国务卿安东尼·J·布林肯
外交部
大韩民国，首尔
2021年3月17日
郑义溶外长：（透过口译）我诚挚地欢迎布林肯国务卿访问韩国。
韩美同盟是我们外交的骨干，也是东北亚和全世界和平繁荣的关键。我们将韩美同盟的持续发展视为我们外交里最重要的工作。
为此，我们希望能对拜登–哈里斯政府里的国务卿和国防部长上任之初就访问韩国，表示特别的欢迎。这清楚展现新一届美国政府对盟友的重视。尤其是我们在布林肯国务卿访问前夕刚完成了防卫费分担特别协议（SMA）这个积压已久的问题的谈判，再度确认了韩美同盟的力量。
文在寅总统也赞赏韩美关系自拜登–哈里斯政府上任以来这段时间的方向。文总统尤其高度赞赏我们五年来首次举行韩美外交与国防部长会议。文总统二月与拜登总统通话，他提到韩国对美国的领导力有完全的信任，并且，作为有共同价值观的盟友，我们将积极就不仅是朝鲜半岛和区域的问题，也会就全球事务积极合作。在韩美外交与国防部长会议后，我希望韩美峰会能在近期展开，以此保持韩美关系发展的势头。
关于今天的会面，我希望今天的会议将成为以健全、互利和全面的方式推进韩美关系的机会。我也期待以今天会议的成果，为建立朝鲜半岛坚实的和平进程和实质进展创造势头。谢谢。
布林肯国务卿：那么，部长先生，义溶，谢谢你。很高兴与你同台。我们通过话，我之前期待着亲自到访，与你和双方团队见面。如果你允许，在我们今天的会议之前，我想先谈谈就在几个小时前在亚特兰大发生的攻击，数名女性丧生，我们相信其中有四名韩国裔的女性。我们对这种暴力感到震惊，在美国，其实在任何地方，都不应该有这种暴行。我想向罹难者的家属和朋友，以及在韩人社群里因这一事件而震惊和深感不安的所有人，表达我们最深的慰问。我们同样震惊不安，我们将维护美国同胞和韩裔美国人的安全，以及受到有尊严和尊重待遇的权利。
我知道部长有同样的想法，因为归根结底，我们因共同的价值观而团结。这是为什么我很高兴，作为国务卿首次海外出访就回到首尔的根本原因之一。部长先生，我想祝贺您被指派。从2月11日第一次对话以来，我们就已经成为伙伴。我期待与您非常紧密地合作，持续加强我们两国之间这个不可或缺的同盟。
如各位所知，你也提到了，奥斯汀国防部长这次和我一道访问。我们明天将与你和国防部长举行部长级2+2会议，当然也要见证SMA的草签。拜登–哈里斯政府第一次内阁层级的海外出访，我们选择到韩国和日本，这并不是意外。我们之间的这个同盟，如方才所述，不只是我们两国，也是印太地区，也是全世界和平、安全和繁荣的关键。这一同盟是坚定不摇的，是有如钢铁般的，扎根于友谊、互信和共同价值观。
奥斯汀部长和我到这里重申美国对这个同盟的承诺，也与各位增长该同盟。我们想要以尊重人权、民主和法治为基础，实现自由开放的印太的共同愿景。我们将合作应对双方都面临的巨大挑战，其中当然包括影响了真的是数十亿人、摧毁了经济的全球疫情大流行；不断升高的气温和海平面；更复杂、更有伤害力的网络攻击。这些挑战都不是任何一国能有效地单独面对的。要有效处理，我们就必须合作，我们必须更紧密地合作。所以我们承诺要加深各领域的合作，不论是阻挡COVID-19和预防未来的大流行，投资于清洁能源转型，或是提高我们的网络能力、就绪能力和韧性。
另一个共同挑战，当然就是朝鲜的核武和弹道导弹项目，这对区域和全世界都是威胁。我们持续与韩国和其他盟友和伙伴合作，包括日本，朝向朝鲜的无核化。还有，当然，我们一道支持共同的价值观。我们相信民主，因为我们见证了民主如何让我们自己的国家变得更强，因为民主政体通常会稳定、安全、开放、致力于人权，这些都符合美国与韩国人民的利益。
我们必须维护这些价值观，这是至关重要的，尤其是当今，因为我们看到世界各地的民主受到危险的侵蚀，包括在这个地区。在缅甸，军方正试图推翻民主选举的结果，残暴地镇压和平示威者，射击仅仅是要求能有话语权、决定国家未来的年轻一代。中国在使用胁迫和进犯，有系统地侵蚀香港的自治，削弱台湾的民主，在新疆的西藏侵犯人权，在南中国海宣称违反国际法的海事声索。而朝鲜的独裁政权继续系统性地、普遍地虐待自己的人民。我们必须与要求他们的基本权利和自由的人站在一起，对抗压迫基本权利和自由的人。数十年来，大韩民国与美国之间的同盟确保了我们人民能安居乐业，我认为我们的工作不仅仅是维系我们的同盟，更要加强它，如此同盟才能给未来多年— 应当说是数十年— 提供这样的基础。所以我们今天到访，我很感谢您的热情款待，期待开始工作。谢谢。

Secretary Antony J. Blinken and Republic of Korea Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong Before Their Meeting
Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State
Seoul, Republic of Korea
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
FOREIGN MINISTER CHUNG:  (Via interpreter.) I’d like to sincerely welcome Secretary Blinken on his visit to Korea.
