ACCESSION NUMBER:334575
FILE ID:SFF402
DATE:03/24/94
TITLE:CLINTON SEEKS END TO NUCLEAR IMPASSE WITH PYONGYANG (03/24/94)
TEXT:*94032402.SFF
CLINTON SEEKS END TO NUCLEAR IMPASSE WITH PYONGYANG
(Says North Korea faces international isolation) (720)
By Alexander M. Sullivan
USIA White House Correspondent
Washington -- North Korea's decision on full inspection of its nuclear
facilities will determine whether Pyongyang is isolated from the
international community or becomes a full partner in its undertakings,
President Clinton said March 24.
The president, in a nationally televised press conference from the White
House, said he hopes a resolution of the nuclear impasse is possible, but
he noted the choice is up to North Korea.
"We still hope this can be resolved," Clinton said of Pyongyang's refusal to
allow the normal inspection routine of the International Atomic Energy
Agency (IAEA). "We believe it can be, but the choice is really up to North
Korea. Will they be isolated from the world community or will they be a
full partner?"
Clinton's press conference was dominated by questions about his investment
in the Whitewater Development firm in the state of Arkansas in the 1970s,
and about whether his aides had sought to influence a federal investigation
into the failed savings and loan association owned by a partner in that
company. All but four of the questions concerned the issue.
1he president expressed confidence in Mexico's ability to weather the trauma
of a presidential candidate's assassination; predicted South Africa's first
multi-racial elections will be a triumph for democracy, and asserted
Washington's relations with Moscow are based on perceived national
interests.
North Korea, Clinton said, could have "a very bright future" as a full
participant in the world community. "Indeed," he said, "they have many
contributions to make." He suggested North Korea's future would be
particularly bright as part of a united Korea.
The president pointed out North Korea has stated its commitment to creation
of a non-nuclear Korean peninsula, and he said Washington is consulting
with South Korea, Japan, Russia and China in an effort to find ways of
resolving the inspection issue short of asking the United Nations Security
Council to impose economic sanctions. The IAEA has been rebuffed in its
effort to inspect seven of North Korea's nuclear facilities as promised in
February and has said it therefore cannot certify that Pyongyang is not
operating a nuclear weapons program.
Clinton said the situation in Korea "is serious, and we are responding in a
serious way." He said Washington wants "a good, normal relationship" with
North Korea. He insisted he had ordered shipment of Patriot anti-missile
missiles to South Korea as a precautionary measure.
The murder of Luis Donaldo Colosio, the president said, is a "terrible,
personal tragedy." He said he had ordered a short delay in trading of
Mexican securities, to give investors an opportunity to obtain facts about
the death of the ruling party's presidential candidate. Colosio was shot
at least twice by two gunmen while campaigning in Tijuana March 23.
Clinton said he is prepared to intervene, if necessary, to prevent
speculative attacks on Mexico's currency, just as other nations at times
have defended the dollar.
He said Mexico has made "enormous progress, economically and politically,"
but added it is a country of "ferment and change" which could be harnessed
to productive ends. The president told a questioner he does not expect any
"long-term damage" to flow from the assassination, noting the United
States, as Mexico's close neighbor, will be telling the world "we know this
country, they're our neighbors."
Clinton told a questioner he is "immensely hopeful" about South Africa's
coming elections, and said he has tried to persuade Mangosuthu Buthelezi,
chief minister of KwaZulu, to participate in the balloting. "I still have
some hope that he will," the president added.
He said he believes the election will be "a great triumph of democracy --
the first non-racial or multi-racial democratic process in South Africa."
On balance, he said, U.S. relations with Russia "are still sound," despite
the arrest of a Central Intelligence Agency employee as a Moscow spy and
some initial Russian irritability regarding enforcement of a truce in
Sarajevo. The relationship, he explained, "is based on our perception and
their perception of shared interest. When we disagree we will say so, and
we will act accordingly."
The president credited Russia with "constructive contributions" in Bosnia,
and added he is hopeful Moscow will be similarly helpful elsewhere, as in
Korea.
NNNN
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