UNITED24 - Make a charitable donation in support of Ukraine!

Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

06 December 2002

Transcript: Rumsfeld Says Iraq Needs to Comply with U.N. Resolution

(Saddam has a choice to tell the truth or lie) (2660)
Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein can either decide "the game is up" and
open his country to full inspection, or he can continue "to lie and
deceive and deny and string along the inspectors," according to
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.
In a Joint Media Availability with Republic of Korea Minister of
National Defense Lee Jun at the Pentagon December 5, Rumsfeld said
Hussein could disclose where Iraq's weapons of mass destruction are
located, and identify the people who made them and are working on
them. Hussein could decide, Rumsfeld said, that he preferred to "stay
in power," with the Iraq government becoming a responsible member of
the world community.
However, Rumsfeld added, Hussein "could follow the pattern of previous
years and say, 'The game is not up. I'm going to continue to lie and
deceive and deny and string along the inspectors and prevent them from
finding out, to the extent I'm able, that we're lying and deceiving
and denying.'"
Hussein, Rumsfeld said, "will either deal with the problem of
disarming or he will tell the world community that he is unwilling
to."
After that, Rumsfeld said, the United Nations and the members of the
Security Council "have to make a judgment as to whether or not the
resolution that they passed unanimously is being complied with."
If the United Nations determines that its latest resolution on Iraq is
not being complied with, Rumsfeld said, "then they have to face the
reality that for the United Nations to be a relevant institution, they
simply cannot allow still one more resolution to be ignored by the
Iraqi regime."
On U.S.-Republic of Korea relations, Rumsfeld said the United States
regretted the death of two Korean girls killed during a military
training exercise last June.
"Both the Republic of Korea and the United States are working closely
together to prevent future accidents from occurring," he added.
The United States, Rumsfeld said, appreciates the "strong support for
the global war on terrorism" provided by the Seoul government, both in
Operation Enduring Freedom to liberate Afghanistan, and to the
coalition reconstruction efforts in that country.
The two long-time allies discussed the threat North Korea "continues
to pose, and the recent disclosure that North Korea has violated
several international agreements, is pursuing nuclear weapons and is
continuing to be the most active proliferator of ballistic missiles
and ballistic missile technologies in the world," Rumsfeld said.
"The United States remains committed to the defense of the Republic of
Korea and to the stability of the Korean peninsula and Northeast
Asia," Rumsfeld said, "We appreciate our strong friendship and durable
alliance with the Republic of Korea, and we look forward to working
together with them to ensure stability in Northeast Asia over the
years ahead."
Following is a transcript of the December 5 joint media availability
at the Department of Defense of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld
and Republic of Korea Minister of National Defense Lee Jun:
(begin transcript)
United States Department of Defense 
News Transcript
Presenter: Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld 
Thursday, December 05, 2002 - 11:41 a.m. EST 
Joint Media Availability with Republic of Korea Minister of National
Defense Lee Jun
Rumsfeld: Good morning. I am delighted personally to welcome the
Minister of National Defense of the Republic of Korea, Mr. Lee Jun, to
Washington, D.C. and to the Pentagon.
Mr. Minister, welcome. 
I particularly want to thank you for your willingness to accommodate
us by meeting here in Washington, D.C. for this 34th Security
Consultative Meeting. And the fact that my last Security Consultative
Meeting was in 1976, which was the 8th meeting, is an indication of
how long lasting this solid relationship is between our two countries.
The friendship that exists between the United States and the Republic
of Korea is deep and longstanding, as is the alliance that has helped
keep the peace in the Korean peninsula for some five decades now.
I want to begin by repeating what I told the minister earlier today,
how profoundly we regret the death of the two Korean girls, Ms. Shim
[Shim Mi-Son] and Ms. Shin [Shin Hyon-Sun], who were killed during a
military training exercise last June. Our thoughts and our prayers are
with their families, and as is said in Korean, "Kibun-i sulpung" (ph).
Both the Republic of Korea and the United States are working closely
together to prevent future accidents from occurring.
I expressed the deep appreciation for the Republic of Korea's strong
support for the global war on terrorism, and the very helpful
assistance it has provided, both to Operation Enduring Freedom, and to
the coalition reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan, which are now
moving forward.
We discussed the threat that North Korea continues to pose, and the
recent disclosure that North Korea has violated several international
agreements, is pursuing nuclear weapons and is continuing to be the
most active proliferator of ballistic missiles and ballistic missile
technologies in the world.
