[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 79 (Tuesday, June 21, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: June 21, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
              NORTH KOREA: TIME TO GIVE DIPLOMACY A CHANCE

  Mr. PELL. Mr. President, President Jimmy Carter's recent meetings 
with the North Korean President Kim Il-sung provide a welcome breathing 
space for diplomacy to resume between the United States and North 
Korea.
  Until the agreements achieved by President Carter, I had become 
concerned that the situation was heating up to an intensity that was 
leading us once again to war on the Korean Peninsula.
  I hope President Clinton welcomes the progress made by President 
Carter and builds upon it.
  Certainly, the situation was, and remains dire. The North Koreans had 
withdrawn at an accelerated rate fuel rods from their 25-megawatt 
thermal reactor at Yongbyon, leading to speculation that they would 
shortly begin reprocessing into plutonium a substantial amount of 
nuclear fuel. At the same time they had hindered the work of 
International Atomic Energy Agency [IAEA] inspectors who were trying to 
maintain the continuity of existing nuclear safeguards and to verify 
possible previous North Korean nuclear activities. As a result, the 
United States had begun consultations with U.N. Security Council 
members with the goal of phasing in a series of sanctions against North 
Korea.
  It is against this backdrop that President Clinton's decision to 
endorse the visit by former President Carter to North Korea must be 
seen. President Carter's political background, as well as his prior 
military training in the nuclear field, and his role as an 
international conflict mediator through his work at the Carter Center 
in Atlanta gave him unique qualities for this very special mission.

  By gaining North Korean agreement to freeze their nuclear program 
while discussions with the United States resume, an agreement to permit 
joint American-North Korean teams to search for the remains of missing-
in-action from the Korean war, and in addition to renew the North-South 
dialog which the North Koreans had called off last November, President 
Carter has achieved a significant breathing space that must now be 
enlarged through additional diplomacy.
  The ball is now in the North Korean court as a result of their 
promises to President Carter. While the North Koreans gained the 
prestige of an American President visiting their homeland, the visit 
provided them with a face-saving means to maintain IAEA safeguards 
without having appeared to have given into the threat of American 
sanctions. The publicity attendant to President Carter's trip now puts 
the onus upon the North Koreans to fulfill their promises to the former 
President.
  The Clinton administration is now in the process of following through 
on these promises. While it is by no means the end of the North Korean 
crisis, it is a major opportunity to test North Korean intentions. 
There can be no doubt that the negotiations will be long and 
protracted, but as long as IAEA inspectors remain on duty and nuclear 
fuel rods are not removed from the pools where they now lie cooling, 
President Carter should be applauded for giving the world more 
breathing space from the brink of war.
  As I said, I hope that President Clinton will welcome the progress 
made by President Carter and seek to build upon it.

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