Okay. Thank you, everyone. Good afternoon. Welcome to everyone here as well as our audience online. For those online, welcome to the eighth csis Strategic Forum on korea. Am my name is victor cha, Senior Vice President for asia and korea chair at csis, a professor at georgetown. And it is indeed my distinct privilege to introduce our keynote speaker, senator chris van hollen. Senator vann. Hollen was elected to the u. S. Senate representing the great state of maryland in november 2016. He previously served in the house of representatives representing marylands eighth congressional district. He truly serves as chairman of the Senate Foreign relations subcommittee on east asia, the pacific, and International Cybersecurity policy. Senator van hollen has been a tireless advocate of a strong u. S. Korea alliance initial on theni korea caucus. Innocent he is cosponsored important legislation condemning north korean human rights abuses and imposing sanctions and banking restrictions on north korea for its proliferation behavior and human rightsts abuses. This past april an advance of President Bidens state visit welcoming the south korean president , senator van hollen introduced a bipartisan resolution recognizing the 70th anniversary of the u. S. Korea alliance. The senator said, quote, over the last 70 years with strong bonds of that are built, beet between the United States and the republic of korea resulted in countless economic diplomatic and Strategic Benefits to our two nations. On this anniversary we celebrate our common values and the progress we made together, and we recommit to the partnership between our countries that serves as the linchpin for peace and prosperity in the region. Ladies and gentlemen, there is no stronger supporter off the u. S. Korea alliance. Please welcome senator chris van hollen. [applause] good afternoon, everybody. And let me start by thanking you, dr. Cha, for moderating e discussion that will have shortly, and to csis and the Korea Foundation for bringing us together todayko or this importt conversation. Let me say at the start that im sure many of you are wondering whether congress y will avoid a shameful and unnecessary Government Shutdown starting october 1. And im happy to discuss that during the question. Ue back if there are any questions on that. I will say that even more importantly from a global perspective is whether the United States will continue i to provide ukraine with the Material Support it needs to defendrt itself against putins war. Our friends, like south korea and our foes, are all certain watching to assess the strength and consistency of our commitment. The alliance between the republic of korea andpu the unid states was forged in mutual sacrifice seven days ago seven decades ago. We are now celebrating it over the next week and remains the linchpin for peace and prosperity in east asia. Our partnership as those gathered in this room know is based not only on mutual security interests but also on robust regulations, deep people to people ties, and our shared values anchored in freedom, democracy, and the rule of law. As dr. Cha said i have been a good friend a of south korea throughout my timef in public service. My state of maryland is home to tens of thousands of koreanamericans who contribute to our communities in every dimension of life and work. In 2011 when i served served in the house of representatives i cast my voten in support of the koreau. S. Free trade agreement, and now in the senate i am a member of the korea caucus. The first trip i took after being elected to the senate included a stop in south korea where in august 2017 i met with american and Korean Forces along the 38th parallel to thank them for being on the front lines of the defense of democracy. A u. S. Commitment to this alliance is ironclad, and we have reaffirmed it in recent months. In april President Biden and president yoon unveiled the washington declaration to reinforce extended deterrence and respond to north koreas growing nuclear threats. That. Same month my colleagues and i passed a Bipartisan Senate resolution to honor the 70th anniversary of our alliance, and host resident you as he addressed a joint session off congress. President yoon. Although we had to say i was a little, little disappointed that he did not same american pie during that joint session of congress. Please let president yoon know we have coequal branches of government. But that was an important touch and its one of my favorite songs. Over the past year ive also been encouraged by the efforts of the leaders of korea and japan to heal old wounds, look the future and address shared challenges. I was able to participate in this firsthand in may when i met a joint delegation of the Korean National assembly and japanese members. This facilitated by the United States culminated in historic summit hosted by President Biden at camp david with president yoon and Prime Minister kishida to bring greater peace, prosperity and security to the indopacific region. I want to salute president yoon for the politically courageous steps he took to embark on that effort. This partnership will help counter the nuclearar saber rattling from north korea, as our nations have committed to share Realtime Data in north korea missile launches byss the end of this year. I also commend the Strong Language the latest issued in response to the prcs mounting aggression in the south china sea. We must build on this historic momentum in the u. S. Rok alliance to confront a range of pressing Global Security and economic challenges. One of thosese global challenges is of course putins war in ukraine, which has shaken the International Order not only in europe but around the world. Autocrats across. The globe, including xi jinping in china and kim jongun in north korea, are paying close attention to the collective response of the United States and our allies, and will draw lessons based on that response. As we have seen, kim jongun has gone all in with putin and is seeking to leveragee russias need for his supply basic munitions to gain access to russias advanced missile technology. At the u. N. This week president yoon vowed to south korea and our allies will not quote, stand idly by unquote. It is important to ensure there is a cost to the dprk for fueling putins war machine. Among the steps we should take is to better enforce existing u. S. And otherer sanctions agait the dprk. I am the author. Of what is knon as the auto one beer