[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1993, Book II)]
[December 6, 1993]
[Pages 2127-2128]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Exchange With Reporters Prior to Discussions With Prime Minister Felipe 
Gonzalez of Spain
December 6, 1993

North Korea

    Q. Mr. President, the IAEA has apparently rejected the North Korean 
response. Do you agree with that rejection?
    The President. Well, what the IAEA has said is that they didn't 
think it was entirely adequate. But we have to go back and respond to 
them and we--at least they came forward, they reacted to our initiative. 
And we're consulting with the South Koreans now. We'll have a 
conversation with them and see what happens.
    Q. Was it inadequate in your eyes----
    The President. Well, obviously they didn't say, ``We liked 
everything the United States said,'' and yes. So we were hoping that we 
could move more quickly, but I'm not entirely discouraged. We're talking 
to the South Koreans, and then we'll go back to the----

Multilateral Trade Negotiations

    Q. Do you think the GATT agreement will be reached today in 
Brussels, Mr. President?
    The President. I don't know. I just spoke with Ambassador Kantor 
right before the Prime Minister came in, and they've made some more 
progress. There are still a couple of sticking issues. We'll just see.
    Q. On agriculture?
    The President. I think they're doing quite well on agriculture. 
We'll have to see.

[At this point, one group of reporters left the room, and another group 
entered.]

Meeting With Haitian Leaders

    Q. Mr. President, are you going to be meeting with President 
Aristide and Prime Minister Malval today? And what will you want to be 
discussing with them?
    The President. I don't think we'll have a final decision on that 
until sometime after noon. So I can't say yet. But we'll let you know as 
soon as we know for sure.

Spain

    Q. Do you forecast many differences between the social security 
system between Spain and the United States?
    The President. Are there many differences?
    Q. Yeah.
    The President. Well, there are some, but I'm really looking forward 
to my conversation with the Prime Minister about it. All the countries, 
in Europe, Japan, and the United States, we're all having many of the 
same troubles. We're having troubles creating new jobs and growing the 
economy.
    I think Spain clearly would benefit from any initiative we can all 
take to increase economic

[[Page 2128]]

growth throughout the world. It's hard for any of us to grow unless the 
overall world economy is growing. And I really admire the reforms the 
Prime Minister has pursued, and I'm going to do what I can to support a 
high rate of growth in the world which would drive the unemployment rate 
in Spain down. I think it's very important.

Cuba

    Q. Mr. President, the embargo?
    Q. Do you bring that to your hand--something about the Cuban 
embargo?
    The President. I'm sure we'll talk about Cuba.
    Q. The end of the embargo, maybe?
    The President. Not today, no.

Note: The exchange began at 11:37 a.m. in the Oval Office at the White 
House. A tape was not available for verification of the content of this 
exchange.