USIA - State Department Report, 96-09-26

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From: The United States Information Agency (USIA) Gopher at <gopher://gopher.usia.gov>

STATE DEPARTMENT REPORT, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 1996

(Robert Kim, Burma, Iraq) (480)

ROBERT KIM -- Davies said the government of the Republic of Korea (ROK) is recalling Captain Dong-Il Baek, the naval attache at the South Korean Embassy in Washington, D.C. who allegedly took U.S. classified information from Robert Kim, a Korean-born American citizen who worked at the Office of Naval Intelligence.

The United States and South Korea, Davies said, are "strong allies and friends, and we continue to count on South Korea's full cooperation in bringing the case to resolution." Davies said the withdrawal of Baek is considered to be "a cooperative step" but "it does not finally resolve this issue. So we look to further discussions with the Korean government...."

He added that the Justice Department will decide whether the case will be prosecuted and whether the South Korean government will be asked to assist in investigations. "We are, at this stage, looking for all the information we can get," Davies said, to help with the prosecution of Kim and to assess what kinds of information he conveyed to Baek.

BURMA -- A Burmese government-controlled newspaper recently published a commentary suggesting that Aung San Suu Kyi faces arrest for "political crimes," Davies said. "We take very seriously any threats to re-arrest her, or to prevent her from conducting what we regard as legitimate political activity." The United States has long urged Burma's ruling junta "to engage in a meaningful dialogue with the political opposition and with other ethnic minority groups in Burma. We think that's the best way to achieve national reconciliation," Davies said. He noted that the Clinton administration has supported the adoption by the U.S. Senate on July 25 of a Burma sanctions amendment that provides for sanctions on new investment in Burma if the government of Burma harms or re-arrests Aung San Suu Kyi. (The measure has yet to be passed into law, however.)

IRAQ -- When asked if northern Iraq is considered a "safe haven," Davies said, "We consider that the U.N. Security Council resolutions that were put in place to protect the Kurds remain in effect, and we support those resolutions." But he noted that the United Nations never declared northern Iraq a "safe haven," although the expression came into play in the press. The United States, however, "led the international effort to protect the Kurds from the depredations of Saddam Hussein and succeed in enshrining in U.N. Security Council resolutions a measure of protection for them," Davies said. The United States continues to operate the no-fly zone in Northern Iraq to help protect the Kurds.

(No transcript was available of this briefing.)

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