USIA - Transcript: Burns Briefing on Christopher - Pangalos Meeting (96-09-24)

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

TRANSCRIPT: BURNS BRIEFING AT U.N. GENERAL ASSEMBLY 9/24/96

(Christopher meets with ROK, Greek foreign ministers) (4330)

At a September 24 press briefing at the U.N. General Assembly, Burns said Secretary of State Christopher has made clear that the United States will continue to pursue activities under the Agreed Framework, which freezes North Korea's nuclear program -- the four-party proposal involving South Korea, North Korea, China and the United States, which President Clinton and South Korea's President Kim Yong-Sam made in April.

Burns noted that the international community is continuing to contribute money for the goals of the Agreed Framework through the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO). In addition, the U.S. Congress appears likely to fund the full amount requested by the Clinton Administration to support KEDO.

Christopher met with South Korea's Foreign Minister Gong Ro-Mung September 24. He also met the same day with Greek Foreign Minister Theodhoros Pangalos.

Among the topics covered by Christopher and Pangalos during their 25-minute meeting were: the importance of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty; relations with Turkey; the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia; Cyprus; Greek-Balkan relations; and Aegean issues.

Following is the transcript from the State Department:

(begin transcript)

Secretary Christopher began the meeting with Foreign Minister Gong by saying that the United States sends condolences to the South Koreans on the deaths of the three South Korean soldiers who had been killed trying to find the North Korean infiltrators over the last 10 days.

He said, in addition to the very clear support we've given to South Korea publicly, we fully supported the protest made by South Korea to the Armistice Commission; that we had agreed that Congressman Bill Richardson, who planned to visit North Korea, would postpone his trip. Congressman Richardson, of course, has postponed that trip to North Korea.

We had agreed that now is not the right time to press forward on some of the issues that Congressman Richardson would have been addressing in the course of his visit. The Secretary said -- and I think he indicated this publicly as well -- that the United States believes it's very important to maintain, however, those activities with North Korea that are clearly in our interest -- the Agreed Framework, which freezes North Korea's nuclear program, the four-party proposal offer, which President Clinton and President Kim made in April at Cheju Island. That offer is still in effect.

Minister Gong said the one thing that had to be understood about the submarine incident was that while it was not new -- there had been similar military incursions in the past -- it was unusual because of the submarine and because of the very large number of soldiers, 26 involved on the part of North Korea. He said he thought it was the most serious incursion into South Korea since 1968, when there was a very well-known incursion by the North Koreans.

He also said that this incursion has had a great impact upon the population in South Korea because of the footage of the sub, the brazen nature of the incursion, and he said that had to be understood.

He very much welcomed the statement that Secretary Christopher made, the very, very clear statements denouncing the North Korean Government, calling upon the North Korean Government to avoid further provocations and clearly putting the onus of this incident on the North Koreans.

So that was the first part of the discussion. The first part of the meeting really dealt with the submarine incident.

Second, they discussed the Agreed Framework. They agreed that it was going smoothly forward; that we had to continue our efforts to support KEDO -- the Korean Energy Development Organization. As Secretary Christopher noted in his public statement to you, we have been successful in raising more money -- we, in the international community.

As for the United States, you remember the Administration had requested $25 million in U.S. funds to support KEDO. We had problems with the Congress throughout 1996. We just heard this morning that it may now be possible for Congress to agree to the $25 million figure. So we're very pleased about that.

Secretary Christopher made a number of phone calls to the Congressional leadership over the last four or five days about that particular issue.

We're also pleased that the European Union will contribute money. President Clinton raised this issue of contributions to KEDO with Prime Minister Hashimoto this morning in their bilateral over at the U.S. Mission.

There was a very brief discussion of the food situation in North Korea. Both South Korea and the United States agreed that we had to keep our eyes on that very closely. It is harvest season so it's difficult to measure food shortages at harvest season, but we decided we would keep talking about that.