The Korea-U.S. Alliance is the backbone of our diplomacy as well as the linchpin of peace and prosperity in Northeast Asia and across the world.  We see the continued development of the Korea-U.S. Alliance as the most important task of our diplomacy.
In this regard, we would like to extend our special welcome to the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Defense of the Biden-Harris Administration who are visiting Korea in the very beginning of their terms in office.  It clearly shows the new U.S. administration’s emphasis on its allies.
In particular, the fact that we concluded negotiations for the Special Measures Agreement (SMA), which was a long-pending issue, just before the visit by Secretary Blinken reaffirms the strength of the Korea-U.S. Alliance.
President Moon Jae-in also appreciates the direction of Korea-U.S. relations since the inauguration of the Biden-Harris Administration.  Particularly, the President highly appreciates that we are holding the ROK-U.S. Foreign and Defense Ministers’ Meeting for the first time in five years.
During his phone conversation with President Biden last February, President Moon mentioned that Korea has full trust in the leadership of America, and as an ally that shares values, we will actively cooperate not only on Korean Peninsula and regional issues but also on global affairs.
Following the ROK-U.S. Foreign and Defense Ministers’ Meeting, I hope the Korea-U.S. Summit can be held in the near future so that we can carry on the momentum for developing Korea-U.S. relations.
On account of today’s meeting, I hope that today’s meeting will serve as an opportunity to advance Korea-U.S. relations in a sound, mutually-beneficial, and comprehensive way.  I also look forward to building the momentum towards the firm establishment and substantive progress on the Korean Peninsula peace process with the outcomes of today’s meeting
Thank you.
SECRETARY BLINKEN:  Well, Mr. Minister, Eui-yong, thank you.  And it is so wonderful to be here with you.  We’ve had the opportunity to speak on the phone, and I was so looking forward to being here in person and to spending time with you and your team and our team.
If you’ll allow me, just before we begin today’s meeting, I want to mention the attacks that happened just a few hours ago in Atlanta, in which several women were killed, including, we believe, four women of Korean descent.  We’re horrified by this violence, which has no place in America or anywhere, for that matter.  And I want to offer our deepest condolences to the families and friends of those who died and to everyone in the Korean community who is shaken and deeply disturbed by this incident.  We are as well, and we will stand up for the right of our fellow Americans and Korean Americans to be safe, to be treated with dignity and respect.
That’s a sentiment that I know my counterpart shares, because we are united, ultimately, by shared values.  And that’s really one of the fundamental reasons that I’m so glad to be back in Seoul as part of my first trip overseas as Secretary of State.  Mr. Minister, I want to congratulate you on your appointment.  Since our first conversation on February 11th, we’ve already become partners.  I’m looking forward to working very closely together to continue to strengthen what is an indispensable alliance between our countries.
As you know, I’m joined on this visit, as you referenced, by Secretary of Defense Austin.  We’ll be here tomorrow for the 2+2 ministerial meeting with the – with you and with minister of defense, and, of course, to witness the initialing of the SMA.  It’s no accident that we chose the Republic of Korea for the first Cabinet-level overseas travel of the Biden-Harris administration, along with Japan.  This alliance between us is, as we’ve said, the linchpin for peace, for security and prosperity, not just for our two nations but for the Indo-Pacific region and, indeed, for the world.  The alliance is unwavering, it’s ironclad, and it’s rooted in friendship, in mutual trust, and in shared values.
Secretary Austin and I are here to reaffirm the United States commitment to the alliance but also to build on it with you.  We want to achieve our shared vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific, anchored by respect for human rights, for democracy, for the rule of law.  And we’ll work together to address what are daunting challenges that we both face, including, of course, a pandemic that has affected literally billions of people and devastated economies; warming temperatures and rising seas; more sophisticated and harmful cyber attacks.  None are challenges that any one nation can effectively confront alone.  To deal with them effectively, we need to work together, and we need to work together ever more closely.  That’s why we’re committed to deepening our cooperation across the board, whether it’s stopping COVID-19 and preventing future pandemics, investing in clean energy transformation, shoring up our cyber capability, readiness and resilience.
Another shared challenge, of course, is North Korea’s nuclear weapons and ballistic missile program, which are a threat to the region and to the world.  We’ll continue to work together with the ROK and other allies and partners, including Japan, toward denuclearization of the DPRK.
And, of course, we’re standing together in support of our shared values.  We believe in democracy because we’ve seen how it makes our own country stronger and because democracies are more likely to be stable, secure, open, committed to human rights, all of which is in the interests of the American people and the Korean people.
It’s critical that we stand up for these values, especially now, because we are witnessing a dangerous erosion of democracy around the world, including in this region.  In Burma, the military is attempting to overturn the results of a democratic election, brutally repressing peaceful protesters, gunning down youth who are simply demanding a say in their country’s future.  China is using coercion and aggression to systematically erode autonomy in Hong Kong, undercut democracy in Taiwan, abuse human rights in Xinjiang and Tibet, and assert maritime claims in the South China Sea that violate international law.  And the authoritarian regime in North Korea continues to commit systemic and widespread abuses against its own people.  We must stand with people demanding their fundamental rights and freedoms and against those who repress them.
For decades, the alliance between the Republic of Korea and the United States has ensured the security and well-being of our people, and I think it’s our job not only to maintain our alliance, but to strengthen it so it can continue to provide that foundation for years – indeed, for decades – to come.  That’s why we’re here today, and I’m so grateful to you for this hospitality and look forward to getting down to work.  Thank you.