Text Fwd: Clinton Highlights Importance of Korea-U.S. Alliance 힐러리 클린턴, 한미 동맹 중요성 강조

* Note: Chosun Ilbo is the most conservative right wing newspaper in South Korea.


Clinton Highlights Importance of Korea-U.S. Alliance
Chosun Ilbo, Nov. 1, 2010

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stressed the importance of the Korea-U.S. alliance on Thursday, calling it a "lynchpin" of peace and security.

In a speech on the U.S.' engagement in the Asia-Pacific region in Hawaii, she said, "The alliance between South Korea and the United States is a lynchpin of stability and security in the region, and now even far beyond."

U.S. President Barack Obama earlier also described Korea as the "lynchpin" of American policy in Asia.

Observers at the time pointed out that the term was in the past mostly used about Japan, long seen as Washington's key ally in the region, and that its use about Korea signals a closer alliance.

During a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan in New York on Sept. 23, Obama described the U.S.-Japan alliance as "one of the cornerstones of peace and security throughout the world."

Clinton added, "We are working together in Afghanistan, where a South Korean reconstruction team is at work in Parwan Province [and] in the Gulf of Aden, where Korean and U.S. forces are coordinating anti-piracy missions."