Powell Looks for Multilateral Talks with North Korea
(Secretary interviewed prior to East Asian trip) (1380)
The United States will talk in the future with North Korea, but
believes those talks will be more effective if they begin in a
multilateral forum, Secretary of State Colin Powell says.
Powell spoke February 19 in an interview in Washington with Hong
Kong-based Phoenix TV, prior to a trip to South Korea, Japan and China
February 21-25.
The secretary said the United States will continue to consult with
countries in the East Asia region on the North Korean nuclear weapons
issue, and "we'll continue to communicate through various channels to
the DPRK [Democratic People's Republic of Korea] that the United
States has no intention of invading it, the United States wishes to
help it, the United States is interested in helping the people of the
DPRK who are starving and that, ultimately, we know that we will have
conversations with the DPRK. We believe those conversations would be
more effective and would provide a more lasting solution to the
problem if they began in a multilateral framework and they included
other nations."
Following is a transcript of the Powell interview:
(begin transcript)
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesman
February 19, 2003
INTERVIEW
Secretary of State Colin L. Powell With Phoenix TV
February 19, 2003
Washington, D.C.
(7:45 a.m. EST)
QUESTION: Good morning, Mr. Secretary.
SECRETARY POWELL: Good morning.
QUESTION: Welcome back to our program. Thank you very much for joining
us today.
SECRETARY POWELL: It's a great pleasure to be with you again.
QUESTION: We're privileged to be speaking with you prior to your trip
to Asia.
The war with Iraq looks imminent. Why do you choose this particular
time for your Asia trip?
SECRETARY POWELL: Well, I am looking forward to the Korean
inauguration of a new president on the 25th of February, and since I
was in the region, it was useful to stop in and spend time with my
Chinese colleagues. I have excellent relations with my Chinese
colleagues, especially with Foreign Minister Tang.
And it will give us another opportunity -- it will be the fourth time
in the last month -- for he and I to discuss issues having to do with
Asia -- the situation between the region and the DPRK and its nuclear
programs. We will talk about our bilateral relationship and, of
course, we will talk about Iraq.
The United States and China are unified in our desire to find a
peaceful solution to the situation with Iraq, but the United States
and China are also unified in UN Resolution 1441, which we both voted
for as permanent members of the Security Council to see that Iraq gets
rid of its weapons of mass destruction, that it is disarmed. And so
far Iraq has not complied with the terms of 1441. Even though the
inspectors have been able to go back in, Iraq continues not to provide
the inspectors what they need to do the job and disarm Iraq, so this
will be an opportunity for me to discuss this once again with my
Chinese colleagues and point out to them that the United States feels
strongly that we cannot just allow inspections to continue forever,
and the answer is not more inspectors, the answer is Iraq compliance.
And if Iraq does not comply, then the United Nations Security Council
must consider whether or not other action is appropriate. And this
will be a subject of discussion with my Chinese colleagues.
QUESTION: Let me ask you this question, which is being asked by
everybody in this whole world, is the war with Iraq in weeks? End of
February or early March?
SECRETARY POWELL: Well, you are assuming there is going to be a war
with Iraq. We are hoping for a peaceful solution, but we cannot just
wait forever. The President has made it clear that he feels the
international community must come together to see that Iraq is
disarmed.
If Iraq doesn't disarm with the help of inspectors then --
QUESTION: When?
SECRETARY POWELL: -- military force will be necessary --
QUESTION: It's a matter of time when --
SECRETARY POWELL: -- but you're asking me -- no, no. You're asking me
when a war starts and I'm trying to say that we hope a war does not
start. But we must not be afraid of the use of force if that is what
is necessary to disarm Iraq. It is only the presence of force,
principally U.S. and the United Kingdom force in the region now, that
provided the pressure that forced Iraq to --
QUESTION: Can you give me a timeframe?
SECRETARY POWELL: No. No. You're asking a question that, of course,
you do not expect me to answer. When does a war start?
QUESTION: You have said that China has considerable influence with
DPRK. And what do the U.S. hope regarding China's role in defusing the
crisis in the Korean Peninsula?
SECRETARY POWELL: Well, we think that China has a very sound policy
with respect to nuclear programs on the peninsula and that policy is
clearly that there should be no nuclear weapons on the Korean
Peninsula. And President Jiang Zemin gave that information, that
policy, to President Bush when he met with him at his ranch in
Crawford. So we believe that working with the Chinese leadership and
with other leaders in the region -- in Japan, in Russia, in South
Korea, Australia, elsewhere -- we all have an interest in a
denuclearized Korean Peninsula and that's why we believe it is
appropriate for all of the regional powers to work together with the
DPRK to show to the DPRK that a better future awaits their people,
that we can help them with their economic development, that we have no
intention, the United States nor any other nation in the region has
any intention of invading or attacking the DPRK. And we need the DPRK
to step back from its nuclear programs so that we can step forward and
help them with economic development, with feeding their people; and we
hope that this can be done.
We understand that DPRK believes that they only should talk to us. We
are prepared to talk to the DPRK, but we believe it is more
appropriate for it to be in a multi-national setting because other
nations in the region are affected, not just the United States.
QUESTION: That's a question I wanted to ask you. The DPRK wants to
deal with the United States directly, but the U.S. prefers to solve
this problem in a multi-national framework. What's your strategy and
approach to ending the impasse?
SECRETARY POWELL: Well, we will continue to discuss it with our
Chinese colleagues and others in the region and we'll continue to
communicate through various channels to the DPRK that the United
States has no intention of invading it, the United States wishes to
help it, the United States is interested in helping the people of the
DPRK who are starving and that, ultimately, we know that we will have
conversations with the DPRK. We believe those conversations would be
more effective and would provide a more lasting solution to the
problem if they began in a multilateral framework and they included
other nations.
QUESTION: Do you expect that China will ask for certain concessions
from the United States in exchange for its help with DPRK, for
example, with regard to the ongoing issue of U.S. arms sales to
Taiwan?
SECRETARY POWELL: I would not expect we would talk in those terms.
China and the United States when we talk to each other are two
responsible, important nations that have a good relationship with each
other and we tend not to talk in terms of concessions. We fully
understand China's concerns about arms sales to Taiwan and I reassure
my Chinese colleagues at every opportunity that the United States
remains committed to our one China policy, the three communiqués, and
we also have our responsibilities under the United States -- Taiwan
Relations Act; and we will always keep those elements in mind as we
sell weapons to Taiwan. It will always be for defensive purposes and
nothing that would provide a threat to China.
(end transcript)
(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
