THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release June 20, 1994
INTERVIEW OF THE PRESIDENT
BY
THE "TODAY SHOW"
The Oval Office
7:09 A.M. EDT
Q Forty years ago, Harry Truman, who was staying
at the Waldorf Astoria hotel here in New York City, decided to
take a morning stroll down West 49th Street. There, the story
goes, he noticed a group of onlookers watching the Today Show
through its street-level glass window. He decided to join the
crowd, and thus this unusual picture.
Today, minus the stroll, we are pleased to welcome
another President to our street-level digs. Mr. President, good
morning. Welcome to Studio 1A.
THE PRESIDENT: Good morning, Bryant. I wish I
were with Harry Truman today, out there on the street, looking
in.
Q Well, Katie and I are very grateful that you're
allowing us the opportunity to interview you this morning. Thank
you for taking the time.
Let's start with North Korea, if we might. Former
President Jimmy Carter, just back from the Korean Peninsula in
meetings with Kim Il Sung, has said that he believes the crisis
has been defused, and at this point any sanctions would be
counterproductive.
Do his opinions reflect the views of your
administration in any way? And if not, could you detail the
extent to which his views and his trip may have changed your
approach?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, the North Koreans asked
President Carter to come as a private citizen. He called me, and
we agreed that the trip might be productive -- that he would go;
he would listen; he would faithfully state the views of our
administration; and reaffirm that our interest is in seeing that
North Korea honor it's commitments under the nuclear
Nonproliferation Treaty and its commitment to a nonnuclear Korean
Peninsula.
While there, when he notified us about what they
were saying, we put out a statement, which he reaffirmed, which
simply said that if North Korea wishes to talk and is willing to
freeze their nuclear program -- that is, not continue
reprocessing or refueling while they talk, then that would be a
step forward. He says that Kim Il Sung made that commitment to
him. Now we have to verify that. So that's the question.
We have, surely, something to gain by talking with
the North Koreans, by avoiding further steps toward a crisis.
But we have to know there's been a change. So we'll be looking
to verify that. And that's really the question. This is a
question of fact now.
There are some hopeful signs -- the willingness to
meet between North and South. But the critical question is, are
they willing to freeze this nuclear program while we try to work
these differences out?
Q You say there are hopeful signs. Are you
prepared to respond with positive sings of your own, or have you
reason to believe that Kim Il Sung's history suggests there's a
wide divergence between what he says and what he does?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I think what we have to do is
to look to the present and the future and say we will evaluate
words in terms of actions. We have the capacity if the
international inspectors and the equipment going to be left there
to evaluate whether, in fact, the nuclear program has been
frozen. If it's going to be frozen, then clearly that is a
grounds for talking. But we have to know what the facts are, and
we'll be attempting to determine that.
...................
END7:23 A.M. EDT
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