FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 29, 2024
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Matt Porter
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Caroline Kennedy Presents John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award® to Leaders of South Korea and Japan
– Ambassador Kennedy met with President Yoon on March 27 in Seoul and Prime Minister Kishida on March 29 in Tokyo –
BOSTON – Ambassador Caroline Kennedy, Honorary President of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation, traveled to Seoul and Tokyo to present the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award® to South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida for working to improve relations between their countries despite domestic opposition stemming from historical issues. Both leaders accepted the award by video at a ceremony in Boston on October 29, 2023, and received the Profile in Courage Award lantern from Ambassador Kennedy in person in Seoul on March 27 and Tokyo on March 29.
At the October ceremony, Ambassador Kennedy said, “Today we can all be inspired by the work that Prime Minster Kishida and President Yoon have done to overcome serious opposition in their own countries in pursuit of a more peaceful and secure future … These two leaders have put aside the easy path and reached across differences, despite the advice of advisors, strong domestic opposition, and upcoming elections, to form a relationship of trust … Their example is one for all world leaders to emulate.”
Watch ceremony
President Yoon Suk Yeol and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida
On August 18, 2023, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida joined President Joseph R. Biden at Camp David to solidify a historic level of trilateral cooperation between the US and two of its most important democratic allies. This moment was possible because the leaders of South Korea and Japan have courageously worked to address sensitive historical issues that have prevented close cooperation.
Despite strong opposition in South Korea, President Yoon began working toward rapprochement with Japan shortly after his election in March 2022. Since then, the two leaders have built a strong personal relationship allowing them to resolve difficult historical issues. In March 2023, President Yoon made a bilateral visit to Tokyo, the first by a South Korean leader in 12 years. Two months later, Prime Minister Kishida became the first Japanese Prime Minister in 12 years to make a bilateral visit to South Korea, and in May, he welcomed President Yoon to the G7 meetings hosted by Japan in Hiroshima.
Both leaders chose a more hopeful future for their countries as opposed to being held captive by the past. The August meeting at Camp David affirmed the progress made between two of America’s closest allies and set the stage for increasing trilateral cooperation with the United States.
About the Profile in Courage Award®
The John F. Kennedy Library Foundation created the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award® in 1989 to honor President Kennedy’s commitment and contribution to public service. The award is presented annually to public servants who have made courageous decisions of conscience without regard for the personal or professional consequences. The award is named for President Kennedy’s 1957 Pulitzer Prize- winning book, Profiles in Courage, which recounts the stories of eight U.S. senators who risked their careers, incurring the wrath of constituents or powerful interest groups, by taking principled stands for unpopular positions.
The Profile in Courage Award® is represented by a sterling-silver lantern symbolizing a beacon of hope, designed by Edwin Schlossberg. Previous recipients include former U.S. Presidents Barack Obama, Gerald Ford, and George H. W. Bush; Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy; U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi; former U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords; former U.S. Senator John McCain; Liberian peace activist and Nobel laureate Leymah Gbowee; U.S. Representative John Lewis; and former California State Senator and U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis.
The recipients of this prestigious award for political courage are selected by a distinguished bipartisan committee of national, political, and community leaders. The 2023 committee members were B. Marc Allen, Chief Strategy Officer and Senior Vice President, Strategy and Corporate Development, The Boeing Company; David Axelrod, Political Strategist and founder of the Institute of Politics at The University of Chicago; Joaquin Castro, U.S. Congressman, (D-TX 20th District); Carlos Curbelo, Former U.S. Congressman (R-FL 26th District); Christopher Dodd, former Chairman and CEO of the Motion Picture Association of America, former U.S. Senator (D-CT); Sherrilyn Ifill, Emeritus President and Director- Counsel NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc and Vernon E. Jordan Distinguished Professor of Civil Rights, Howard Law School; Caroline Kennedy, Honorary President of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation; Marne Levine, Former Chief Business Officer, Meta; Claire McCaskill, former U.S. Senator (D-MO), NBC Political Analyst; William H. McRaven, Admiral, USN (retired); Beth Myers, Principal, Buckminster Strategies; Ronald L. Sargent, Chairman, John F. Kennedy Library Foundation; Jack Schlossberg, Grandson of President Kennedy; and Tatiana Schlossberg, Climate Change and Environmental Journalist.
The John F. Kennedy Library Foundation is a 501(c)(3), non-profit organization founded in 1984 to provide financial support, staffing, and creative resources for the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, a presidential library administered by the National Archives and Records Administration. The Kennedy Presidential Library and the Kennedy Library Foundation seek to promote, through educational and community programs, a greater appreciation and understanding of American politics, history, and culture, the process of governing and the importance of public service.