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- September 29, 2005
Former U.S. diplomat sees hope in Korean Peninsula
- C. Kenneth Quinones, a former U.S. Department of State Desk Officer on
North Korea, says the Six-Party Talks currently discussing North Korea are
"finally on the right track."
"There are still profound problems in the region, but both sides are beginning
to see the reality of the situation," Quinones said. "Our (U.S.) allies
in the region are showing us the way.
"All the finger pointing over the past 40 years have accomplished nothing.
We (U.S.) have to be more realistic than moralistic and realize that everyone
has made mistakes and now it's time to move past those mistakes."
Quinones was the featured speaker at the "U.S. Korea Relations: What a Difference
Ten Years Makes" symposium held at Iowa State on Wednesday, Sept. 28. The
event was co-sponsored by Iowa State's Department of Political Science and
the Korea Economic Institute (KEI).
Quinones, who has been involved with Korea since 1962 as a soldier, scholar
and diplomat, says the nuclear issues between the United State and North
Korea isn't the real problem the two nations are facing.
"Nuclear proliferation is a symptom of the underlying problem," he said.
"But if we focus on that we can't get to the underlying cause of the problem
(between the two nations).
"The problem is that our prospective's are totally opposite from each other.
We don't comprehend each other's governments or economics."
Quinones said the Bush Administration in recent months has started to go
in the right direction in diplomatic relations with North Korea.
Quinones speech concluded the symposium which featured two panel discussions
- "South Korean Politics and Foreign Policy" and "Economic and Trade Issues."
Panelists included James McCormick, chair of the Department of Political
Science; Erin Harbaugh from the Korea Desk at the U.S. Department of State;
Richard Mansbach, professor of political science at Iowa State; Scott Rembrandt,
KEI director; David Skidmore, professor of political science at Drake University;
Labh Hira, dean of Iowa State's College of Business; Ahn Chong-ghee, economic
counselor with the Embassy of the Republic of Korea; E. Kwan Choi, professor
of economics at Iowa State; John Wong, associate professor of marketing
at Iowa State; and Kathy Hill of the Iowa Department of Economic Development.
Young Kihl, professor of political science, coordinated the symposium.
The Korea Economic Institute is a not-for-profit, educational organization
that focuses its efforts in the economic area, but addresses all aspects
of relations between the United States and the Republic of Korea.
The symposium was made possible by financial support and in-kind contributions
by the KEI under its academic exchange program and the F. Wendell Miller
Lecture Fund from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
C. Kenneth Quinones
John Wong and E. Kwan Choi
C. Kenneth Quinones
David Skidmore, Richard Mansbach, Scott Rembrandt, Erin
Harbaugh and James McCormick
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