[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1993, Book I)]
[July 10, 1993]
[Pages 1050-1053]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks and an Exchange With Reporters Following Discussions With 
President Kim Yong-sam of South Korea in Seoul
July 10, 1993

    President Kim. Today President Clinton and I had very useful 
discussions of the wide-ranging issues of mutual concern for about 1\1/
2\ hours. I was deeply impressed by President Clinton, who is playing 
leadership role in maintaining world peace and coping with new 
challenges in the post-cold-war era.
    In today's meeting, President Clinton and I discussed current 
international political situation, including new post-cold-war situation 
in northeast Asia. We also had wide-ranging consultations on how to 
further develop the Korea-U.S. partnership in the areas of politics, 
security, economy, and trade.
    In particular, we had an indepth discussion on North Korea's nuclear 
development program. And we shared the view that this issue poses a 
serious threat not only to peace on the Korean Peninsula but also to the 
security of northeast Asia and the world as a whole. Also, we expressed 
our satisfaction over the close coordination between our two countries 
in dealing with the North Korean nuclear issue. Most importantly, we 
confirmed that, through this process, we should continue to encourage 
North Korea to remain within the nuclear nonproliferation regime and to 
implement faithfully these inspection responsibilities with the IAEA 
mechanism.

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We also reconfirmed that through effective mutual inspections by the two 
Koreas themselves, the denuclearization declaration should be fully 
implemented, leading eventually to the resolution of North Korea's 
nuclear issue.
    We will, therefore, continue our efforts to persuade North Korea to 
remove suspicion over its nuclear program. The next round of U.S.-North 
Korean contacts will be held in a few days. And at the same time, we 
will keep the door open for South-North dialog. In case, however, North 
Korea does not demonstrate different attitudes toward the resolution of 
the nuclear issue, in spite of our sincere efforts, then the 
international community will inevitably have to come up with appropriate 
countermeasures to deal with the issue.
    President Clinton renewed firm commitment of the United States to 
the defense and security of the Republic of Korea and reassured that any 
further reduction of U.S. forces in Korea would be made only after the 
uncertainties surrounding North Korea's nuclear program has been 
thoroughly examined.
    President Clinton and I noted with satisfaction the amicable trade 
relations between our two countries and concurred that the measures the 
Korean Government is taking to liberalize and internationalize this 
economy under the new economic policy will help further expand and 
develop our bilateral trade relations. More specifically, President 
Clinton and I agreed on the need to develop a future-oriented economic 
partnership between our two countries. And for this purpose, we have 
agreed to launch a new bilateral forum for consultation, named the 
Dialogue for Economic Cooperation. Within this framework, the two 
countries will discuss various ways to enhance bilateral economic 
cooperation and address the issues of economic deregulation as it 
affects economic relations between our two countries. Also, we shared 
the hope that the Uruguay round of multilateral trade negotiations 
should be concluded before the end of this year to help revitalize the 
world economy. And we have agreed to work together to achieve that goal.
    As staunch friends and allies, the Republic of Korea and the United 
States have maintained a close and cooperative relationship during the 
last several decades. Our countries will continue to expand this 
relationship to make it into a lasting and comprehensive partnership 
based upon the common ideals of democracy in the fields of politics, 
national security, economy, trade, culture, and academic exchanges.
    I'm entirely satisfied with the result of our today's summit 
meeting, and I'm fully convinced that today's meeting will mark the 
first of many fruitful occasions of such consultations between President 
Clinton and me in the future. Thank you very much.
    President Clinton. Thank you very much. First, let me thank 
President Kim for his warm welcome and for his very accurate summary of 
the discussions that we have just held. I would simply like to highlight 
a couple of points.
    First, we reviewed our mutual efforts to ensure the security and 
peace of the people living on the Korean Peninsula. And I reassured 
President Kim of my commitment to ensure that the United States 
continues to play its historic role. We devoted particular attention to 
the issue of North Korea's nuclear program and agreed to continue our 
very close cooperation in dealing with this matter. This program is of 
great concern not only to the United States and the Republic of Korea 
but to all in this region. We agreed to consult closely on our joint 
efforts to achieve a full resolution of this issue, and we are resolute 
to take additional steps if they are required. I did reaffirm my strong 
intention to have no further reduction in our military presence in this 
region as long as there is any outstanding question of security 
regarding this issue.
    President Kim and I also discussed the importance of working 
together to expand trade through the Organization on Asian Pacific 
Economic Cooperation and the meetings we will have there in Washington 
this fall.
    I thanked President Kim for his support of the results of the G-7 
conference just concluded in Tokyo, his support of the Uruguay round of 
the world trade negotiations, and for the announcement of the new 
Dialogue for Economic Cooperation to resolve the outstanding issues 
between our two countries and to build an even stronger economic 
cooperation between us.
    Finally, I want to express my appreciation to President Kim for his 
personal lifetime devotion to the cause of democracy and for the very 
good example that the anticorruption and deregulation campaigns here set 
for all of Asia and indeed for budding democracies throughout the world. 
I believe that this is the sort of example we need more of.
    And finally, let me say I appreciate the visit

