Tracking Number: 352507
Title: "Gallucci Fully Expects Talks with North Korea to Resume." Remarks of assistant Secretary of State Robert Gallucci during a televised interview on the full expectation by
the US that North Korea will resume talks with the US after suspending them in the wake of the death of North Korean leader Kim Il-song. (940710)
Source: THIS WEEK WITH DAVID BRINKLEY (TV PROGRAM), JUL 10
Date: 19940710
Text:
*SFF709
07/10/94 GALLUCCI FULLY EXPECTS TALKS WITH NORTH KOREA TO RESUME (Transcript: interview on Brinkley program) (1030) Geneva -- Chief U.S. negotiator Robert Gallucci says "we fully expect" that there will be a resumption of the Geneva talks between the United States and North Korea.
Gallucci, who is an assistant secretary of state, said July 10 in an interview on the ABC-TV program "This Week with David Brinkley" that he "can't say exactly when" the resumption of the talks -- which were suspended July 9 following the death of President Kim Il Sung -- would occur.
He said the United States also fully expects that North and South Korea will "talk again" about when and how they might meet. "We hope that eventually they do meet and that relations between the two countries indeed over time improve," he said.
Gallucci told a questioner he does not know what role China is playing because the United States has not been in touch with Beijing since the death of the North Korean leader.
Following is a transcript of Gallucci's responses to questions in the interview:
(begin transcript) QUESTION: What is the status of talks with North Korea? GALLUCCI: What I know at this point is that the DPRK, the North Koreans, have asked us to postpone the talks for a bit as they awaited instructions from Pyongyang. We don't know yet about when we might resume -- whether, for example, we'll resume before the funeral of President Kim Il Sung or whether it will be afterwards. But we hope to know before too long.
Q: Will the new North Korean leader have his father's political power? A: It is guesswork. I think the indications we have are that Kim Jong Il will succeed his father as president, and we expect that transition is taking place even as we speak. And we also expect, I think it's fair to say, that we'll continue on the course that President Kim Il Sung had set just very recently of attempting to negotiate a settlement to the nuclear issue.
Q: Some speculate that Kim Jong Il is an unstable or even mentally disturbed person. Would his succession to leadership mean a setback for the talks?
A: I myself don't know any of the things which you described to be true. I think we have all been saying, those of us in the administration, that there is a great deal of uncertainty about exactly what course North Korea will follow in the future. But we do have reason to believe there will be a basis of continuity on this issue, and we hope with respect to the negotiations eventually with the ROK, with the Republic of Korea, with South Korea. So I just am not up to speculation about exactly what this means at this point.
Q: Do you suspect foul play in the death of Kim Il Sung? A: I remember hearing from President Carter after he returned that President Kim Il Sung looked to be a very healthy 82- year-old man. Under those circumstances, I don't think there's any reason to assume there's foul play, and I have heard nothing, absolutely nothing to substantiate such a statement.
Q: What about reports that the talks between the two Koreas have been canceled? Are they true?
A: I have not heard that the summit is off. I have only heard that the situation obviously has changed and that the -- I fully expect the North and the South to talk again about when they might meet and how they might meet. And that is a matter between them.
Our position, of course, is that we hope eventually they do meet and that relations between the two countries indeed over time improve. Our situation is one in which we expect, fully expect our talks to resume. At this particular moment, I can't say exactly when. Perhaps even later in the day, I would know more, but right now I don't know when.
Q: What will happen if North Korea decides not to resume the Geneva talks? A: As I said before, we expect that there will be continuity, that we will proceed with the North to attempt to negotiate a settlement. If for whatever reason that effort were not to succeed, then of course we have described many times in the past that the alternative for us must be a return to the Security Council. We were on that course before. We would return to it. But right now our focus, of course, is on talks and an attempt to settle this through the discussions.
Q: Have you received any indication from North Korea that the talks will resume?
A: Our members of our delegation have been in contact with members of the DPRK delegation. And those discussions suggest, and I can only use the word "suggest" at this point, that we will resume talks, but as I said, I don't know when.
Q: Has China cooperated in helping to resume the talks? A: I think at this point it's very difficult to say what role China is playing. Between the time when we had word that President Kim Il Sung was dead and the moment we are at right now, I don't know if the Chinese have been active. I myself have not been involved in any contact with the Chinese between word on Saturday morning and today, on Sunday.
Q: Did President Clinton discuss Korea in his meeting with Russian President Boris Yeltsin?
A: Let me not be misunderstood on this point. We have been active with both the Russian government and with the Chinese government over these many, many months, and right up to the point at which we were having our talks on Friday, July 8th. I don't know of contacts with the Chinese between the day we had word of the death of President Kim Il Sung and the moment we are at now.
Certainly I would expect there have been some contacts with the Russian government, and they may well have included this issue. I'm just unaware of it where I am at the moment in Geneva.
(end transcript) NNNN
File Identification: 07/10/94, SFF709; 07/11/94, EPF107
Product Name: Wireless File
Product Code: WF
Keywords: GALLUCCI, ROBERT/Speaker; KOREA (NORTH)-US
RELATIONS; KIM IL-SONG; DEATHS; NEGOTIATIONS; KOREA (NORTH)/Defense & Military; MILITARY CAPABILITIES; NUCLEAR WEAPONS; KOREA (NORTH)-KOREA (SOUTH) RELATIONS; KIM JONG IL
Document Type: TRA
Thematic Codes: 1EA;
2FP
Target Areas: AF; AR; EA; EU; NE
PDQ Text Link: 352507
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