act, a bipartisan law that tightens sanctions against north korea by applying second or sanctions against foreign banks and entities that violate them dash of Otto Warmbiers. The United Nations identified a variety of schemes the dprk is using to evade those sanctions and some of the firms that are aiding and abetting in that effort. Ive spoken to the department of the treasury, u. S. Department of the treasury about this and we need to do more to plug the gaps in the enforcement regime. Including cracking down on north koreas use of crypto to evade sanctionsns to fund its illegal weapons programs. We should also shine a brighter light on the horrendous human rights abuses in north korea. Chairman of the Senate Foreign relations subcommittee onit east asian indopacific i will be exploring these w questions more deeply atse an upcoming hearing that im holding on the korean peninsula, and getting what i know will be good advice from dr. Cha, who will be one of the witnesses at that hearing. Of course it is c not only kim jongun who is watching our response to putins aggression in ukraine. So isio president xi, especially as he weighs his options in taiwan. By all accounts, xi has taken note of the unity of the Nato Alliance as well as south koreajapan and other democratic partners in the face of that aggression. In fact, our comparative advantage in meeting the challenges posed by russia, the prc, or other authoritarian regimes, has been the strength of our alliances. And the abilityty to mobilize those alliances to face common threats. Last week ukraine president zelensky delivered a clear message when we met in the old senate chamber. The message that this is no time to waver in our support for ukraine. President biden has proposed a supplemental request of 24 billion for ukraine, and we must make at least a down payment on that amount as part of any shortterm continuing resolution. I know there is a, i know theres broad bipartisan support in thehe United States senate fr bipartisansufficient support in the house to get it passed. It is no secret that speak of mccarthy, he is scared of his extreme right wing including a faction that opposes continued support for ukraine. But he must put the interests of our country and the defense of our democracy above his personal political interests. No one can say they are tough on china if they are willing to sell out ukraine. We must use our alliances and partnerships not only to deter military aggression, but to confront economic coercion and present key sectors of our economies from becoming over reliant on the winds of autocrats. As you know, economic intimidation is a weapon that the prc has wielded more and more against other countries to influence their political decisions. Iic remember china using those tactics when i was in south korea in 2017. At that time the prc was trying to discourage south korea from deploying the fad Missile Defense system, by banning chinese tour groups from visiting south korea and forcing nearly all of south koreas conglomerate stores in china to close thaad. I salute south korea for its resilience in the face of these punitive measures which still have not been fully lifted, as the thaad system moves closer to full operation. It was good c to see those intimidation tactics, practice of economic coercion fail. South korea of course is not alone. E. Australia, lithuania many of e countries have been subject to these tactics. That is why at the recent g7 summit in hiroshima were south cruz in part as as a specialt they announced the creation of the coordination platform on economic coercion so we can better Work Together to address that issue. Europe learned the hard way, that it was a mistake to become over reliant on russian r oil ad gas. It is a less we must all take to heart when it comes to the importance of diversifying critical supply chains, and ensuring we are working with trusted partners when it comes to essential technologies, whether they be advanced semiconductors or Critical Minerals forr batteries and evs. That is what it is been a poor and the and south korea Work Together as part of the mineral security partnership, and chip four. We must ensure that the prc does not have a chokehold over the industries that will define the economy of the future. We must also Work Together to prevent the export of advanced cutting Edge Technologies that can be used to significantly enhance the prcs military capabilities. And about rule to limit the deploymentli of capital for such limited purposes. The department of the treasury recently issued Outbound Investment guidelines for u. S. Companies, but the success of these strategies ultimately depends on very close cooperation and coordination among friends and allies, including south korea. Finally, the United States and the republic of korea have a strong mutual interest in working with other countries throughout east asia and the pacific, as well as with regional organizations like asean to promote a free and open indopacific that respects the sovereignty of all its members. We have an important stake in helping countries establish transparent rules and governance structures that help attract the private investments that can generate greateran prosperity, opportunity, and stability for their peoples. These effortsun are important in their own right as well as to provide viable alternatives to the debt traps and authoritarian models being promoted by others. But you cantt beat something with nothing. That is why working with our partners like south korea, the United States must provide tangible benefits to our initiatives like the indopacific Economic Framework for prosperity, ipf, the partnership for Global Infrastructure and investment, and the Just Energy Transition partnership known as jeff p. The upcoming asiapacific economicom cooperation leaders meet in San Francisco this november will give the United States an opportunityty to advae our vision for the region. As we do the relationship between the United States and south korea stands out as a leading example of the benefits and opportunities that so from a Partnership Like ours. Thank you to csis. Thank you to the Korea Foundation for convening this discussion on how that partnership can help remote democracy, freedom and security in east asia and indeed around the world. Thank you alld for being part of this important gathering. [applause] well, thank you very much, senator, for those remarks. They were really terrific, quite