Tracking Number: 314182
Title: "Clinton Urges North Korea Not to Block Nuclear Inspections." President Clinton warned North Korea it risks increased international pressure if it persists in blocking
inspection of its nuclear facilities, but also offered to re-examine, with South Korea, security arrangements on the Korean peninsula if Pyongyang renounces nuclear weapons. (931123)
Translated Title: La Coree du Nord et les
inspections de l'AIEA. (931123)
Author: SULLIVAN, ALEXANDER M (USIA STAFF WRITER); DYBVIK, RUSSELL E (USIA STAFF WRITER)
Date: 19931123
Text:
ADD 93112305.POL
(CLINTON URGES NORTH KOREA NOT TO BLOCK...) (620) A senior administration official explained later that a sense of urgency on the continuity of nuclear safeguards, together with a lack of progress in the previous "step-by-step" tactic, led to the shift to the "thorough, broad approach" mentioned by the president. "Time is not on our side here," he said. "This is a matter of some urgency."
Terming the nuclear inspection matter a deteriorating situation, the official said the president wants "to bring it as rapidly as possible to a resolution," with Pyongyang brought back into full compliance with the non-proliferation regime. Should the "desired result" fail to materialize, the official said, Washington will have little choice but to return the matter to the United Nations Security Council.
"We are not eager to see the imposition of sanctions," he said, "but at such time as the IAEA says the continuity of safeguards is broken, we will have no choice" but to return to the Security Council "for further measures."
Continuity of safeguards is a term of art rather than science, the official said, and is determined by measures such as on-site cameras, seals and other procedures. "The agglomeration of these things gives you a certain level of confidence," he explained. "That confidence has begun to erode."
The official defined a "thorough, broad approach" as agreement to inform North Korea of a willingness to discuss "the full array of nuclear and security-related issues with a view to finding a resolution of the nuclear problem" that would find Pyongyang "back in compliance" with all international obligations. When that is accomplished, the official said, the United States and South Korea "would be prepared to discuss a broader array of issues." In any discussion of Korean Peninsula security, he added, joint military exercises like Team Spirit would be considered.
"In the event the North Koreans meet the conditions we have laid out," the official told questioners, "we would reconsider" joint exercises, and "make our recommendation to the South Koreans based on what the security requirements on the peninsula are, as influenced by what the North Koreans do with respect to the nuclear issue." The conditions are "coming back into compliance with international" agreements, and resumption of the dialogue with South Korea, he said.
The official traced the Clinton administration's enhanced interest in Pyongyang's nuclear program to March 12, when North Korea announced its intention to withdraw from the Non-proliferation Treaty, which required 90 days' notice. From the outset, he said, the administration consulted with those most affected -- South Korea and Japan -- as well as with the United Nations. On May 12, the U.N. Security Council adopted a resolution calling on North Korea to resume meeting its obligations under the non-proliferation regime.
At the request of other nations, the official said, Washington began direct talks with North Korea, with two cardinal objectives in mind -- a non-nuclear Korean Peninsula and a strong non-proliferation regime.
In June, U.S. officials told the North Koreans specific kinds of progress were needed for the discussions to continue -- resumption of IAEA safeguard inspections and shunning refueling of North Korea's five-megawatt reactor unless IAEA inspectors were on hand.
"We did get additional inspections," the official asserted, and in a second set of talks, asked North Korea to resume its dialogue with South Korea and to settle differences with the IAEA.
When those conditions were not met, the meetings scheduled for September were canceled. Washington began a further round of consultations with its allies and with the United Nations on changing tactics. "Those consultations concluded today" with the Clinton-Kim meeting, the official said.
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File Identification: 11/23/93, POL205; 11/23/93, EPF206; 11/23/93, EUR205; 11/23/93, LEF225; 11/23/93, NEA208; 11/23/93, POL208; 11/24/93, AEF309; 11/24/93, ERF308; 11/26/93, AFF507
Product Name: Wireless
File
Product Code: WF
Languages: Russian; French
Keywords: KOREA (NORTH)-KOREA (SOUTH) RELATIONS; CLINTON, BILL/Foreign Relations: East Asia & Pacific; KOREA (NORTH)-US RELATIONS/Policy;
KOREA (NORTH)/Defense & Military; INSPECTIONS; ARMS CONTROL VERIFICATION; NUCLEAR NON-PROLIFERATIO
Thematic Codes: 1EA; 1AC; 1UN
Target Areas: EA; EU; AR; NE; AF
PDQ Text Link: 314039; 314182; 314551
USIA Notes: *93112308.POL
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