The United States remains committed to the defense of the Republic of
Korea and to the stability of the Korean peninsula and Northeast Asia.
In the new global security environment, friends and allies are vital
to peace and security. We appreciate our strong friendship and durable
alliance with the Republic of Korea, and we look forward to working
together with them to ensure stability in Northeast Asia over the
years ahead.
Minister Lee, welcome. 
Lee: Moments ago, I co-chaired the 34th Korea-U.S. Security
Consultative Meeting with Defense Secretary Rumsfeld, and we engaged
in productive and in-depth consultations on issues of mutual interest.
At a time when the international situation and the security
environment on the Korean peninsula are undergoing rapid changes,
today's meeting has allowed us to reaffirm the solidity of the
alliance between Korea and the U.S, and my first meeting with
Secretary Rumsfeld has allowed me to affirm the deep-reaching military
trust and friendship between our two countries.
I will refrain from covering the contents of the meeting, as Secretary
Rumsfeld has just kindly elaborated on them.
Rumsfeld: We -- we'll be happy to take -- I should also say that we've
-- on the side of the room here, are the senior military and civilian
officials, the delegation from the Republic of Korea and from the
United States and -- who have been participating in the meeting.
We thought we'll be -- (to interpreter) -- go ahead. (Pause for
interpretation.)
We thought what we'd do is take two questions from the U.S. side and
two questions from the Korean side, in alternating order. And it would
be preferable if there were no follow-up questions and if the
questions were asked only to one of the two of us. But I also know
that stating what might be preferable is simply stating what might be
preferable, life being what it is.
Mr. Minister, we have a very strange practice here, where, for
whatever reason I don't know, we always allow the first question to
this gentleman sitting right there -- (laughter) -- Mr. Charlie
Aldinger. And he has a question for -- ? Think of it as a tradition.
(Laughter.)
Q: Mr. Secretary, the minister spoke of rapid changes on the Korean
peninsula, and it would seem that recent changes are in a negative
direction, like these: North Korea yesterday said that it would not
accept an IAEA call for inspections of its nuclear facilities. I'd
like your reaction to that. And could you tell us what is going to be
the next step in persuading Pyongyang to give up its nuclear program?
Rumsfeld: The minister and I discussed the situation with respect to
North Korea. We both agreed that the efforts and discussions that are
taking place between our respective presidents and the -- some
neighboring countries -- Russia, the People's Republic of China, Japan
and others -- are the appropriate approach at the present time. And
only time will tell what progress or success might be achieved.
But there's no question but that the situation in North Korea is very
serious. They have violated several agreements and proceeded on a very
dangerous course.
Now from -- and from the Korean side? 
Q: (Through interpreter.) The question is addressed to Secretary
Rumsfeld regarding the SOFA status. I'd like to hear your views on the
SOFA amendment. We heard our minister raise it very strongly with
respect to improvement concerning operating procedures of SOFA --
whether this has happened during your meeting with Minister Lee,
whether there has been any agreement on this matter.
Rumsfeld: That means that the next two questions will be for Minister
Lee. (Laughter.) This is an alliance.
The minister raised this subject in our meeting, as his government
has. We discussed it, and needless to say, the accident that occurred
that caused this issue to be raised was a tragic accident. It's
unfortunate that it happened. We can see -- I know that General
LaPorte and the leadership in Korea have undertaken a series of steps
to try to improve safety and to avoid such future accidents.
The SOFA was revised just two years ago. We see it as a mutually
beneficial agreement, and we could not see any way that any change in
it could have avoided the accident.
Jamie? 
Q: Mr. Secretary, listening very carefully to your -- 
Rumsfeld: This is a question for Minister Lee? You must not have
heard.
Q: He's welcome to answer it as well, but -- (laughter) -- 
Lee: Your popularity is a lot higher than mine. (Laughter.) 
Rumsfeld: (Laughing) No, no, no! No, no! 
Here's a question for Minister Lee. 
Q: For Minister -- I don't want to cut off the august McIntyre, though
if you've got one for him.
But for Minister Lee, I have a question about the status of North
Korea's ballistic missile program. Do you have any indication that
North Korea plans to resume flight testing of its Taepo Dong 2
missiles?
Lee: So far, we have found no indications indicating that North Korea
will resume test-firing of those missiles. However, with regard to
their negotiations with Japan, they have raised the possibility that
they will reconsider their moratorium.
Q: Mr. Secretary, one question about Iraq, if we may. 
Rumsfeld: We may come back to you, but it's debatable. But --
(laughter) -- is there a question from the Korean side?
Yes? 
Q: (Through interpreter) I would like to ask a question to each of
you.
Rumsfeld: My Korean must be imperfect. (Laughs; laughter.) This is for
Minister Lee.
