East Room
8:25 P.M. EDT
PRESIDENT BIDEN: Good evening, everyone. Please, have a seat.
Welcome to the White House. Jill and I are honored to have you here tonight to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the alliance between the Republic of Korea and the United States.
And to President Yoon and Mrs. Kim, thank you for making the journey. We're delighted to have you here.
I believe this visit tonight has brought two nations even closer together.
Yesterday evening, President Yoon and Mrs. Kim joined Jill and me at the Korean veterans war memorial. And we — we walked past the solders standing in steel — there were — there were steel carvings and standing sentinel, and read the names of the fallen etched in the granite.
And as many of you know, at the end of the memorial, there's an engraving that reads: "Our nation honors her sons and daughters who answered the call to defend a country they never knew and a people they never met."
It's a solemn reminder that our alliance was born out of not shared borders, but need — shared beliefs — a belief in democracy, liberty, security, and, above all, a mutual belief in freedom.
A little over 70 years ago, Korean and American troops stood together for those beliefs, serving and sacrificing so that children in both our countries might have a better future.
And it's the future we're living today.
The way the Korean people have transformed your country, Mr. President, through courage and hard work is one of the most prosp- — it's one of the most prosperous and respected nations in the world — is testament to the boundless possibilities our people can achieve when we do it together. And we know that our work is not yet done.
Today, it's our duty to answer the call — that call to make the world better for those who will come after us.
You know, this visit is about reaffirming all that unites our two nations. It's about a commitment to bear one another's concerns and listen to each other's dreams that allows us to overcome every difficulty and with great determination.
That allows us to further — to move further and faster in space, cyber, technology, and in all the areas that matter most to our future. And that allows us to build — build a world that is worthy of our highest hopes and a world that we want for our own children and grandchildren.
We stand at an inflection point — many of you have heard me say before — where the decisions we make now are going to determine the course of our future for decades to come.
But I've never been more optimistic — and I mean that — I've never been more optimistic about our nations and what we can achieve together if we continue to work together as allies and as friends.