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that we had. I think we established a very good personal relationship 
and a very good bond between our two countries. I look forward to 
further talks, and the President has accepted my invitation to visit the 
United States later this year, so we will have another chance to work on 
these issues personally.

North Korean Nuclear Development

    Q. Mr. President, in case North Korea doesn't show sincere efforts 
to solve their nuclear problem, then the Republic of Korea will react 
with appropriate countermeasures to deal with the issue. Is there any 
time scale in your plan to deal with this issue, and what is the most 
appropriate measures to be taken towards it?
    President Kim. I do not necessarily think that it is desirable to 
give you any time scale or any concrete appropriate actions to be taken. 
But what is most important, what is most clear, is that with regard to 
this issue we had a very close consultation with the United States, and 
we will continue to do so in the future.

China

    Q. President Clinton, what role can China play in trying to be 
helpful, if at all helpful, in this? Do you see China as being 
instrumental in trying to persuade the North Koreans to follow the 
treaties?
    President Clinton. I do believe China can play a constructive role. 
When the United States and South Korea were attempting to discourage 
North Korea from withdrawing from the NPT, China was quite helpful. I 
think the Chinese Government is very interested in supporting the 
position we have taken here. They have stronger and stronger trade 
relations with South Korea. And they obviously are more and more 
interested in becoming a commercial power of the future rather than a 
military power of the past. And so, we will both--we agreed today that 
we would continue to inform the Chinese of what we were doing, and we 
will certainly ask for their support in our efforts.

Dialogue for Economic Cooperation

    Q. President Clinton, there was an announcement today that the 
Dialogue for Economic Cooperation will be launched from today. At the 
same time, there is an expectation that the Uruguay round of 
negotiations, multilateral negotiations, will come to conclusion, at 
latest, before the end of this year. Now, there is, however, a concern 
that perhaps the launching of this new Economic Cooperation Dialogue is 
a means for the United States to press ahead with its own idea of 
economic relationship with the United States in a bilateral sense. Does 
it carry any truth, or do you have any comment on this?
    President Clinton. First let me say that is a very good question. I 
do not see our efforts to get an agreement in the Uruguay round and this 
announcement today as in conflict. Between any two nations that have as 
many trade relations as the United States and the Republic of Korea, 
there will always be issues outstanding that need to be discussed.
    Obviously, if by the end of the year we can conclude a successful 
Uruguay round, that may resolve some of the issues between our two 
countries. But still there will be other issues in terms of the 
practical openness of our markets, what we can do to encourage more 
investment, how we enforce the laws that we all agree should be on the 
books. There are lots of questions like this that in good faith two 
friends ought to discuss. And so, we're very hopeful that that is what 
we can do.
    I should say, too, as much for the Americans as for the Koreans 
here, that just a few years ago Korea had a very large trade surplus 
with the U.S. In the last 2 or 3 years, it's been a very small trade 
surplus, and this year we might actually have a small surplus with 
Korea. So our trade is more or less in balance, and the problems we have 
relate to the way we implement certain things. So I don't think you 
should be concerned. We are going to go forward with the Uruguay round, 
and we won't do anything in this context that is in conflict with the 
desire to get a world trade agreement.

North Korean Nuclear Development

    Q. President Clinton, you mentioned being resolute to take 
additional steps to stop North Korea's nuclear program. What are the 
carrots and sticks that you could apply to make North Korea comply with 
the IAEA safeguards?
    President Clinton. First, let me say that the talks will resume in a 
few days. I think it is obvious that the most important carrot out there 
is the one that President Kim has articulated when he described the 
conditions under which the two nations might move toward reunification 
with various confidence-building measures and other steps along the way. 
The economic success

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of South Korea and the prospect that North Korea might one day have a 
cultural unity again and an economic success must be the greatest carrot 
of all. The sticks I think are obvious, but I think, again, I would 
support what President Kim said. We should not be discussing at this 
point what we might do if all our other efforts fail.
    Thank you.

Note: The remarks began at 4 p.m. at the Blue House. President Kim spoke 
in Korean, and his remarks were translated by an interpreter.