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U.S. Department of State

Daily Press Briefing

QUESTION: Okay, and then also, do you have anything on the conclusion of the missile talk sin Pyongyang?

MR. RUBIN: With respect to the missile talks, let me say that we do have a comment on the missile talks. The US and North Korea met March 29-30, for another round of missile talks. The talks occurred in Pyongyang in North Korea, and the US delegation was led by our Deputy Assistant Secretary Robert Einhorn. The talks were business like, substantive and detailed. The entire range of missile proliferation issues were discussed and covered. We used the talks to press our serious concerns about North Korea's development, testing, deployment and export of missiles and missile technology and to call for tight constraints on these activities.

In particular, we stressed that further launches of long missiles or further exports of such missiles or their technology would have serious negative implications for US-North Korean relations. The sides agreed to hold another round of talks as soon as possible. We will work out the timing and venue through the New York channel.

It's not surprising to us that we have not yet reached an agreement. For those of you who ask me about the Kumchang-ni talks time after time after time, you know that negotiating with North Korea is a marathon process with our marathon negotiators, and they are determined to continue to pursue our objectives.

QUESTION: This is a follow up to yesterday question, that the Japanese Government has now confirmed that the two ships they shot at were North Korean. Is there a US reaction; and also, did they discuss this at the missile talks?

MR. RUBIN: The United States remains seriously concerned about the incursion of the two unidentified ships into Japanese waters. We have been in close consultations with our Japanese allies on this issue, and we continue to cooperate with Japan on this matter. As regards whether this came up in our discussions with North Korea, we do not wish to comment on this kind of detail of our diplomatic exchange.

QUESTION: Jamie, when you say that further launches would complicate --

MR. RUBIN: Serious negative implications for US-North Korean relations.

QUESTION: Does that include attempts to launch communication satellites or other types of satellites?

MR. RUBIN: Well, what we're talking about is long-range missiles, and we define that our way. A long-range missile is a long-range missile, but I will try to get a technical answer for you.

QUESTION: But when you say that's serious implications for North Korea, does that mean you're going to cancel the potato program?

MR. RUBIN: Well, we have developed an ongoing process with North Korea, a step-by-step program including the agreed framework and all that goes with it that has very serious programs. We have this food aid; we have a lot of other programs. We have always made our policy on food aid based on humanitarian concerns. I don't want to be more specific on what a serious negative implication would be, other than to say that it would have serious negative implications.

QUESTION: I understand you didn't reach agreement in these talks, but can you tell us whether you saw any progress? And can you in some way describe the response of the North Koreans to these points that you put to them?

MR. RUBIN: Well, from our perspective, we achieved the objective of pressing our concern about the North Koreans' indigenous missile activities and missile exports and of calling for tight constraints on these activities. We've only had four meetings to discuss this important and complex issue. We don't think it's surprising that we have not yet reached agreement. They did agree to hold another round of talks as soon as possible, so we're able to continue the process.

It would not be appropriate for me to get into the details of the talks; however, we made our concerns very clear. We have made clear our concerns with both missile exports and with indigenous development and deployment activities. Both elements must be addressed. We've also made clear to the North Koreans the US is not prepared to "compensate" North Korea for stopping destabilizing missile sales it should not be making in the first place.

(The briefing concluded at 3:45 P.M.)

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