[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 74 (Tuesday, June 14, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: June 14, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                      THE THREAT FROM NORTH KOREA

  Mr. RICHARDSON. Mr. Speaker, in this country we have politicized the 
Bosnia issue, we have politicized Somalia, we have politicized the 
Haiti issue. But, Mr. Speaker, let us not politicize the North Korean 
issue. Here is an opportunity where the Congress and the President can 
act in concert along with the international community.
  Mr. Speaker, yesterday North Korea moved a step closer to disastrous 
confrontation with the rest of the world by announcing its withdrawal 
from the International Atomic Energy Agency and by banning IAEA 
inspectors from its territory. Although they have not yet carried out 
their threat, this is a very, very serious provocation that could 
fatally compromise the administration's efforts to resolve the nuclear 
dispute peacefully.
  Mr. Speaker, the Clinton administration has tried to keep diplomacy 
alive with our Asian allies, but we must not flinch. We should proceed 
now with a plan to ask the U.N. Security Council to enact a series of 
phased sanctions.
  Mr. Speaker, as the world moves toward sanctions, it cannot afford to 
abandon diplomacy. In this connection we have to act in concert with 
Japan. We have to act in concert with South Korea. And we have to ask 
our friends in China to help. The President has gone out on a limb and 
said that he wants to extend MFN to China in light of China's miserable 
human rights record. He has gambled and said that he is ready to 
proceed with that relationship. Now it is up to China to show that it 
is a responsible member of the international community and work with 
the West in order to help Asia and to moderate North Korea's behavior.
  Mr. Speaker, North Korea has been lying. They have been playing games 
with, not just the IAEA, but with their allies in Asia, with the United 
Nations, and with the United States, all of whom have acted in good 
faith. Mr. Speaker, even though Pyongyang continues to assert that its 
nuclear program is peaceful and that the whole crisis can be resolved 
by the direct talks with the United States, the United States should be 
careful to engage in an effort that does not include our allies in 
Asia. It is very important that we proceed with negotiations, but these 
negotiations should be multilateral. They should involve our Japanese 
friends. They should involve South Korea. And I think the Congress is 
going to be watching to see what China's role is on this issue.

  But, Mr. Speaker, the reason that I have taken the floor this morning 
is to say, ``Let's not politicize the North Korea issue. U.S. vital 
interests are at stake. The lives of American troops are at stake. The 
stability of Asia is at stake. The future of Japan and South Korea is 
at stake. The relationship the outside world has with China is at 
stake. North Korea has sent a provocation, and we must not blink, but 
at the same time we should pursue every diplomatic and other initiative 
to ensure that we don't end up in a conflagration in that part of the 
world. We don't have vital interests as strong in Bosnia, or Haiti, or 
Somalia. But there is no question that we do in North Korea.''
  Mr. Speaker, North Korea is courting confrontation. While we must not 
blink, it is critically important that the Congress in a bipartisan 
fashion support the good, sensible policy that the administration is 
following.
  Mr. Speaker, this morning our Nation and our allies face a very real 
threat from North Korea. As we all know, North Korea recently announced 
that it planned to withdraw from the International Atomic Energy 
Agency, the IAEA. The Pyongyang government also announced that it was 
banning IAEA inspectors from its territory.
  This move is a very dangerous one that moves North Korea a step 
closer to a dangerous confrontation with the rest of the world. Our 
dispute with North Korea is very deep and longstanding. North Korea 
appears to be systematically working to develop and sell both nuclear 
weapons and missiles that carry those nuclear warheads.
  I don't believe that we, as a nation, are overreacting. In fact, I 
believe that North Korea's actions over the last 10 years demonstrate 
the seriousness of this issue. These are the facts. North Korea is 
building larger nuclear reactors and plutonium separators that have 
only military capabilities. If all goes as they plan, North Korea will 
most likely have the ability to produce enough plutonium to build 10 
bombs a year by the turn of the century.
  Mr. Speaker, President Clinton is currently involved in a diplomatic 
effort to resolve this dispute with North Korea peacefully. Obviously, 
the stakes are very high and the recent actions by North Korea make 
that effort much more difficult. Nonetheless, he is on the right track. 
In a nonpartisan, well-concocted effort, President Clinton is 
attempting to resolve the conflict diplomatically. He is leading the 
world and, last week, the IAEA announced that it would suspend most 
international technical assistance to Pyongyang. China did not oppose 
that move and now we must continue to encourage the U.N. Security 
Council to impose sanctions on North Korea. In addition, President 
Clinton has dispatched former President Jimmy Carter to South and North 
Korea. President Carter will meet with Kim Il-song, North Korea's 
leader, to lay out what the North has to gain from participating in the 
IAEA and abandoning its nuclear program.
  Mr. Speaker, without a diplomatic solution, North Korea poses a grave 
threat to South Korea, Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and the United 
States. President Clinton's efforts are on target and will, hopefully, 
bear fruit.

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