10 January 2003
White House: North Korea's Withdrawal from NPT of "Serious Concern"
(Bush wants "peaceful, multilateral solution" to problem, Fleischer says) (830) By Wendy Ross Washington File White House Correspondent Washington -- The Bush administration views "as a matter of serious concern" North Korea's announcement that it is withdrawing from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation (NPT) Treaty, and wants a peaceful, multilateral solution to the problem, White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer told reporters January 10. President Bush "has made the decision to pursue this matter in a diplomatic fashion," Fleischer said, "in a very steady and steely manner." "The United States' message is clear and it's a message that is echoed around the world: that North Korea needs to comply with its international obligations. And that is something that we have said we will talk to North Korea about," Fleischer said. "That's a message that they need to understand and they need to act upon." North Korea's decision to withdraw from the treaty, Fleischer pointed out, has already been condemned by France and Britain and has drawn statements "of very serious concern" from Australia, Japan, and Russia. "This is not an action North Korea has taken vis-a-vis the United States, this is an action that North Korea has taken vis-a-vis the world. The world stands united, North Korea stands isolated," Fleischer said. President Bush and China's President Jiang Zemin discussed developments on the Korean peninsula in a 15-minute phone conversation January 10, the press secretary reported. They both agreed, he said, that North Korea's announcement "was of concern to the entire international community" and Bush "told President Jiang that he views this as an issue that binds the United States in a common purpose with China and other nations around the world." Bush repeated that the United States has no hostile intentions toward North Korea and seeks "a peaceful, multilateral solution to the problems created by Pyongyang's actions," Fleischer said. "President Jiang reiterated China's commitment to a non-nuclear Korean peninsula," and the two presidents agreed to continue to work together to help ensure the peace and stability of the Korean peninsula," Fleischer said. Earlier in the day, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Richard Lugar (Republican-Indiana) and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Mohamed ElBaradei -- in a news conference following a meeting at the Capitol -- said that if North Korea takes the first step to resume the dialogue with the United States "there is light at the end of the tunnel." Asked about this, Fleischer responded, "There is a light at the end of the tunnel, and that begins with North Korea's immediately dismantling its nuclear weapons programs and coming into compliance with its obligations around the world. The ball is in North Korea's court. And it's important when the ball is in your court not to move backward with it. "And so we hope that North Korea will move forward and take the actions to dismantle its weapons programs and come into compliance." North Korea "is a nation that has had a pattern of acting out of line with international agreements and then seeking to be rewarded by the rest of the world. And the president's approach to this matter will remain a diplomatic approach, a matter of steady and steely diplomacy," Fleischer said. "When you look at the history of North Korea and its dealings with multiple nations around the world, their approach is, the worse they act, the more they get. And that's an approach that this administration will not be a party to," Fleischer said. Asked if North Korea's withdrawal from the NPT is viewed by the Bush administration as a serious escalation of the situation, Fleischer said "given the fact that North Korea had already acknowledged that it was violating the very treaty that it had signed up to, it comes as no surprise, frankly, that they've made this announcement. Nevertheless, it is disappointing." And Vice President Dick Cheney said in a Washington speech January 10, "While not unexpected, given North Korea's recent behavior," the announcement by North Korea "is of serious concern to North Korea's neighbors and to the entire international community. Their actions threaten to undermine decades of nonproliferation efforts and only further isolate the regime. "North Korea's relations with the entire international community depend on their taking prompt and verifiable action to completely dismantle their nuclear weapons program." In a related development, North Korean diplomats met in New Mexico for a second day with Governor Bill Richardson, who was U.S. ambassador to the United Nations in the first term of former President Bill Clinton. According to news reports, Richardson said the talks were going well. They held a working lunch and were to resume talks in the evening. A final round could be held January 11, the news reports said. Fleischer, asked to comment on those talks, said he assumes Richardson will be reporting directly to the State Department. (The Washington File is a product of the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
