The White House Briefing Room
November 20, 1998
JOINT STATEMENTS BY THE PRESIDENT AND PRIME MINISTER OBUCHI
5:00 P.M. (L)
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
(Tokyo, Japan)
______________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release November 20, 1998
JOINT STATEMENTS BY THE PRESIDENT
AND PRIME MINISTER OBUCHI
Akasaka Palace
Tokyo, Japan
5:00 P.M. (L)
.............
Q Mr. President, you mentioned briefly your
discussions on North Korea. I was wondering if you could tell
us, in light of, first of all, a couple of reports this morning
-- one talks about new North Korean missile developments, another
talks about the North Koreans requesting a sum of money in order
for an inspection of that suspected complex -- I'm wondering if
you can give us an update on the report from your representative
who went to the region and what specific areas you two discussed
as far as how to approach the situation, whether you need to be
going more toward carrots, more toward sticks, more discussions,
more direct negotiations. Thank you.
And I'd also like the Prime Minister, please, if he
could give his input on that as well.
THE PRESIDENT: First of all, I think it is important
to keep in mind the difference between the missile program, which
we have always been quite concerned about but over which we have
no agreement with the North Koreans, and the agreed framework for
containing the nuclear program.
We're quite concerned by some of the news reports we
have seen -- not all of them, by the way, have been confirmed.
But there are some disturbing signs there. It is true that when
I sent a team into North Korea to talk about inspecting sites,
there was some discussion of conditions which were completely
unacceptable for such inspections. And I think it's fair to say
that no one can be absolutely sure of whether the North Korean
position is simply a product of economic difficulties so they're
attempting to get more money out of various countries for doing
what they ought to be doing anyway, or whether they really are
moving toward a more hostile posture.
We will evaluate that very carefully. I have appointed
a former Defense Secretary, Bill Perry, to do a comprehensive
review of our Korea policy and analyze all this and report back
to me and to congressional leaders soon.
Now, the second thing I would say is I still believe
that we are doing the right thing to pursue the agreed framework
because we know that if we had not been working on that these
last several years, North Korea would have far more nuclear
material for weapons productions than it is has because the
agreed framework, in that sense, has worked.
And in that connection, I applaud what Prime Minister
Obuchi has done in supporting the KEDO project. And we need to
continue to work together with our friends in South Korea --
hopefully, with the support of the good wishes of the Chinese --
to try to restrain hostile developments in North Korea and keep
working in the spirit of the agreed framework, and to avoid
destabilizing things like this missile flight over Japan, which
disturbed us greatly.
PRIME MINISTER OBUCHI: With respect to the North Korea
issue, basically the United States, South Korea, and Japan should
cooperate in trying to resolve the matter. And on this point, we
have had discussions with the President and I think that it has
been confirmed that this kind of trilateral deliberations and
consultations will continue.
The North Korean missile flew over our territory and
landed in the Pacific Ocean, but it was a very shocking
experience for us. And, therefore, in that respect, Japan would
like to try to see what kind of cooperation Japan can extend to
North Korea to these consultations and consultative processes.
However, there are some doubts about the underground nuclear
facilities should the North Koreans have, and, therefore, we are
looking forward to the surveys and investigations which will be
conducted by the United States and hope that that kind of a doubt
will be cleared very soon.
On the other hand, we have to cooperate on the KEDO
project and, therefore, in that respect, we are trying to extend
our cooperation as the President has just mentioned. And as
Japan we are going to be thinking of providing a billion dollars
worth of support and, therefore, in that respect we hope that
such underground nuclear facilities or facilities that are
producing nuclear material is not there in reality.
Because if that happens it will be very difficult for
us to persuade the Japanese people about the kind of cooperation
we would be able to extend to the North Koreans and, therefore,
in that respect, we would like to ask for the understanding of
the United States and we're asking for the cooperation of the
United States in this respect.
In any case, we do hope that we will be able to see
that North Koreans will be able to coordinate their efforts
together with the people that are involved. Although in the
consultation tables we are not included ever, we hope that the
United States and South Korea will provide us the needed
information so that we will be able to pursue our policies in
trying to stabilize this area and bring peace and stability into
the region.
I'm sorry, the time is up. Thank you very much.
END 5:15 P.M. (L)
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