sensitive and quite broad in scope. First, first, let me thank you for joining us. This is a very special covert action because it is a 70th anniversary and we really grateful that youre could join. I am just speaking personally. I will say that your role, your role and those of your colleagues when it comes to relationships like the u. S. Korea alliance are so t important because you represent continuity in our policy at a time when our politics are a bit unpredictable. The main question many of us get when we go to korea is not about north korea or even about supply chains. Its always about our election. And so is your role and those of your colleagues when you travel to the region are very important in terms of instilling confidence in the stability of the relationship so thank you. Thank you for that. You opened the door in your initial remarks so im going to step through itoi and ask you, first of all, where do we stand in terms of this potential Government Shutdown . And what does it mean for Foreign Policy . He mentionedpo the cr and ukrai, the down payment on ukraine but what generally does this mean for our Foreign Policy and how should our allies be thinking about it . Sure. Youre right, i opened the door. So look, we have just a matter of days now to try to avoid a Government Shutdown. I think all of you have probably been following this closely to the challenge has been in the house of representatives which traditionally goes first on appropriation bills and continuing resolutions. But they havent been able to get a bill out. They just havent been able to pass any bill, even measures that i would consider totally unacceptableha and extreme. We want themem to get over to te United States senate where we do havee bipartisan agreement on te contours of a continuing resolution, and where we have also passed out of the Senate Appropriations committee every one of the individual appropriation bills on an overwhelmingly bipartisann basi. We are united in terms of getting a continuing resolution passed to avoid a Government Shutdown but also we have a path forward in the senate to pass bipartisan appropriation bills. The problem aspr i said is in te house and wes just dont know if it would get it together. If they dont get it together there is a t process we can usen the senate to initiate something. We have identified a bill that did start in the house they could use for that purpose. The question is what goes into it . We are in the middle of those discussionss right now. But i will say that the spectacle of the Government Shutdown hurt us at home of course but also hurts us around the world in two ways. One is a sign of the dysfunction in the operation of the u. S. Government, which obviously is something that would worry our allies and be seized upon by our adversaries. Certainly a prolonged Government Shutdown would have a very negative effect herey at home ad around the world. And that feeds into your broader question in your introduction about the impact of polarization of american politics. And as you said in the Previous Administration we did have pipers and group in the senate that was very focused on maintaining our alliances and sending a signal of stability and endurance, part of something called the native Observer Group that we resuscitated after itd been dormant for a long time, something to send that message. As you will know in south korea there were lots of questions that weve tried to overcome those on on a bipartisan bas. Let me say that is where the ukraine piece does come into play and its going to be very important that we pass that supplemental request, the 24 billion request whether we do it all at once or in stages, thats a separate issue. But it is important that we get it done. There are strong bipartisan majorities in house and senate. Im absolutely convinced if you put that up for vote, the 24 billion, it passes the house and the senate. As a indicated the challenges, the speaker is one who controls ultimately what gets putut up fr a vote, and if he is what is going to loose his speakership he may have to make a tough decision and put his personal politics aside for the good of the country. So it is very important that we have, that we continue to show the world that this bipartisan support for thehe u. S. Rok alliance and other alliances. Thanks. Let me shift to Something Else you mentioned in your remarks. You talked about how the u. S. , sorry, the dprk and russia are all in with each other now. And we were talking this morning about how just when we thought things couldnt get any worse with russian or north korea, they can. Because the two of them can start working together cooperate not just on arms but also potential on other sorts of helpfulgy that might be to north korea. I guess the question i have, you played this instrumental role in the Otto Warmbier actct and a particular from the perspective of expertspe like us, what was important about that legislation was a focus on secondary sanctioning. I guess the question is how do youo look at what is happening between dprk and russia . What arek your thoughts about, i mean you cant obvious he talk about it but your thoughts about legislation, what can be done to serve deal with this new challenge . Well, we have a hearing on october 1 first in my subcomme were unclear as to that question. [laughing] and a really am looking forward to hearing from the experts because as you will note the challenge weve got right now, for example, with respect to rush it is we together with many of our allies have already impose very tough sanctions on russia. And same is true with respect to the dprk which is why in my remarks i focused on integrating those sanctions. If there are other things we can be doing to exact a price from north korea for its help to putins war machine, i am very interested in hearing about it. Until we sort of find that additional pain point it is important that we Work Together to make sure that existing sanctions are applied, and the u. N. Has on an annual basis issued a report that identifies a lotot of gaps in that sanctios regime. So i have been working with the Treasury Department for some time now to help identify those gaps. As you know for our sanctions we have to have a certain standard of proof in order to make sure that we move forward with due my view theut in evidence in many cases is very strong and warrants additional action there
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