10 January 2003
Lugar, ElBaradei Discuss North Korea, Iraq in Capitol Hill Meeting
(Both see "light at the end of the tunnel" if North Korea takes first step) (570) By Wendy S. Ross Washington File Staff Write Washington -- Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Richard Lugar (Republican-Indiana) and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Mohamed ElBaradei, told reporters January 10 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." The two spoke with reporters following a meeting on weapons issues on Capitol Hill. "North Korea has to take the first step" to resume the dialogue, but "once that first step is taken ... there is a lot of light at the end of the tunnel," ElBaradei said. "There is readiness to discuss their security concerns, there is readiness to provide them economic assistance, but they have first to show" that they are willing to come into compliance with their obligations, he said. "We need to defuse the crisis," he said. "Both North Korea and the U.S. are in agreement that what is needed is a political solution." Senator Lugar said "there has to be some light at the end of the tunnel for the North Koreans to see really what is out there as they declare that they are out of the nuclear game, which has to happen." The January 6-7 meeting in Washington of U.S., South Korean and Japanese officials "has been extremely helpful, and undoubtedly China and Russia can play roles; and in a multilateral way, it seems to me that communication will proceed. So I see a constructive program going on, even as provocative comments are made by the North Koreans," Lugar said. The U.S. government, on both the North Korea and the Iraq situations, is going to continue to work "very cooperatively with a multinational group of people," Lugar said. Responding to questions on Iraq, ElBaradei said "the international community has clearly demonstrated it is fed up" with Iraq's twelve years of defying the demands of the world that it eliminate its weapons of mass destruction. "Continued attention and pressure by the international community is very helpful for us to be able to succeed in achieving our mission," spelled out in U.N. Security Council Resolution 1441, he said. The United Nations inspectors, he said, are getting intelligence information from the United States and others, but "we need more actionable information" on where to go and what to inspect. "I hope in the next few weeks we will get additional information that will accelerate our job in the field." ElBaradei said the January 27 report he and Hans Blix, the chief United Nations weapons inspector, will make to the Security Council is "an update report. That is not the end of our work. We have been saying to the Security Council that we need still much more time before we come to a conclusion." "We still need not only cooperation from Iraq with regard to process, but also with regard to substance. I would like to see more cooperation in interviewing Iraqi scientists in private, I'd like to see Iraq not talking about the inspectors being spies, I'd like to see a more forthcoming attitude that would help us achieve our goals. "But the 27th is a progress report and is just one milestone in a long process," ElBaradei said. (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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