THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
________________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release September 5, 2000
PRESS BRIEFING BY
JOE LOCKHART
The James S. Brady Press Briefing Room
3:44 P.M. EDT
Q Joe, North Korea is asking for an apology for the
American Airlines search of the North Korean delegation as it was
headed to the U.N. summit. Are you going to apologize for that? And
are you concerned that this is going to be a setback for --
MR. LOCKHART: Well, it's certainly an unfortunate incident
that we regret. I think the facts as we know them now are there was a
security check at a transit point in Germany. There was some initial
questioning by the delegation about the security procedure. That led
to a time delay, which led them to miss the flight. They were, as I
understand it, by American Airlines given tickets on a later flight,
but they made the decision to come back.
Again, it's an unfortunate incident, because we were looking
forward to their participation at the Millennium Summit. But based on
what I know now, I'm going to leave it at that and that it was a
combination of unfamiliarity with our procedures and -- I think some
unfamiliarity on the part there with the delegation coming through.
Q Do you think that they were out of line to subject them
to this search, or were they within their --
MR. LOCKHART: I think certainly the airlines, for their
part, were following their own -- were following procedures.
Q Which includes strip-searching of diplomats?
MR. LOCKHART: There was no strip-searching.
Q They said they were asked to take their clothes --
MR. LOCKHART: There was a general search of the -- patting
down and looking through bags. There was no strip-search, as far as
I've been able to ascertain.
Q Do you see this at all as a setback for the talks?
MR. LOCKHART: We certainly hope not. I mean, again, as I
said at the top here, we regret an unfortunate incident and regret that
they got on the plane and they headed back to home. But it's certainly
not our hope that this will substantively impact our discussions with
them on a series of important issues.
Q Back on the North Korea delegation real quick -- this was
supposed to be the most high ranking North Koreans to the U.N. since '91.
That they're not going to be here now, does that leave a significant
hole in something that you had hoped to discuss and achieve?
MR. LOCKHART: I think that goes to why we think it's so
unfortunate that this incident happened. We have looked forward to
their participation in the Millennium Summit, and it's just unfortunate
that because of this incident they've decided to return home.
Q Do you plan on issuing any kind of formal apology or
statement of regret to the government?
MR. LOCKHART: I think based on the information that I have
available to me now, I stand with what I've said.
END 3:52 P.M. EDT
#215-09/05
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