Expert speakers to capitol hill to discuss critical topics in a bipartisan collegial atmosphere to address a critical topic and very bipartisan collegial atmosphere. One thing to note there are a lot of media so i put asking thd during the question and answer period if you would reserve that for the Congressional Staff because of limited time restraints on their schedules. We are honored to have a prolific writer and fearless commentator and thinker to address what is happening in asia today especially for the citizens of hong kong and south korea. He is the author of losing south korea coming Nuclear Showdown and the coming collapse of china. Hes a columnist at the daily beast and his risings have been featured in numerous newspapers from the New York Times to the wall street journal and is a frequent commentator on fox news, pbs and bbc and many others as well as a regular cohost and guest on John Batchelor show. On the front lines in the battle for freedom, gordon. [applause] people are fighting for their freedoms into their societies. The explanation begins in hong kong where almost nightly there is a clash of two armies one of them dressed in green in full riot gear. The other is clad in black the useful protesters. Why do we have these clashes . The peoples republic of china, beijing has reneged our promises. In the british joint declaration of 1984, china promised hong kong a high degree of autonomy for 50 years under the one country two systems formula. Since the return of hong kong to china that occurred in 1997 since that time china has encroached on those freedoms it has taken away that autonomy. The attempt to seize control of hong kong therefore is the direct and primary cause of the marchers, the protesmarches, the disturbances that we have seen since april but especially since the middle of june. The immediate grievances the extradition bill proposed by the chief executive, the chief political official in hong kong. This bill would have allowed hong kong to send fugitives to the peoples republic where of course there is no rule of law or justice but also opposed by the business community. The community was concerned that hong kong would no longer be a refuge, that they would be subject to their predatory Chinese Business partners who would use the bill as a weapon to reach into hong kong and take them into the mainland now people say and i think that is true they have drawn the line that they believe the extradition bill is the last stand for their homeland. Now even after this comes the protests continue with the same force. Its no longer about the extradition bill. Its about china. The society is amazingly united somewhere between two thirds, and 83 quarters of the people have determined that china is a malign actor and therefore weve seen something also interesting were more appropriate the dog that has not barked is the mass of people in hong kong have not criticized the always rowdy and sometimes violent protests of the young kid. Most now have decided they are concerned about the Excessive Force used by the police, the intransigence of terry lamb and the intrusive actions of beijing than they are about the tactics of the useful demonstrators. So they are fighting back and because they are fighting back, china isnt using its troops into hong kong. I think china didnt do this would be a tenement that is a reference to june 1989 when they advance from the approaches of the city to the center killing in an unrestricted way. Hong kong will be different. If they were to move in a forceful way. I dont think they want the first war t ward to take years r decades to result in the casualties and ended in defeat. Its also attacking our democracy. If the concept of democracy. But they are doing in hong kong is a warning to the United States over their people are fighting for their homes and may be doing so in the nottoodistant future. Hong kong is the frontline of freedom. Hes doing his best to end democracy in south korea. They took the oath of office to defend and we got that on august 15 this year. This was supposed to be the 71st anniversary of the founding of the republic in 1948. He gave an address to the nation but managed to not talk about the state. He talked about the founding or the proclamation of the provisional government of korea. That never existed. Why did he talk about the provisional government lacks the provisional government, what tended to govern all of korea, and he is a korean nationalist. They emphasized the union of the two and since the division in 1945. But he appears to be the first korean since then to accept unification for the proposals on the other side and as quickly as he can. To pave the way forward, he is trying to make the form of government compatible with the north. Fundamentally moving the Democratic Party and 2018, tried to amend the constitution of the republic. They tried to remove the notion from the concept of democracy. Trying to take out the concept of liberalism, they had succeeded in part because the textbooks they did delete the word freedom. Remember north korea thinks it is democratic and south korea is a democracy but its not liberal or free. Then it looks a little bit like north korea and at least in theoretical. After all, what is the name of the state that he leads . Its the democratic peoples korea. The party is leading the charge against democracy in the south. The 19th president of the republic of north korea is determined. Therefore we need to talk about one day. April 14, 2020. On that day there would be National Assembly elections. All 300 seats in the legislature are up for grabs. Theres a lot of reasons why it is important but let me focus on one of them. Thats the amendment for the constitution of the republic of north korea. Under article 130 the president can propose amendments to the constitution. Article 130 also provides that proposals to amend the constitution must receive at least two thirds of the vote. After that, it goes to a popular referendum in the