Tracking Number: 315903
Title: "Clinton to Discuss Pyongyang Nuclear Reply with Advisers." President Clinton, not entirely satisfied with North Korea's continuing nuclear program problem, is going to
discuss the matter with ally South Korea as well as with his own advisers before making a formal decision. (931206)
Author: SULLIVAN, ALEXANDER M (USIA STAFF WRITER); SCHERR, ED (USIA STAFF WRITER)
Date:
19931206
Text:
CLINTON TO DISCUSS PYONGYANG NUCLEAR REPLY WITH ADVISERS
(Says U.S. not entirely satisfied with response) (1120) By Alexander M. Sullivan and Edmund F. Scherr USIA Staff Correspondents Washington -- The United States is "not entirely satisfied" with North Korea's response on nuclear inspection, President Clinton asserted December 6.
The president turned aside requests for a detailed reply to Pyongyang, saying he preferred to discuss the matter with South Korea and his own advisers before making a formal comment. He also said he expected to speak out within a few days on the issue.
At a joint news conference with Spanish Prime Minister Felipe Gonzalez following talks at the White House, Clinton's commented on North Korea's failure to comply fully with its commitments on international inspection of its nuclear facilities.
North Korea has signed international agreements on nuclear non-proliferation which involve international inspection of its nuclear facilities. But it has agreed to limited inspection, more constrained than procedures normally conducted by the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Additionally, it signed a pact with South Korea last year declaring the Koran peninsula a nuclear-free zone.
Clinton told a questioner he had found "some indication" that Pyongyang understands the need "to both start the inspection and the dialogue" with South Korea, the key elements of the U.S. position formulated by Washington and Seoul during President Kim's visit last month. "It's like all these things in international diplomacy," the president added. "The devil is in the details. I'm hopeful we can work something out. I don't want to say more until I've had the chance to meet with my advisers and talk to our allies."
Clinton said the IAEA requires a "continuity" of inspection to be able to certify that a nation's nuclear reactors are not producing weapons-grade plutonium as well as electricity. At some unspecified point, the IAEA says, the gap between comprehensive inspections undermines its ability to certify a nuclear program is a peaceful system.
Clinton noted the "nature" of the urgency regarding the North Korean program "is a function of what the IAEA has said: the more they go on without adequate inspection, the more difficult it is to be able to certify the actual condition of the North Korean nuclear program. That's why we're trying to work it through as quickly as we can, so we won't finally and completely break the chain (of inspections) that enables the IAEA to make certain representations to the rest of the world" about the safety of Pyongyang's activities.
The president said he wants "the opportunity to meet and discuss" the issue with his principal advisers, noting "it's equally important to get back to the South Koreans and others."
Meanwhile, at the State Department, Deputy Spokesman Christine Shelly said there was to be a meeting of senior administration officials at the White House December 6 to discuss the North Korean reply to U.S. proposals to resolve the issue of IAEA safeguards inspections of North Korean nuclear facilities.
The U.S. discussions have been on all aspects of the North Korean response, Shelly said. "It's not just a simple 'yes-no,' open-and-shut kind of case." And "when a final conclusion has been reached, we will then go forward with consultations with our allies," she said, noting that the South Korean position on the matter is "very important."
The deputy spokesman reminded questioners that the United States has "always" said that the IAEA has an "independent responsibility to decide whether or not the continuity of safeguards" at declared North Korean nuclear sites "has been broken, and, in particular, what inspections they need to verify safeguards."
According to press reports, IAEA spokesman David Kyd said that North Korea's offer to open some of its nuclear-energy sites to inspection "does not respond to our position." Kyd reportedly said the agency would not respond officially to the North Korean offer until after the Clinton administration announced its position.
At his news conference with Gonzalez, Clinton noted the U.S.-Spanish relationship, citing the "rich cultural and historical ties" between the two nations. Clinton also praised Madrid for its role in Bosnia-Herzegovina, for its "increasingly important role" in the international community and as "a strong NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) ally, vigorous proponent of European integration, (and) current member of the U.N. Security Council." He said he was "deeply saddened" to learn of the death of one Spanish officer in Bosnia over the weekend and the wounding of another.
Clinton said he and Gonzalez share the conviction that international economic growth, spurred by new trade agreements, is a necessary ingredient to creation of more jobs, both in Spain and the United States. The president said he discussed with Gonzalez the recent approval of the North American Free Trade Agreement "and its potential as a building block for free trade, not only throughout Latin America but around the world. We agreed on the critical importance of a successful conclusion to the GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade) Uruguay Round."
Clinton said he and Gonzalez discussed their conviction that Europe, Japan and the United States need to increase their rates of growth and "what each of us needs to do." He noted that Spain's growth record, before the global recession set in, was "quite impressive." The path out of recession, he added, lies "increasingly with a coordinated economic strategy."
The president made these points on other foreign policy issues: -- Washington is "working through" with Moscow the possibility of shifting the targeting of its nuclear weapons, with the aim of "making them and ourselves and others feel more secure." He said re-targeting nuclear warheads to desolate oceanic areas as a guard against accidental launch is one of a number of such measures under consideration, adding, "No final decision has been made."
-- The present pressures on Cuba "are responsible in some measure for the very modest openings that we see coming out of Cuba with regard to travel and assets." But there is no indication the Castro government "is willing to make the kind of changes we would expect before we would change our policy."
-- Clinton will "stand behind the decision" of Ambassador Robert Oakley to offer U.S. transport to Somali clan leader Mohammed Farah Aideed, even though many Americans hold Aideed responsible for the deaths of U.S. soldiers. Clinton noted the aim is a political solution in Somalia and he suggested Aideed's absence from the Addis Ababa talks would have blocked that goal.
-- While the United States is doing its "best to try to bring the conflict" in Angola to a peaceful conclusion, he does not foresee any more physical role there.
NNNN
File Identification: 12/06/93, POL103; 12/06/93, EUR102; 12/06/93, NEA108; 12/07/93, LEF203; 12/07/93, AEF207
Product Name: Wireless File
Product Code: WF
Keywords: KOREA (SOUTH)-US RELATIONS/Policy; KOREA (SOUTH)/Defense & Military; INSPECTIONS; ARMS CONTROL VERIFICATION; SECURITY ARRANGEMENTS; KOREA (NORTH)/Defense & Military; CLINTON, BILL/Foreign Relations: East Asia & Pacific;
INTERN
Thematic Codes: 1EA; 1AC; 1UN; 2FP
Target Areas: EU; NE; AF; AR
PDQ Text Link: 315903
USIA Notes: *93120603.POL
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
