Korean Peninsula” Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates, held in the city of Gwangju. The meeting was timed to commemorate the 6th anniversary of the June 15 South-North Joint Declaration. Other participants in the meeting also included Nobel Peace Prize winners Mairead Corrigan Maguire (1976), the co-founder of Peace People of Northern Island, Iranian human rights activist Shirin Ebadi (2003) and Kenyan peace activist Wangari Maathai (2004), as well as representatives of international organizations which at different times received this prize. Kofi Annan, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, sent a letter to participants in the Summit. The forum was opened by the President of the Republic of Korea Roh Moo Hyun.

     A joint declaration was adopted based on the results of the summit.

Speech by Mikhail Gorbachev at the 2006 Gwangju Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates

 June 16

       First of all I would like to thank President Kim Dae-jung for his idea of holding a summit of Laureates of the Nobel Peace Prize here in his home town of Gwangju.  We have already appreciated this beautiful city's magnificent natural setting and the warm Korean hospitality. Let us also thank the mayor of the city and the governor.
        We all understand and value highly the desire of President Kim Dae-jung to dedicate this summit to two crucial events in the life of the Korean nation, which also had great international significance - the people's uprising in 1980 against dictatorship, in defense of democracy and human rights, and the inter-Korean summit meeting in 2000 in Pyongyang. The ideas of peace, democracy, freedom and human rights are central to our activities as Nobel Peace Laureates.
        Today, the world is going through a great and complex transformation process. Democratic changes are under way in all continents. But these changes are difficult to achieve. In dozens of countries in which at the end of the 20th century authoritarian, dictatorial regimes had been toppled and democratic reforms were launched, we now see a reverse wave. This is happening because democratic governments often are unable to cope with the people's urgent socio-economic problems. Politicians of an authoritarian bend are re-entering the arena. The values of democracy and freedom are being thrown into question. It is our duty to the generations living today and to the memory of those who gave their lives for freedom and democracy not to allow the democratic process to derail, not to let reactionary forces to gain revenge.
        I want to emphasize that democracy is strong when it grows from a nation's own soil, incorporating both the principles common to all and the people's cultural and historical traditions. Democracy cannot be imposed by force or shipped around the world in containers.
        I am convinced that democratic development of Korea is the key to accomplishing the greatest national task of the Korean people - unification of the country.
        The division of the Korean Peninsula was one of the manifestations of the confrontation of the two global superpowers and their alliances, and of the cold war between them. The end of the cold war has created prerequisites for radical changes in the Peninsula. The Korean question ceased to be a hostage to the confrontations of the two superpowers. At the same time the role of the Korean states themselves in overcoming the division of the nation increased greatly, even though the trajectories of their development diverged widely during the previous decades. The dialogue and, what is even more important, the process of real rapprochement, will in all likelihood take a great deal of time.
        Of course, even in this new phase of world development international factors will continue to be of great importance for the situation in the Korean Peninsula. Much will depend on which tendencies will prevail in the world arena. Will it be the monopoly domination of the single superpower, dictating its will to all the others? Or, rather, will it be the model of a multi-polar world, that recognizes the uniqueness and the interests of all countries?
        The interests of a number of countries - the United States, China, Japan, and Russia - are present and closely intertwined on the Korean Peninsula. They could have a positive impact on the processes under way here, but only on condition that the interests of the Korean people themselves come first. It is up to the  Koreans themselves to play the decisive role in the process of unification, to define its pace and format. The role of inter-Korean ties must grow.
        We can state today that the South and the North, despite the existing difficulties, are maintaining contacts and engaging in economic negotiations. Though problems have come up, the tourism project continues and the Kaeson project is making headway. Inter-Korean trade is progressing. The North and the South took a significant mutual decision to curb propaganda warfare.
        I would like to state with gratification that President Kim Dae-jung continues to play an active part in the process of rapprochement. I hope his coming trip will be a success.
        Today, the North Korean nuclear issue is the most acute problem on the Peninsula, leaving an imprint on all processes under way here and in the region.
        At present, the six-party talks are in a difficult situation. Some people are even asking: Does this problem have a solution at all? In my view, the problem is unlikely to be resolved if negotiations are to be burdened with other, unrelated problems; if difficulties are piled up one on another instead of clearing the log-jams. What I have just said refers both to the United States and the PDRK.
        The North Korean nuclear problem can be solved, there's no doubt about it. But it should be solved on the basis of mutually beneficial compromise, taking into account, first of all, the interests of the Korean people, as well as other states in the region, by finding mutually acceptable solutions. The six-party mechanism is stalling but there is no other one. What is more, the six-party mechanism could be used also for normalization of the overall situation in the North-East Asia and thus, for creating favorable pre-requisites for gradual rapprochement and unification of the North and South of the Korean Peninsula and ultimately, for the definitive solution of the Korean problem.
        As for Russia, I am profoundly convinced that it is interested in the resolution of the Korean problem, so that it could have, as its neighbor to the East, a new major democratic and peaceful state playing an independent role in the world arena. I hope that our meeting will contribute to accomplishing this vitally important historic task