Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

In other travel news, I would like to note that Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage will be visiting the Asia Pacific region.  He is going to travel to Japan, South Korea, China and Australia December 8th through 14th as part of our continuing consultation with friends and allies on Iraq and efforts to ensure that Iraq complies with the UN Security Council Resolution 1441 and other relevant UN resolutions.  His meetings in all four capitals will be with senior officials and will, of course, include discussions of other bilateral and regional and global issues of concern.  More specifically, because there was a lot of interest, he expects to be in Japan December 8th through 10th, South Korea December 10th through 11th, China the 11th to 12th, and in Australia from the 13th through the 14th of December.

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QUESTION:  Could we go back to the Armitage? 

QUESTION:  Yeah, I was going to go there too, but go ahead. 

QUESTION:  Would it be way out of line for us to assume that one of the other issues besides Iraq that he will be talking about would be North Korea? 

MR. REEKER:  That may come up as a regional issue in the area.

QUESTION:  It may?

MR. REEKER:  I don't have a specific agenda for those meetings.  I am sure it is an issue that we discuss regularly.  As you know, we have been working very closely with friends and allies on North Korea and I think the international community, including the countries that Secretary Armitage will be visiting, have spoken quite uniformly about the need for North Korea to cease its program of developing nuclear weapons and do so immediately and in a verifiable way.  So I would imagine, yes, that that would be a topic of discussion while they're out there.

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QUESTION:  On North Korea?

MR. REEKER:  I think we probably have more on this?

QUESTION:  When was the Joint Working Committee formed?  Is it recently? 

MR. REEKER:  I'd have to go back and get the exact details on that.  It's a good question and I just forgot to remind myself.  One of your colleagues might know, but I'll be happy to look and let you know. 

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QUESTION:  On North Korea.  The World Food Program has issued a fresh appeal to the international community to donate more food for North Korea and the United States has already this year given 155,000 metric tons.  I wonder whether the administration is planning more donations this time, and what about next year?

MR. REEKER:  Thank you for pointing that out.  We have provided, as you noted, 155,000 metric tons to the World Food Program's 2002 appeal, which is roughly a quarter of that organization's total goal.  I think President Bush has stated that food aid -- and that includes the aid to North Korea where we are the largest donor of food aid to the hungry people there -- food aid will be based on humanitarian considerations, factors that include the availability of food stocks and need and competing needs elsewhere and the ability to monitor distribution. 

I can't give you a specific answer on that.  We have seen the announcement from the World Food Program.  We will look at that and consider those things, but I can't make any announcements now. 

QUESTION:  You can't make an announcement that -- you're not saying that 155,000, that's it for this year?  Are you leaving the door open?

MR. REEKER:  That is what we have given this year.  That is a fact.  That is a checked box.

QUESTION:  Yes.  So there will be -- you can't say whether there will be more this year?

MR. REEKER:  I can't, no.  We have seen a new announcement.  I think we have given, as we approach the final days of this year, we have given all of that.  And as we look at this request we'll have to look at the various factors that I mentioned.

QUESTION:  There are basically two requests.  One is for 2002 to reach this at least 400,000 -- they wanted 611 but they couldn't reach it.  And then the next is for 2003.  So you're saying that there is no decision for 2003 yet as far as --

MR. REEKER:  I'm saying there is no decision on the new appeals from the World Food Program.  I don't have anything to announce for you.  I can tell you what the facts are and I can corroborate the fact that we are aware of this new appeal, but I have nothing new for you in that regard.  I can point you to what the President said about food aid and what we have done.  I can't tell you what hasn't been done yet or what hasn't been decided.

QUESTION:  Can I just ask, and forgive my ignorance on this, the appeal is for the remaining 28 days of this year? 

MR. REEKER:  You know, I am not even sure.  You would have to check what the World Food Program put out, and maybe your colleague could give you the details on that. 

(...) QUESTION: Do you have anything on the upcoming TCOG meeting being postponed or canceled? MR. REEKER: I don't. QUESTION: The December 11th one? MR. REEKER: I don't. We'll be happy to check on that.

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Thank you.