Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu met with South Korean Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education Hwang Woo-yea on Wednesday afternoon. 

He began the meeting by noting the commonalities between the two countries.

“We have an excellent relationship between the Republic of Korea and Israel,” Netanyahu said. “We’re two amazing success stories, two democracies facing adversity, hostility from our neighbors, but spectacular economic success, not because of raw materials, but because of the raw material of the brains and hearts of our people.”

“We embrace the future,” he added. “We are proud of our heritage, our history, and we both, unfortunately, face a threat of rogue states and hostility from our neighbors.”

Netanyahu then drew similarities between the situation with North Korea and the ongoing nuclear talks with Iran. 

“We have a great deal to learn from each other and be inspired by each other, but we also heed the example of the negotiations with North Korea, the nuclear negotiations,” he said. “It was said then that the inspections would prevent proliferation. It was said then that they would moderate North Korea’s aggressive behavior. It was said that it would integrate North Korea into the family of nations and unfortunately that didn’t happen.”

“I am very concerned that the Lausanne framework would repeat and is repeating these mistakes,” he noted. “I think that freeze and inspect is not an adequate substitute for dismantle and remove.”

“In fact, there’s not even a real freeze, because under the Lausanne framework, Iran is left with the ability to develop with RD advanced centrifuges that actually advance its nuclear program,” he continued. “And needless to say, I don’t think there’s any effective inspection. So I think the repetition of these mistakes is a great historic blunder.”

“And I think we can learn all the good things that have happened on the Korean peninsula, but also the bad things that have happened in the nuclear negotiations.”

“Getting back to the good things, I have to tell you that we are immensely appreciative of what you have performed. We have all these abilities to cooperate together. I think we are, in many ways, a perfect match,” he concluded. “And I hope that your visit here, and I believe your visit here, could help us further the tremendous potential for additional cooperation between our countries in every field, in every field.”