Disarmament Documentation
Back to Disarmament Documentation
'All options are on the table', President Bush on North Korea,
May 31, 2005
'Bush Continues To Seek Diplomatic Solution with North
Korea', Office of the Press Secretary, The Whitehouse, May 31,
2005.
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
May 31, 2005
PRESS CONFERENCE BY THE PRESIDENT
The Rose Garden
10:43 A.M. EDT
...
Q: Mr. President, thank you. I wonder if you can explain the
administration's decision to allow Iran, in its negotiations with
the Europeans, to get WTO status, ascension into the WTO, whether
you think that deal, in a sense, has legs. And also, you talked
about Iraq being a powerful symbol in that part of the world. One
of the things you said going into the war was that it would deter
other countries, rogue nations, from developing weapons of mass
destruction. And when you think about North Korea and Iran, the
opposite is true -- they haven't been deterred at all. Why do you
think that is?
THE PRESIDENT: The first part of your question was about our
agreement that Iran should apply for WTO. In other words, we said,
fine, if you want to apply for WTO, go ahead and apply. That's --
and we did that to facilitate the EU-3 discussions with Iran.
I've always believed that the -- obviously, the best way to
solve any difficult issue is through diplomacy. And in this case,
France, Great Britain and Germany are handling the negotiations on
behalf of the rest of the world, which is those nations which are
deeply concerned about Iran having a nuclear weapon.
Now, our policy is very clear on that, and that is that the
Iranians violated the NPT agreement; we found out they violated the
agreement, and, therefore, they're not to be trusted when it comes
to highly-enriched uranium -- or highly-enriching uranium. And,
therefore, our policy is to prevent them from having the capacity
to develop enriched uranium to the point where they're able to make
a nuclear weapon.
Secondly -- and so, therefore, we're working with the EU-3 to
hopefully convince the Iranians to abandon their pursuits of such a
program. And it appears we're making some progress.
So our decision was to allow them to join the WTO -- or to apply
to join the WTO -- which is not ascension to the WTO, it's the
right to make an application -- seemed like a reasonable decision
to make in order to advance the negotiations with our European
partners.
Secondly, in terms of North Korea, North Korea had a weapons
program that they had concealed, as you might recall, prior to
2002. As a matter of fact, it was prior to 2000 -- it was a
bilateral -- so-called bilateral agreement between North Korea and
the United States. And it turns out that they had violated that
agreement because they were enriching uranium, contrary to the
agreement. And we caught them on that. And therefore, I decided to
change the policy to encourage other nations to be involved with
convincing North Korea to abandon its weapons program. And that's
where we are.
And it's important to have China at the table, for example,
saying the same thing that the United States is saying, and that
is, is that if you want to be a -- if you want to be a responsible
nation, get rid of your weapons programs. It's important to have
Japan and South Korea and Russia saying the same thing.
We've got a lot of work to do with the North Korean because he
-- he tends to ignore what the other five nations are saying at
times. But that doesn't mean we're going to stop, and continue to
press forward to making it clear that if he expects to be treated
as a responsible nation, that he needs to listen to the five
nations involved.
Thank you.
Q: Would you acknowledge that the war did not deter Iran and
North Korea from continuing to pursue their program?
THE PRESIDENT: North Korea had its weapons program before, as
you know, as did Iran. And as I also told you, David, that we want
diplomacy to work. And it's -- we want diplomacy to be given a
chance to work. And that's exactly the position of the government.
Hopefully it will work. I think it will...
Q: Good morning, Mr. President. This morning you reiterated
diplomacy as the way to deal with North Korea. With all due
respect, some people say that's precisely the wrong approach
because diplomacy has produced nothing, while at the same time it
has allowed North Korea to progress in its nuclear program.
THE PRESIDENT: Yes.
Q: How do you -- what do you say to them?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, then let's see -- if it's the wrong -- if
diplomacy is the wrong approach, I guess that means military.
That's how I view it -- it's either diplomacy or military. And I am
for the diplomacy approach. And so, for those who say that we ought
to be using our military to solve the problem, I would say that,
while all options are on the table, we've got -- we've got a ways
to go to solve this diplomatically --
Q: How long --
THE PRESIDENT: -- well, let me -- let me finish. No, I always
get asked that, how long? How long are you going to do this? How
long is that going to happen? Why don't you give us a timetable?