On the four-party talks, I think there's general agreement that the offer still stands and that we hope very much that despite this incident and this incursion by North Korea, the North Koreans will agree that it's in their interest to sit down with South Korea and the United States and China and engage in four-party talks; that there is a need to replace the Korean Armistice Agreement with a peace treaty, 43 years after the end of the Korean War.

The conversation then came back to the submarine incident. Mr. Gong explained the nature of the resolution that South Korea is introducing in the Security Council, and that is to condemn North Korea and to urge to desist from further provocations. This resolution they hoped would cover the fact that the Armistice Agreement should remain in force and should be enforced, and it would also encourage dialogue between the two Koreas.

Secretary Christopher said very clearly, the United States will support the South Koreans in the U.N. Security Council.

There was a brief discussion of the Status-of-Forces Agreement, which is a treaty being negotiated right now between the United States and South Korea. We have not yet finished the work on that, but they agreed that ought to be done quickly.

Minister Gong said he hoped that the United States would support South Korean's membership in the OECD -- the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development -- and Christopher said that the United States strongly supports South Korea's membership in the OECD.

Following that, the meeting concluded. Let me go on to the Pangalos meeting, and then I'll be glad to take questions on both meetings together. That's probably easier, isn't it?

QUESTION: It's easier if we did one and then --

BURNS: It's easier for you if we do the South Korean one.

Q: Richardson, you said -- what does he want to do that we --

BURNS: Pardon?

Q: What did you say -- that Richardson wanted to press forward?

BURNS: He was going to engage in some private discussions with them. He was not going to be an emissary of the U.S. Government, but he was going to make a private visit and talk about several issues. Secretary Christopher felt very strongly, in light of this submarine incident, it would not send the right signal to North Korea should Congressman Richardson proceed with the visit. It would appear as business-as-usual. That's not the kind of signal we want to send right now to the North Koreans. We want to send a signal of great concern about their actions and of unity with South Korea.

I think you saw the very strong public statement that Secretary Christopher made. For those of you who are South Korean reporters or reporting for South Korean news agencies, I hope that this public statement that Secretary Christopher made will put to rest this speculation in the South Korean press that somehow the United States has a position of balance here, where we're calling on both Koreas to avoid provocations.

I was very clear. I have been clear. Secretary Christopher has been clear that we are calling on North Korea to avoid provocations. The Secretary hoped that that message was heard.

Q: Nick, you said President Clinton raised the issue of KEDO with the Japanese Prime Minister. Did Clinton ask for more money?

BURNS: I just wanted to note that it had been raised this morning. I don't want to go into any of the details, but it was raised.

Q: But Japan is a major or contributor.

BURNS: Japan and the Republic of Korea, the two major contributors. The United States is third, I believe, after them.

Q: Nick, back to Richardson's mission. Was the status of any POW/MIAs remains from the Korean War on his agenda?

BURNS: That's something that he has talked to the North Koreans about in the past. It's an issue of great concern to us. We do want to move forward on it. It's certainly not appropriate for us to have a U.S. military fact- finding team in North Korea this week given what's happened with the submarine incident. At some point in the future we will, of course, proceed with those visits because we owe it to the American families of the missing from the Korean War. I believe there are over 8,100 cases of Americans missing from the Korean War. We owe it to them to proceed. But I think all of us believe that we ought to perhaps not go forward with any kind of mission right now, and see what happens.

Q: So the answer is, yes, that was on his list?

BURNS: Actually, I gave you the answer I wanted to give you. I don't like one-word answers.

Q: How long did the meeting last, please?

BURNS: The meeting with Minister Gong lasted until about 4:50. You all walked in at 4:00, and you spent about 10 minutes there, didn't you? I can't quite remember how long you were there. So let's just (say) probably from about 4:10-4:15 to 4:50.

Q: (Did) "Team Spirit" exercises come up, resuming those?

