2000 Van Fleet Award Honoree

JIMMY CARTER
39TH PRESIDENT
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

In early summer 1994, a serious military crisis with nuclear implications was developing on the Korean Peninsula. Misunderstandings and mutual suspicions abounded between Seoul and Pyongyang, the rhetoric was heated, and the United States was preparing to increase its forces in South Korea and to impose additional sanctions on the North. Tensions were extremely high, with North Korean officials speaking of turning Seoul into a "sea of fire."

President Jimmy Carter wisely chose that moment to activate a standing invitation to visit North Korea, where the late President Kim Il Sung warmly welcomed him. Their extended conversation led to a defusing of the crisis. President Carter's report of his conversation with President Kim signaled to officials in Washington that North Korea desired improved relations with the United States, and that Pyongyang was willing to place its potentially dangerous nuclear power program under international safeguards. The U.S.-North Korea Agreed Framework was negotiated in the fall of 1994, and remains a central part of ongoing efforts to build a new and constructive relationship with Pyongyang.

Without President Carter's courageous and decisive actions in 1994, President Kim Dae-jung's diplomatic breakthrough in Pyongyang earlier this year might not have been possible. It is thus highly appropriate that President Kim Dae-jung personally present the Van Fleet Award to President Carter on this highly auspicious occasion.