Tracking Number: 349938
Title: Portion of remarks by Senators McCain and Gramm, just returned from a visit to South Korea, during talk show interviews about the North Korean nuclear crisis.
Congressional Report. (940621)
Date: 19940621
Text:
*EPF204
06/21/94 CONGRESSIONAL REPORT, JUNE 21 (McCain/Gramm/NKorea, Whitewater, Haiti) (1570) SENATORS MCCAIN AND GRAMM BACK FROM SOUTH KOREA Senator John McCain (Republican of Arizona) and Senator Phil Gramm (Republican of Texas) just returned from a visit to South Korea.
Following are excerpts from their answers on a talk show June 21: (begin excerpts from Legi-Slate) ON JIMMY CARTER'S TRIP TO NORTH KOREA SEN. MCCAIN: If there's any sign of hope, of course, I would favor it. But I didn't see anything new in Kim Il Sung's offers to President Carter and I'm very concerned about the fact that time is not on our side. If the North Koreans continue the acquisition and production of nuclear weapons and the capability to do so, then I see this as something that could delay much-needed actions to try to persuade them or dissuade them from pursuing this nuclear capability. But I do want to mention that the South Korean initiative for talks with North Korea, I think, is appropriate. And it'll be interesting to see the North Korean response.
RECORD OF KIM IL SUNG ON PAST PROMISES SEN. MCCAIN: I have reason to look at his record, which is full of empty promises, including as short a time ago as three weeks ago where he promised basically that, or his people did. And I see a clear record of misleading deception and outright lies concerning his nuclear program. As short a time as a month ago, he said that they had no plans whatsoever. Clearly that's false. So I'd like to see some concrete evidence, including allowing the inspectors in and allowing verification of their nuclear program.
CARTER TRIP AS HELPFUL, BUT SEN. GRAMM: I think they were helpful in the sense that they opened up a new potential dialogue. I think they hurt in terms of basically killing off any real hope the president had of getting an international consensus on sanctions. There is nothing new in what Kim Il Sung has said. Over the last two years on several occasions, he's said exactly the same thing. He's never lived up to what he said. We have 45 years of experience in dealing with him.
And I think the bottom line is that if they decide to break out on their nuclear program, they can have six to eight bombs by the end of the year. And we're ultimately coming down to a moment of truth where we're going to have to judge these people not based on what they say but based on what they do. And what they're doing is they have built nuclear reactors for the sole purpose of building nuclear weapons.
Jimmy Carter talked about giving them light water reactors as a substitute to generate electricity. They're not generating electricity with their nuclear power plants. The whole objective is weapons. Everybody knows that. We can't wish it away. And at some point we've got to have a coherent policy to deal with it because this is a dangerous situation.
U.S. MILITARY READINESS IN SOUTH KOREA SEN. GRAMM: First of all, the good news is that we're prepared. We have the finest young men and women in uniform on Korea who've ever worn the uniform. They're at the highest state of readiness. Senator McCain and I have identified roughly a dozen things that we can do to enhance readiness. We're meeting at 9:00 with the Pentagon to press those actions that can raise our level of readiness, that can deter aggression, and if aggression comes, can basically save hundreds of thousands of lives.
THE U.S. PUBLIC AND WAR WITH NORTH KOREA SEN. MCCAIN: First of all, about 48 percent to 44 percent in a poll of the American people say that military action if necessary is something they would support. But I think that sanctions must be tried. But implicit in the sanctions, in my view, is the possibility or likelihood if the sanctions are not effective -- and they're not notoriously effective, obviously -- that air strikes to disable the North Korean nuclear capability must be a serious consideration. And if we don't, then I'm afraid that time is not on our side.
And I would hate to contemplate the prospect of a nuclear-armed North Korea with missiles strapped on Scud missiles and the possibility and likelihood of them exporting those nuclear weapons to other outlaw nations. I don't know how you meet that challenge.
(end excerpts from Legi-Slate)
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File Identification: 06/21/94, EPF204
Product Name: Wireless File
Product Code: WF
Keywords: MCCAIN, JOHN/Speaker; GRAMM, PHIL/Speaker; KOREA (SOUTH)-US RELATIONS;
KOREA (SOUTH)/Defense & Military; SECURITY ARRANGEMENTS; FORCE & TROOP LEVELS; KOREA (NORTH)-KOREA (SOUTH) RELATIONS; KOREA (NORTH)/Defense & Military; INS
Thematic Codes: 1EA; 1AC; 2FP
Target Areas: EA
PDQ Text Link: 349938
USIA Notes: *94062104.EPF
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