BURNS: That came up in the press conference. The Koreans indicated there is no formal Korean Government position on whether or not those exercises should be resumed -- "Team Spirit" is what they're called. They haven't (been) held since 1992, as you know.

There was a statement out of the Korean Defense Agency about this, but it was not confirmed by either the President's office or the Foreign Ministry. So the United States has not been asked to resume "Team Spirit," the U.S.- ROK military exercises.

Q: Did they discuss a trilateral meeting --

BURNS: Yes, they did. In fact, Winston Lord, who was at the meeting, confirmed that he will be meeting with his South Korean and Japanese counterparts here in New York on Thursday.

Q: Did the South Koreans share any evidence of what the motive was for this latest incursion, or (share) any evidence with you?

BURNS: The motive is harder. I think that the South Koreans have been very effective in convincing us and, indeed, everybody that these lame excuses of the North Koreans are really groundless. The North Koreans said the sub just drifted into South Korean waters when, in fact, I think President Kim said today that actually the currents off the coast -- there are northward- flowing currents -- and that the submarine, when it was boarded by the South Korean military authorities, had an intact engine. The submarine had simply grounded. I think the propeller and the bottom of the sub showed some damage because of the accidental, apparently grounding, but that the engine of that submarine was in good working order. Therefore, this baseless excuse -- this base excuse, I should say -- that somehow this sub had gone adrift is simply without foundation.

So we very much side with South Korea. We understand the depth of sentiment in South Korea. South Korea has actually had to suffer many different military incursions over the last several decades by the North Koreans. A lot of South Koreans have been killed in those incursions.

I think Minister Gong was very effective in relaying to us just how emotional this issue is, not just from a political standpoint in South Korea, but from a personal standpoint. Members of the South Korean Government have lost -- officials of the South Korean Government have lost - - family members to some of these raids in the past.

I think we have to be very mindful of the concerns that everybody in South Korea has, not just the government but the population, about what the North is doing. These are reckless, provocative acts.

I think it's the clear will of all of the international community that North Korea should suspend them. There is no support for North Korea anywhere in the world as a result of this incident.

Q: Nick, did they say that they had actually gained information from the man that they captured --

BURNS: Minister Gong did not review for us what they had learned from the one North Korean who was alive. But I think we have received some information about that in military channels in Korea itself, but that wasn't related at the meeting.

As for motive -- let me just go back, Stan, to your question. Your guess is as good as ours, and I think anyone's. It's hard to fathom the motives of the North Korean leadership, which is an extremely opaque society.

Q: Greece.

BURNS: Okay, Greece. Minister Pangalos and the Secretary met. The Secretary was very glad to see him because he wanted to congratulate him personally on the victory of Prime Minister Simitis, and also congratulate Minister Pangalos on his reappointment as Foreign Minister of Greece.

They began by discussing the significance of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. The Secretary made the point that this is going to be a profoundly important treaty for everyone. Because if you can't test -- and now, it's the clear intention of the international community that no country should test in the future -- that it will be impossible really, for non-nuclear countries that aspire to be nuclear to go nuclear, or threshold countries that want to go nuclear, really impossible for them to become a fully nuclear country because they won't be able to test the quality and the reliability of their weapons. That's a very good thing.

So Secretary Christopher felt that today's signing of the CTB -- and he relayed this to Mr. Pangalos -- was actually one of the most important events that the United States has participated in in quite a long time. The benefits of this are going to be felt around the world, not just by the American people but by people all over the world.

He congratulated the Minister on a decisive victory, which he said had surprised some of the pundits. We had heard, those of us in the U.S. government, this would be a very close race. It was obviously a hard-fought race. But the margin of victory perhaps surprised some.

They talked about relations with Turkey. As you can imagine, that issue often comes up when the Greeks and Americans get together.

