On 28 March (local time), President Yoon Seok-yeol said, "The international community must respond with courage and resolute solidarity to 'attempts to change the status quo by force' that ignore the freedom of other countries."

In a speech titled "Pioneering a New Freedom Trail" at Harvard Kennedy School in Boston this afternoon, President Yun said, "In the international community, the attitude of not respecting the freedom of others and the freedom of other countries often manifests itself as an attempt to change the status quo by force."

President Yun emphasized, "So we have to prove that these attempts cannot succeed and make sure that we cannot dream of such attempts in the future."

In particular, he pointed to the war in Ukraine and criticized it as "an invasion that violates international law and has cruelly trampled on the freedom and human rights of the Ukrainian people."

"North Korea is the culmination of an authoritarian and totalitarian attitude that ignores the freedom of others," he said, adding, "This totalitarian attitude inevitably leads to a terrible situation of collective human rights abuses in North Korea."

President Yun called Harvard University, the "Hall of Liberty," the "Hall of Freedom," and emphasized the "value of freedom."

Referring to Boston's Freedom Trail, he explained, "There are traces of the pioneers who came to the Americas in search of freedom talking about freedom and debating it, and it was at the heart of Harvard, which was founded in the seventh century as a clergy training institution."

He then talked about Captain William Hamilton Shaw, a Harvard man who fought in the Korean War while a student at Harvard University and was killed in action at the age of 7, saying, "On behalf of the people of the Republic of Korea, I am deeply grateful."

"The ROK-U.S. Alliance, now in its 28th year, has been a pivotal pillar of the Republic of Korea's freedom and prosperity," President Yun said, "and it has also been a symbol of a safety valve for the defense of global civil liberties."

He added, "The U.S.-ROK Alliance is a sustainable and resilient alliance, a just alliance that contributes to peace and prosperity around the world."

President Yun said that false propaganda, false news, dictatorship and totalitarian forces threaten liberal democracy, adding, "To defend freedom and democracy against them, we need a strong coalition of people who have aspirations for freedom."

In particular, he emphasized that "the abuse of digital technology that violates freedom must be stopped by the solidarity of free citizens around the world."

(Photo = Yonhap News)