20 October 2002
Iraqi Resolution Will be Presented to U.N. Soon, Powell Says October 20
(Powell and NSC Advisor Rice distinguish between Iraqi, North Korean cases) (980) By Thomas Eichler Washington File Staff Writer Washington -- A new resolution on disarming Iraq will be presented to the United Nations Security Council "early this week," Secretary of State Colin Powell said Sunday October 20. Speaking on NBC's Meet the Press, Powell said any resolution on the issue must document Iraqi violations of U.N. resolutions, must establish a "strong new inspection regime" and must talk about the consequences of noncompliance. "If Saddam once again frustrates the inspection regime and makes it clear that he is not going to cooperate, I think that is a matter of the utmost gravity. And the President has said clearly that if in that instance the United Nations will not act, then the United States, with other like-minded nations, will act," Powell said. Asked whether the United States would press for regime change in Iraq if inspections proceed, Powell said "All we are interested in is getting rid of those weapons of mass destruction. We think the Iraqi people would be a lot better off with a different leader, a different regime, but the principal offense here are weapons of mass destruction, and that's what this resolution is working on. ... If the inspectors do their job and we can satisfy the world community that they are disarmed, that's one path. If we can't satisfy the world community that they are disarmed, that takes us down another path." Discussing North Korea's recent admission that it is working to build nuclear weapons, Powell pointed out that the North Koreans said they considered the 1994 "Agreed Framework" between North Korea and the United States "nullified." Powell said "When we have an agreement between two parties and one says it's nullified, then it's hard to see what you do with such an agreement." Powell added that this is not just a U.S.-North Korean issue, but also is an issue for Japan, South Korea, China, Russia and many other nations. Asked whether economic assistance to North Korea would be cut off as a consequence, Powell said "We are now looking at what should be the consequences of their action and we will act step by step after we have had a chance to fully consult with our friends and allies." Powell pointed out that there will be an opportunity to do this in coming days at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meetings in Mexico, where President Bush will meet with the leaders of Russia, China, South Korea and others. Asked on ABC's This Week program whether the United States would continue to provide 500,000 tons of fuel oil per year to North Korea as called for under the Agreed Framework, Powell said "We are looking at all of the things that rest on the Agreed Framework to see what is in our interest to keep doing, what is in our interest not to keep doing. We also have to remember that there is a great deal of stored plutonium in a facility on Yongbyon that is monitored by the IAEA, the International Atomic Energy Administration or Agency, as well as Department of Energy employees, and we don't want to see that suddenly become unwatched. So we have to be very careful and move with a certain deliberateness here and in consultation with our friends and allies." Asked whether there are plans to deal with North Korean weapons in the way being proposed for dealing with those of Iraq, including an invasion if necessary, Powell said "We have no military plans on the table right now for such an invasion of North Korea. They are not identical situations; they are quite different. Saddam Hussein has used weapons of mass destruction against his neighbors. Despite inspections, despite all the containment efforts we have made, he has not moved away from that policy. "North Korea is a slightly different situation. It's a broken economy without access to resources, the way Saddam Hussein has access to resources. We have different levers we can use with North Korea, quite different than the levers available to us with respect to Iraq." Powell acknowledged that North Korea is "a lot stronger militarily" than is Iraq, but he said North Korea "is sitting on a very rotten base with respect to its economy." National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, appearing on CBS' Face the Nation, also was asked to compare the Korean and Iraqi situations. "[T]he situations are different," she said, "and we don't want to have a cookie cutter foreign policy here where we assume that the circumstances are always the same. The cases are both very dangerous, and we're concerned about both. But in Iraq, you have a country with which we have tried everything -- 11 years after he [Saddam Hussein] lost a war of aggression in 1991, signed on to a whole bunch of obligations that he has routinely flaunted, where he has thrown out the inspection mechanism that was made available to get to a cease-fire, where he has used ... weapons of mass destruction against his own population and against his neighbors, and where the international community has tried sanctions and limited military force and everything else. Iraq is in a class by itself. With North Korea, we think we have a chance to make a diplomatic effort work because the North Koreans, unlike the Iraqis who have oil revenues to fuel their programs, the North Koreans have been signaling to everybody that they're in deep economic trouble, that they need to open up to the international economy, they need investment. We think that's a lever that we can use." (The Washington File is a product of the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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