08 January 2003
U.S. Will Talk to North Korea but Not Negotiate or Offer Inducements
(The "ball is now in North Korea's court to respond," White House
says) (1070)
By Wendy S. Ross
Washington File White House Correspondent
Washington -- The United States will talk to North Korea about how
North Korea plans to come back into compliance with the obligations it
committed to on ending its nuclear arms program, but will not
negotiate about this, or offer inducements, White House Press
Secretary Ari Fleischer told reporters January 8 at his midday
briefing.
"We will talk to North Korea about how North Korea intends to come
back into compliance and honor its word," but the United States "has
no intention of getting into any negotiations or offering any
inducements," he said.
Pressed to clarify the U.S. position on North Korea, Fleischer said
"What I am saying is it will not be a negotiation, there will be no
inducements. The purpose would be, principally, to make sure that
North Korea does what it is supposed to do to come back into
international compliance as they've been called on to do not only by
the United States and Japan and South Korea and the neighbors who are
closest, but by the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) which
represents multiples of nations around the world, including Cuba and
Iran, all of whom have called on North Korea to come back into
compliance."
In December, North Korea expelled international weapons inspectors and
began unsealing spent fuel rods from a closed nuclear plant after
Washington stopped sending North Korea fuel oil supplies that were to
be delivered as part of the U.S.- North Korean 1994 Framework
Agreement.
Under that agreement, North Korea promised that it would abandon its
pursuit of nuclear weapons, but late last year Pyongyang admitted to
U.S. officials that it was resuming a uranium enrichment program,
violating the Framework Agreement.
Given the fact that North Korea unilaterally walked out of its
commitments that it made as part of that agreement, it is clear that
"the ball is in North Korea's court now to respond," Fleischer said.
Asked if the United States has shifted its position by saying it is
willing to talk to North Korea, Fleischer responded that "what we have
always said is there have been channels of communication that have
been open that have been used, and those channels represent North
Korea's mission to the United Nations up in New York. We've also
consistently said that we're not going to negotiate, and we will not
negotiate. But we will talk to North Korea about North Korea's
intentions and how they intend to come back into compliance with the
obligations that they committed to."
Fleischer noted the joint statement on North Korea issued January 7 by
South Korea, Japan and the United States following two days of talks
in Washington. In that statement the three delegations expressed
serious concern over recent steps by North Korea to lift its nuclear
freeze, and called upon North Korea to undo these measures and not
take precipitous action, Fleischer said.
The joint statement, Fleischer pointed out, also said that North
Korea's relations with the entire international community hinge on its
taking prompt and verifiable action to completely dismantle its
nuclear weapons program and to come into full compliance with its
international nuclear commitments.
The statement then went on to say that the U.S. delegation is willing
to talk to North Korea about how it will meet its obligations to the
international community, Fleischer said. However, in the next
sentence, "the U.S. delegation stressed the United States will not
provide quid-pro-quos to North Korea to live up to its existing
obligations," Fleischer pointed out.
"So we'd be happy to talk about how North Korea will come into
compliance, but it won't be a negotiation, it won't be any additional
offers, because we have made offers before, they accepted the offers,
an agreement was reached and then North Korea walked out on its end of
the agreement.
"The fundamental issue to preserve the denuclearization of the Korean
Peninsula is what now will North Korea do, having brought the
international community to this point by walking away from the very
agreements that it entered into," Fleischer said.
"When sovereign nations enter into agreements, those are important
statements. And for nations to be able to enter into additional
agreements, their word has to be given and has to be good. In this
case, North Korea gave its word, and then walked away from it."
Asked if there was anything else the United States would be willing to
talk to North Korea about, Fleischer said: "We've never ruled out
anything else ... their channel in New York does exist to have
conversations such as ... the food program. We are a huge supplier of
food to the people of North Korea. And we do have concerns about
whether North Korea is getting that food to its people. There are
questions that we have asked the North Korean government to answer
about whether or not the food is getting to the people of North Korea.
We'd be always interested in making certain the people of North Korea,
with whom we have no dispute, are well fed and that none of the food
is diverted.
"Keep in mind," Fleischer said, "that the United States already
entered into a series of quid pro quos and negotiations with North
Korea which led to their saying to the world they would no longer
pursue nuclear weapons. In return for that, North Korea was granted a
series of benefits and programs, including the shipment of fuel oil
and other potential benefits.
"North Korea pocketed those parts of the agreement and then they
walked out on their part of the agreement. So certainly it makes
little sense to no sense at all for the United States to say, we'll
give you additional inducements if now you only go back and do what
you originally promised us to do. ... That's just a formula to invite
countries around the world to go back on their word to the United
States, to try to get more out of us."
On January 7, President Bush, in a speech in Chicago, again told North
Korea that the United States has "no aggressive intentions, no
argument with the North Korean people. We're interested in peace in
the Korean Peninsula."
(The Washington File is a product of the Office of International
Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site:
http://usinfo.state.gov)
