17 October 2002
U.S. Seeks Peaceful Resolution of North Korean Nuclear Issue
(State Dept. responds to North Korean admission of nuclear weapons
program) (570)
The United States seeks a peaceful resolution to North Korea's failure
to end its nuclear program, according to Richard Boucher, State
Department spokesman.
In a statement released October 16, Boucher said: "Everyone in the
region has a stake in this issue and no peaceful nation wants to see a
nuclear-armed North Korea. This is an opportunity for peace loving
nations in the region to deal, effectively, with this challenge."
North Korea has recently admitted to conducting a clandestine
nuclear-weapons development program in violation of the Agreed
Framework, which it signed with the United States in 1994.
Boucher said the United States and its allies call on the Pyongyang
regime to comply with its commitments under the Nonproliferation
Treaty and to eliminate its nuclear weapons program in a verifiable
manner.
The Bush administration, the spokesman said, is consulting with key
members of Congress and has sent Under Secretary of State John Bolton
and Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly to the region to confer
with friends and allies.
Following is the text of State Department Spokesman Richard Boucher's
October 16 statement:
(begin text)
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesman
October 16, 2002
STATEMENT BY RICHARD BOUCHER, SPOKESMAN
North Korean Nuclear Program
Earlier this month, senior U.S. officials traveled to North Korea to
begin talks on a wide range of issues. During those talks, Assistant
Secretary James A. Kelly and his delegation advised the North Koreans
that we had recently acquired information that indicates that North
Korea has a program to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons in violation
of the Agreed Framework and other agreements. North Korean officials
acknowledged that they have such a program. The North Koreans
attempted to blame the United States and said that they considered the
Agreed Framework nullified. Assistant Secretary Kelly pointed out that
North Korea had been embarked on this program for several years.
Over the summer, President Bush -- in consultation with our allies and
friends -- had developed a bold approach to improve relations with
North Korea. The United States was prepared to offer economic and
political steps to improve the lives of the North Korean people,
provided the North were dramatically to alter its behavior across a
range of issues, including its weapons of mass destruction programs,
development and export of ballistic missiles, threats to its
neighbors, support for terrorism, and the deplorable treatment of the
North Korean people. In light of our concerns about the North's
nuclear weapons program, however, we are unable to pursue this
approach.
North Korea's secret nuclear weapons program is a serious violation of
North Korea's commitments under the Agreed Framework as well as under
the Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT), its International Atomic Energy
Agency safeguards agreement, and the Joint North-South Declaration on
the Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
The Administration is consulting with key Members of Congress, and
will continue to do so. Under Secretary of State John Bolton and
Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly are traveling to the region
to confer with friends and allies about this important issue.
The United States and our allies call on North Korea to comply with
its commitments under the Nonproliferation Treaty, and to eliminate
its nuclear weapons program in a verifiable manner.
We seek a peaceful resolution of this situation. Everyone in the
region has a stake in this issue and no peaceful nation wants to see a
nuclear-armed North Korea. This is an opportunity for peace loving
nations in the region to deal, effectively, with this challenge.
(end text)
(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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