I'm not giving timetables. I am going to say that we are -- and
it's very important for our partners to understand that I believe
the six-party talks can and will work. We're constantly in touch
with our Chinese counterparts. Sometimes people move a little
slower than American society in the world. And sometimes
expectations around the world are maybe different from ours. But,
fortunately, we've got everybody on the same page that says that
the idea of North Korea having a nuclear weapon isn't good.
And by the way, that started with, as you know -- might recall,
the visit I had with Jiang Zemin in Crawford. And we came out of
that visit with a common declaration that said it's in our
interests that North Korea not have a nuclear weapon. And that was
a positive step forward because once you get a country to commit to
that goal, then it makes it -- enables us to work together to
achieve that goal in a peaceful way.
The other thing is, is that it's clear from the other five
parties there -- the other four parties in our five-party coalition
dealing with the sixth party, which is North Korea -- is that
people do want to solve this issue diplomatically. And so it's a --
it's a matter of continuing to send a message to Mr. Kim Jong-il
that if you want to be accepted by the neighborhood and be a part
of the -- of those who are viewed with respect in the world, work
with us to get rid of your nuclear weapons program...
Q: Mr. President, back to North Korea for a second. Why has the
United States scrapped the one link between our militaries when
there's been no threat or harm to Americans participating in those
missions to recover bodies of Americans killed in action during the
Korean War there?
THE PRESIDENT: The Secretary of Defense decided to take a --
what he's referring to is, is that we have -- I wouldn't called it
"scrapped" -- is that the verb you used? "Scrapped"?
Q: I did say that.
THE PRESIDENT: Yes, scrapped. I would use a different verb. I
would use "reassess" the mission. See, "scrapped" means that we're
not going to do it ever again, I think is what that means. And what
the Secretary of Defense has said, let me just take a look and make
sure that as we send people into North Korea, that we're fully
mindful of them being able to go in and get out. No immediate
threat, just an assessment, is how I would put it. But thank you
for the question...
Q: I appreciate that, Mr. President, thank you. My question is
about China, which looms larger in the lives of Americans, sir.
They finance an ever-larger part of our trade deficit, Americans
are concerned about China's growing economic might, and, of course,
about the oppression of human rights and religious minorities
there. My question, sir, is how should Americans think about China?
As an ally? A rival? Competitor? Friend?
THE PRESIDENT: I think that we ought -- it is a -- the
relationship with China is a very complex relationship, and
Americans ought to view it as such. China is a emerging nation.
It's an amazing story to watch here. I mean, it's consuming more
and more natural resources; it is generating jobs and exporting a
lot of goods; it's a massive market.
And so, on one hand, we ought to look at China as an economic
opportunity, and the best way to deal with China is to -- is to
say, look, there are some rules, and we expect you to abide by the
trade rules. And as this -- as she grows and as trade becomes more
complex, you'll see more and more instances where the United States
is insisting upon fair trade. We expect our -- expect to deal with
-- expect China to deal with the world trade in a fair way.
Now, in terms of security matters, obviously, we just spent a
lot of time talking about North Korea. China can be a very good
partner in helping to secure the world. The best way to convince
Kim Jong-il to get up -- give up his weapons is to have more than
one voice saying the same thing. And, therefore, China is a partner
in this case, in terms of helping to secure that part of the world
from nuclear weapons.
China, as well, can be helpful in the war on terror. They're
just as concerned as we are on the war on terror.
China is a -- obviously, there's tension on -- about Taiwan that
we have to deal with. And I made my position very clear and very
consistent about Taiwan. The Taiwanese understand my position; the
Chinese understand my position. So, in this case, the relationship
is one of helping to solve that problem, is to keeping stability in
the region so that eventually there will be a peaceful solution to
that issue.
And so China is a fascinating country that is significant in its
size. Its economy is still small, but growing. But, as well, I
believe we have an obligation to remind the Chinese that any
hopeful society is one in which there's more than just economic
freedom, that there's religious freedom and freedom of the press.
And so, in my meetings with the different Chinese leaders with whom
I've had the honor of meeting, I've always brought up issues such
as the Dalai Lama, or the Catholic Church's inability to get a
bishop into the country, or the need for the country not to fear
evangelicals, but to understand religious freedom leads to peace.
And so I'll continue doing that so long as I'm the President, and
at the same time help deal with this very complex
relationship...
Source: US Department of State, Washington File, http://usinfo.state.gov.
Back to the Top of the Page
© 2005 The Acronym Institute.
|