Minister Pangalos gave a very long description of some of his conversations with Turkish government officials, including the previous foreign minister in the previous Turkish government. He wanted Secretary Christopher to have his appreciation for Greek-Turkish relations and the problems in that relationship.

Minister Pangalos also raised the issue of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and the negotiations and conversations that continue between that government and Greece about the name of that government. I think all of you know about that. There was a good and detailed conversation about that. I won't go into that in too much detail because you're not interested, I'm sure, in that.

On Aegean issues, Secretary Christopher said that he thought it was important for the United States to help lead a new effort to resolve some of the Aegean problems between Greece and Turkey. He noted that Ambassador Albright and Undersecretary Peter Tarnoff would be closely involved in that.

On Cyprus, the Secretary said that we were very disturbed to see the renewed violence -- killing of Greek Cypriots and of Turkish soldiers on Cyprus. Ambassador Dick Beattie, the President's special representative, is here in New York. The Secretary will be seeing him this week. The Secretary hoped that the United States could also be more active now, now that the Greek elections are concluded, on the question of Cyprus, working with the Greek and Turkish governments and the communities on Cyprus.

The Secretary said he would be seeing President Gligorov. That will happen tomorrow afternoon, by the way, and there will be further discussions on the Balkans and on Greek-Balkan relations.

I think in all respects this is a very positive meeting between the two. It was a short meeting; (it) had to (be limited) to about 25 minutes because the Secretary now has gone on to another event, but a good and productive meeting.

Q: Nick, I don't know if this came up because you started promptly 20 minutes before some of us thought you were supposed to start, so some of us didn't hear most of your brief.

Is it the U.S. view -- if this came up, please don't bother answering it -- but is it the U.S. view that the suspension of South Korean-U.S. joint military exercises is linked in any way to the nuclear agreement? And does the United States fear that if the exercises are resumed, the nuclear ban may be put in jeopardy?

BURNS:ÿ20 No. I think the nuclear agreement is going to go forward regardless because it's in the interest of all of us, including the North Koreans, to adhere fully and completely to the nuclear agreement. It's one of the most important issues that we've been involved with in Asia and north Asia. We put a lot of effort into it. No matter what happens here, in the aftermath of the incident with the submarine, we expect that North Korea will continue to adhere to the Agreed Framework. I'm not aware of any strict linkage here.

Barry, it's important to note that the South Koreans have not requested a resumption of the U.S.-ROK military exercises. No request was made in the meeting today. I think Minister Gong was very clear in the press conference that there has been some talk in Seoul about this, but nothing formal from the South Korean government. So at this point, it remains a hypothetical proposition.

This was all clear to most of us, too -- probably all of us -- because we heard what he said. What we're trying to figure out is why the Koreans are doing such an awkward back-flip from what the Defense Ministry said in Seoul today and whether the United States shares their views entirely. I know you both don't think it was nice of the North Koreans to send a submarine into South Korean waters. I don't know if you're willing, or if you see a risk to the nuclear agreement if joint military exercises -- and if they're beginning see a risk that they don't want to take. I don't suppose you could explain their flip-flop?

BURNS: No.

Q: At least, I can get the U.S.'s views.

BURNS: No, I can't account for statements made in Seoul. I can just tell you that the United States will go forward with the Agreed Framework. I'm not aware of any exact linkage here. Obviously, we'll cooperate with the South Koreans in any way that we deem cessary to deal with the aftermath of this submarine incident.

But right now, no one is talking about military exercises.

Q: If I may ask about the Greek foreign minister's meeting. You said that Secretary Christopher said it's important for the United States to lead a new effort in the Aegean?

BURNS: Yes.

Q: Can you give us a concrete idea of what this is going to be?

BURNS: I probably prefer not to. He was quite general with the minister. I think this is welcomed by both Turkey and Greece. Both of them want the United States to be involved. The Secretary said that Greece and Turkey are good allies of the United States. If we can be helpful in trying to resolve the many problems in the Aegean, we would do so, and we intend to.

