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U.S. Department of State

Daily Press Briefing

INDEX
TUESDAY, AUGUST 10, 1999
Briefer: JAMES P. RUBIN

NORTH KOREA
7-9	Conclusion of Four Party Talks in Geneva
7-8	Ambassador Kartman's Meeting with Vice Foreign Minister Kim Gye Gwan
16	Dr. Perry's Report/Proposals

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING
DPB #101
TUESDAY, AUGUST 10, 1999, 12:40 P.M.
(ON THE RECORD UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED)

..............

QUESTION: Change of subject? The Four Party Talks in Geneva have come to an end. Can you say anything beyond the rather terse material that came out of Geneva earlier today?

MR. RUBIN: With respect to the Four Party Talks, let me say that we, along with the other participants, worked very hard to put the mechanisms of the two subcommittees in place so that substantive work on the goals of tension reduction on the Korean Peninsula and replacing the Armistice with a peace regime could begin in earnest.

We had hoped to see some concrete result of that hard work. We note that a number of substantive issues were discussed in depth and that some of the delegations made very constructive proposals, including several concrete ideas in the area of tension reductions. We were encouraged by that and by the willingness of some of the delegations to table concrete ideas for a new peace regime.

We were disappointed that we were not able to achieve a consensus on any of the concrete proposals at this round. We remain committed to seek concrete first steps that could be taken to reduce tensions on the peninsula. The Four Party process, in our view, is a long-term one and we know it will take more hard work to accomplish its goals.

On the margins of that meeting, we did have another meeting with - between Ambassador Kartman and his North Korean counterpart, Vice Foreign Minister Kim Gye Guan, last night after the close of the talks. This was the third such bilateral meeting on the margins of the Four Party Talks. Ambassador Kartman had a good exchange with Vice Foreign Minister Kim. We use these meetings to continue our discussions on the many issues we discuss with North Korea. We continue to use such encounters to stress to North Korea the advantages of taking steps to improve its relations with the United States and the international community based on the ideas discussed by former Secretary Perry in his trip to North Korea.

We also use these meetings to reiterate the concerns we have raised on many occasions about another long range missile launch. We hope to continue our dialogue with North Korea on this and other subjects in the coming weeks. We have not established a schedule for that, but we hope to be able to have such talks.

QUESTION: You didn't quite say that you reiterated your concern at yesterday's meeting; can you say that?

MR. RUBIN: We did reiterate in the last set of these three meetings our concern about a long range missile launch. We do have such concern and we regularly reiterate that concern in each of the meetings that we have with North Korea.

QUESTION: Including yesterday's meetings?

MR. RUBIN: Including yesterday's meetings.

QUESTION: And can you say whether the North Koreans - Mr. Kim - made a new response to this -- (inaudible) --

MR. RUBIN: Well, I would prefer not to publicly discuss their reaction; that will be up to them. This is a process. We hope to schedule missile talks soon to further discuss this issue.

QUESTION: Can we conclude that the party which was not particularly constructive and didn't make particularly constructive suggestions is North Korea? Would you dispute a story that said that?

MR. RUBIN: I don't think I'd come down too hard on that.

QUESTION: So basically, then, you cannot convey any read-out as to whether we are happier after these Four Party Talks and these on-the-margin talks about the Korean missile program, or we have not changed our mood, or we are less happy; or can you say?

MR. RUBIN: Well, I usually don't, in the foreign policy business, ever get happy. We have concerns that we resolve and then we work on new concerns and try to resolve them. So there's rarely a day I can remember of ever being happy here at the podium.

(Laughter.)

QUESTION: You seem to be at the moment. Substitute progress toward resolution, if we're having any.

MR. RUBIN: When and if we are ready to talk about progress on the missile issue, we will do so. For now I have said that what we did in these meetings was stress the benefits to North Korea of a regime in which they foreswear further testing and we improve our relationships, as opposed to a situation where a further test occurs with the consequences we have previously described.

QUESTION: Let me try that a slightly different way. You said that in the Four Party Talks, you were encouraged by some parties' willingness to come forward with these concrete proposals. Can you say, was there anything to be encouraged about after the bilat, or do you prefer to leave it just exactly as what --

MR. RUBIN: I prefer to leave it exactly as I left it.

.............

QUESTION: Maybe I've missed something; I've been away for awhile. I thought you gave the impression these two subcommittees have never actually met because they can't agree on the parameters for the arrangements; is that right? I thought they met some time ago.

MR. RUBIN: No, what I said was they discussed some issues in depth. Some of the delegations made constructive proposals, but we didn't achieve consensus in the subcommittees.

QUESTION: On the subcommittees?

MR. RUBIN: Let me just check that; that's my best understanding of that. Yes, we didn't achieve a consensus on any of the concrete proposals for tension reduction that were put forward.

QUESTION: You don't want to talk about what the tension reduction proposals were?

MR. RUBIN: Not at this time.

.................

MR. RUBIN: Let's go back there first, then we'll come back for round two on the non-report.

QUESTION: Back to North Korea -- there was a report that the United States has proposed some more detailed, more specific proposal in relation to Dr. Perry's proposal in Geneva. For example, how do you improve North Korea and the United States' relationship? Is that true?

MR. RUBIN: Well, Dr. Perry went to North Korea and spoke in detail about ideas that he was considering recommending. Certainly our discussions with North Korea since then have involved elaborating on, discussing or further reiterating aspects of that. But I'm not going to be in a position to give you any detail here in the United States on what the actual proposal is. I know that some in other governments give you detail on what they think has happened in meetings by the United States and other countries; but from our standpoint, we think it's better for the diplomacy and the objective to not provide second-hand accounts of what happens in meetings.

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