popular referendum only a majority to approve. They could very well get the simple majority because after all, he is counting the votes. The most important thing for the opposition, those that want to preserve their democracy is to make sure that they take back control of the National Assembly. The main opposition party, the Liberty Korea Party currently holds 110 of those seats. Some small conservative parties hold a scattering of others. Its important that they actually get at least 100 seats and hopefully more. Its now also a time to safeguard rights, democracy and freedom in the republic of kor korea. Since becoming president in 2017, she has tried to return to south korea to a more authoritarian style of government. He has taken control of the big broadcasters to reduce the airing of dissenting views and also those that promote north korea. To control his messaging, hes also gone after social media to prevent what he calls social discontent or social distrust. Its become a primary forum for opposition. They try to enact censorship but they dont really need to enact those. Theyve done this in a number of ways, starting for instance in the tax investigation and immediately after they refused to take down 104 videos they refused that he has found to be discordant. You dont need to be factually incorrect to be the target of the police investigation. They started to question where he was during five hours this april in the eastern portion of the country. And dont even think of mentioning the massacre of 1980 unless of course you accept the narrative. You certainly dont want to do is what they call preposterous barks and it is a sin to mention north korea might possibly have had a hand in poste those to ses and now with the appointment of the controversial figure possibly corrupt but certainly in favor of north korea this is going to make the situation in the south even worse. The government has also sought to silence other critics especially defectors from north korea. He doesnt want their voices to target the nature of the regime. Also, we are starting to see what some conservatives call their reign of terror. Radicals have been putting up posters for the defectors. Of that group along with its associated flower waved out openly and with impunity challenged critics of the government. Those who criticized north korea are dangerous and they have invaded into classrooms to shout propaganda and to the offices of the new site is actually broken into the offices of the Human Rights Organization too disruptive functions. Theyve made a public Death Threats and theyve staged plays showing people bound with rope and this coupled with police. No surprise many people in the opposition thinks that free democracy is on the verge of collapse especially something that we saw in the september 4, 2018 statement. In short, opposition, conservative voices have been trashed, prosecuted, coerced and harassed. In the new south korea, we even started to see some of the fear in the big rallies on weekends many people hide their faces or try to make sure photographers dont catch them. They are concerned about richard duchenne from the government. It wasnt supposed to be this way. When he was inaugurated in 2017, he said i will strive to get rid of the authoritarian practices from the presidency. Obviously that promise has not been kept. Now moon, and this is ironic, was once the human rights lawyer and campaigner for democracy. We cant blame him for authoritarianism and north kor korea. We also saw in the succeeding administrations to move to democracy and liberalization and we can clearly say that it was a moral in place during the two predecessors. Lets be clear about what is occurring in south korea now. Its the reversal of decades long processes to make south korea a more free, open and democratic society. Some people have even suggested that things had gotten that bad. Unfortunately the south korea of tomorrow could look like the south korea of the past. Maybe even could look like north korea. What is most disturbing is that moon has been trying to take down the defenses. They took up the september agreement been reached when he went to pyongyang. Thats favor the attacker much more than the offender and has unilaterally taken down defenses in the Demilitarized Zone and hes also been implementing plan to make the army smaller in circumstances that are quite puzzling. There is one country that has pledged to the defense of south korea. After the North Koreans crossed the 38th parallel on june 25, 1950, it is the one country that has 28,000 forces in south korea now. It is the United States of america. Most people support the allian alliance. This was made clear by the Foreign Relations poll. Hes made it difficult for the United States to maintain its one battery at the terminal High AltitudeDefense System and going behind the back of his only ally and protector he came to an agreement with the Foreign Ministry late in a cover of 2017. The infamous pre. Note to the participation in Ballistic Missile defense, go to the tripartite alliance. They undermine our ability to defend the south and they are as some people have said a difference to the chinese bully supporting a north korean aggressor. I cant say that he hates america, but when our president visited at the end of june, President Trump stood next to moon and the first lady and she was wearing conspicuously a blue butterfly brooch. Its become a symbol of antiamericanism and so what he was doing is disrespecting not just President Trump but disrespecting the United States of america. Let me close with just one point. In the recent months, he has been working at antijapan sentiment. We started paying attention when they terminated the information sharing agreement a few weeks ago. I can understand the sentiment. My father during world war ii was one of tens of millions who was going to school and walked west with everybody else and hitched a ride and got himself to places and went to other cities getting away