Q: Would that take a form of a meeting, a joint meeting between the Greek Prime Minister, the Turkish Prime Minister, and President Clinton, for example? Is it at that level?

BURNS: No decisions have been made. The Secretary and the Minister did not go into detail on that. It was a general discussion.

Q: Are you happy with Mr. Pangalos's views on this issue?

BURNS: On Aegean issues? He gave us his view of the Aegean disputes between Greece and Turkey. The United States does not take sides. We don't support one side against the other. We try to use our good relationship with both Greece and Turkey to get them to work together and to compromise on these issues. I want to be very clear here. We're not siding with Greece against Turkey or Turkey against Greece. We're standing in the middle as a friend to both, and we hope to use our friendship with both to see them through to progress, if that's possible.

Q: Did they talk about Bosnia at all?

BURNS: Excuse me?

Q: They didn't talk about Bosnia for 25 minutes?

BURNS: No.

Q: Did the question of the EU and Turkey come up?

BURNS: No, that did not come up. The United States has a very well-known position on that issue. We stand by all the remarks that we've made over the last week on that particular issue. We believe that Turkey should be tied to the European Union. We believe that the European Union should remain open to Turkey despite what some others may think.

Q: The Greek-Turkish dispute on Cyprus and the new violence (inaudible). Anybody link this to the election?

BURNS: I don't know. I think it's hard because some of the violent incidents appear not to be connected with one another. It's hard to draw a general reason for the violence. I can't link them to the election, except to say it's profoundly disappointing to see. We have spoken out quite strongly against -- we spoke out quite strongly against the murder of the young Greek Cypriot who was trying to take down a flag from a flagpole. We thought that was just inadmissible that he would be killed for that action.

We were equally strong in condemning the murder of the Turkish soldier. We hope the murderers of both of these people will be brought to justice and prosecuted.

Q: In anybody's view, would the U.N. peacekeeping force in Cyprus (inaudible) there, doing anything to keep these two sides apart?

BURNS: The United Nations is doing its best. But this is a particularly divisive conflict. It's really impossible for any peacekeeping force, no matter how good it is, to prevent all kinds of violence. It's really up to the communities themselves to prevent the violence and to the Greek and Turkish Governments to take the proper responsibility to see that these problems are resolved.

Q: If I may follow up. You said now that the Greek elections are over, the United States will be more active also on the Cyprus front?

BURNS: Yes.

Q: In other words, even before the American elections are over. Somebody will go there; something will happen between now and the American elections?

BURNS: On this issue, as on the Aegean issue, Secretary Christopher did not name dates of meetings and did not make specific suggestions. He suggested to Minister Pangalos that now is a good time to proceed with renewed diplomatic efforts on both the Aegean and on Cyprus. Minister Pangalos agreed.

I believe we also, from our conversation with Mrs. Ciller yesterday morning, have a Turkish agreement that we ought to try to see what we can do on both fronts. It's good to see that both the Greeks and Turks agree on that. But this being Cyprus and the Aegean, we are realistic. We know that progress will not come easily. We know that starting out is a first step, but it does not necessarily lead to the complete resolution of all the problems. So we're going to be realistic here.

Q: I understand you correctly, then, in saying that you have the willingness to help, but there's nothing concrete to announce at this point?

BURNS: We intend to move forward to talk with both about the problems in both areas. We do. We're just not announcing any specific meetings or dates or times or our participants.

Q: Do you believe that the Cyprus problem is a part of the general package of the Aegean problems and it will be handled together?

BURNS: No, that's not how we've approached it. Ambassador Beattie, the President's Special Representative, is actually devoted solely to the Cyprus problem. The Aegean issues are handled separately. Sometimes you can say there might be overlap, but actually we do handle them separately in our own mind.

Q: You named Ambassador Albright --

BURNS: And Under Secretary Peter Tarnoff. Yes.

(end transcript)

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