Q: The question is addressed to Minister Lee. When Undersecretary
Feith came to Korea, I understand he told Minister Lee unless we
coordinate the speed of dialogue with North Korea, absent resolution
of [the] nuclear issue, it could possibly create some problem. My
question is whether this topic was raised during your meeting this
morning, and whether there has been any agreement on view?
The second part of my question is just to Secretary Rumsfeld. That is,
if the situation worsens on the Korean peninsula, I understand you
have discussed contingency plans. What strategic contingency plans
have you discussed and agreed on?
Lee: In general, Korea and the U.S. harbor concurring views with
regard to North Korea's nuclear issue. The North Korean nuclear issue
is a serious problem that threatens peace on the Korean peninsula,
Northeast Asia and the world, and this can be tolerated under no
circumstances. Now that North Korea has confessed to developing
nuclear weapons, I believe that Kim Jong Il must assume full
responsibility in resolving this issue in a verifiable manner.
We also harbor similar views with regard to the fact that we should
undertake close trilateral coordination among Korea, Japan and the
U.S. in addressing this issue, and we should also encompass Russia,
China and the E.U. in undertaking diplomatic efforts to resolve this
issue.
With regard to various ongoing exchanging cooperation projects with
North Korea, I told my counterpart, Secretary Rumsfeld, that we have
to maintain these projects because they allow us to maintain a
dialogue channel with North Korea. While we should exert pressure, we
must also seek to devise a harmonious resolution.
That is all. 
Q: Mr. Secretary, don't make me beg; it's unseemly. (Laughter.) 
Rumsfeld: (Laughs.) You're terrific. 
Since the question was asked to both of us, we'll have one last
question from the American side, and I'll respond first to you.
You asked if the subject came up. The answer is yes. You asked what we
discussed, and the answer is we don't discuss contingency plans
publicly. Our job at defense ministries is to plan; it's to be -- to
arrange, to deter and to defend our people. It means we need to plan
and be arranged for any conceivable contingency, and that's what we've
done successfully for some 50 years, that's what we're doing today,
and that's what we'll do in the future.
Now, Jamie McIntyre of CNN. 
Q: Mr. Secretary, listening very carefully to what you've said this
week, what President Bush has said this week, what Deputy --
Rumsfeld: Sounds a lot alike, doesn't it? 
Q: -- what Deputy Secretary Wolfowitz has said this week, it appears
that Iraq's compliance will be judged not on what the U.N. inspectors
find or don't find, or what the U.N. Security Council does or doesn't
do, but on the sole judgment of whether Saddam Hussein has, in the
judgment of the President, changed his behavior of the past 11 years.
Is that in fact the criteria that will decide whether the U.S. goes to
war with Iraq, that judgment by the President?
Rumsfeld: The answer is this; the Iraqis are faced with a decision.
Inspections work only if the country being inspected decides to
cooperate fully. If a country decides not to cooperate, it is terribly
difficult for a U.N. monitoring and inspection team to tackle a
country of that size if the government is determined to deny and
deceive and lie.
So the response by Iraq, the declaration, as well as their dealings
with the inspectors, will determine -- will reflect what decision's
been made by the Iraqi leadership. They could decide that the game's
up, and Saddam Hussein and his family could leave the country, which
would be a nice outcome.
He could decide the game is up and open up his country and say, "Here
are our weapons of mass destruction. Here's where they're located.
Here are the people who made them. Here are the people who were
working on them. And we've decided that we would rather stay in power
and become responsible members of the world community and stop
repressing our people and stop threatening our neighbors." And that's
a choice he has also.
Or he could follow the pattern of previous years and say, "The game is
not up. I'm going to continue to lie and deceive and deny and string
along the inspectors and prevent them from finding out, to the extent
I'm able, that we're lying and deceiving and denying."
Now those are his choices, and he -- but how he answers it, which one
he picks, he will either deal with the problem of disarming or he will
tell the world community that he is unwilling to.
And the next choice, as the President has suggested, is with the
United Nations and the members of the Security Council. And if they --
they have to make a judgment as to whether or not the resolution that
they passed unanimously is being complied with. And if they determine
it's not being complied with, then they have to face the reality that
for the United Nations to be a relevant institution, they simply
cannot allow still one more resolution to be ignored by the Iraqi
regime.
So it's at that point, and as a direct answer to your question, that
every member of the Security Council and every country in the world
that participates in the United Nations would have to make a decision,
not simply one country.
And with that, we thank you very much.
(end transcript)
(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)



NEWSLETTER
Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list