from the chinese. But lets be clear though japanese officials have prosecuted that war is alive today ordering the annexation period. He has to understand regardless of how he feels he needs japan. In the case the chinese aid to them like they did the United States will need the cooperation to defend south korea. We also need to be active cooperation. I dont think that moving cares. Hes a danger to south korea, freedom, which means he is a danger to us. Our front line today is hong kong and south korea. Thank you very much. [applause] i will do my best. Any other experts, yes, sir. I suppose everybody heard that. The question is would china intervened and the second is independence a real possibility. Everyone whos smart hopefully you independence is not a real possibility. I take a different view if you go back to 1997 everybody was pro beijing and petri object and a place swarming with all sorts of red flags. About five years ago we started to see kids in their 20s with tshirts with the union jacket on them which is one of the ultimate disrespect for beijing to cause what isaid his life wr under a white master they said they were not chinese they said they were hong kong is an independent state where you have to stand up and we have heard the national anthem, quote unquote the song sung by people in society once youre in a youe National Land and you are on the road to getting a nation. I dont think. Short of that i dont think that they could do well but is occurring right now. I dont think beijing has an answer. Theyve been saying maybe we will make housing cheaper and life better from an economic point of view. That might have a marginal effect but its not going to affect what people really think. It is in some sense protected but i think that they will intervene under one condition. When they think they are inspiring protests throughout the mainland. If they took a poll and its hard on a sensitive subject i think you would find somewhere around 99 or 95 of the people did not sympathize with people in hong kong. Basically the view they are rich and theyve got everything why are they complaining. But the people in hong kong have pushed kerry lamb around to a certain extent beijing and people in the mainland in the deteriorating economy. We have grievances myself. If they can do it i can do it. Thats when beijing intervenes. They are not going to interview nicely. The people of beijing are not looking at 2047. I think that they are looking at 2019. They put chinese soldiers Wearing Police uniforms. They have kerry lamb saying i want to talk to 50 randomly selected people. Good luck with that. I dont think that they are actually thinking that far ahead. They have two important anniversaries coming up. October 1 when hong kong isnt going to be rejoicing in its presumption of the rule. By the way, kerry lamb cancels the big fireworks display and they have another date coming up which is next year. When it comes to 2047, who knows. I dont know what they are thinking. Where do we begin the campaign that keeps information to going into china. When did we start moving against the party and china that is i think when you look across the american political spectrum there is a view that it is a malign actor and there is no consensus as to what to do both when you start to look there are in the Democratic Party candidates that have criticized the policies and when you look at the establishment of the party, for instance speaker pelosi, the minority leader schumer are on full board with the president is doing and i think that shows a remarkable acceptance of the view that china is an adversary. I call it an enemy because in may of this year they declared the peoples war on us but putting that aside for a moment, most people are starting to come to a darker view of the intentions. He is doing things that could very well bring down the communist party. Hes attacking the economy at the wrong moment. They are going through a difficult time with the economy with any number of factors in the Manufacturing Sector that even looking at consumption numbers, the economy is falling fast. The attacks on the technologies could have a material effect on the stability of china. People ask is becaus if they cae problem in china and the answer is no. The resumption of the totalitarian control. None of this is working but what we are seeing though is the policies are having a marginal effect at the right time for what you want to do and what i want to do as well because i believe that coexistence is impossible as much as we would like it just found with the communist party of china. In the back. [inaudible] the only south korean president sends the military ended wasnt jailed for corruption or charg charged. He still remains a popular figure. The question is was he responsible for the impeachment and conviction of the president. It looks like it from all of the factors. I would have to say the answer is yes. Hes been quiet and would be better able to answer the question then i can. He was a popular figure [inaudible] they have numbers that are higher than other surveys so moving is really unpopular because of the appointment of joe cook which is a watershed moment. I dont know if he would actually ever be impeached but that is of course the people in south korea are now saying. The situation is volatile. The opposition is doing well on april 15, then they very well may take revenge because a thats the question before talked about, people believe that the moon is responsible for the unfair impeachment and conviction. The question can be better answered on the 16th of april next year. How much is china helping north korea . How much do they gave the Nuclear Weapons program, the answer is a lot. If you look for instance because a couple of things. We know theres been a transfer of technology. The missiles came from china and we learned that from the parade in 2012. They had two other tests of solid fuel missiles quickly after that which were landbas landbased. They look