[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1994, Book I)]
[March 30, 1994]
[Pages 559-560]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks and an Exchange With Reporters in San Diego, California
March 30, 1994

Middle East Peace Process

    Q. Mr. President, we understand you talked to the Korean President. 
What did you tell him?
    The President. First of all, I'd like to make a statement about the 
Middle East, and then I'll answer the Korean question.
    The announcement today that Israel and the PLO have reached accord 
on security measures in Hebron is very, very important. It opens the way 
to now resume the Israel-PLO dialog on Gaza and Jericho and to complete 
it successfully. And this, plus the announcement that the negotiations 
with regard to Syria, Jordan, and Lebanon will all resume in April, 
means that the Middle East peace process is back on track. It's very 
encouraging to me, and I hope it would be to all the American people.

North Korea

    Now, I just completed--literally, just a few minutes ago, 10, 15 
minutes ago--a conversation with President Kim of South Korea about the 
whole Korean situation and about his recent trip to Japan and to China. 
He and I reaffirmed our common intention to continue to work together 
for a peaceful but firm resolution of this problem with North Korea.
    The North Koreans themselves have committed to a nuclear-free Korean 
Peninsula. They have committed to the IAEA inspection process. All we 
want is for them to keep that commitment as well as their commitment to 
resume their dialog with South Korea. And we're going to work very 
closely together in the U.N. and in other ways to try to pursue this. We 
hope that we will be able to do it in strong cooperation with the 
Japanese, who have helped us every step of the way, and with the 
Chinese, who have played a very constructive role in this. And I would 
also hope that Russia will be able to help in this process. I first 
raised this whole issue, Korean issue, with President Yeltsin some time 
ago.
    And so we and the South Koreans are working to try to get the 
cooperation of all these parties and others. But in the end, the North 
Koreans will have to decide whether they wish to be completely isolated 
or not or whether they will just keep their commitments and, in return 
for simply keeping commitments they've already made, have the 
opportunity to integrate their

[[Page 560]]

nation into a broader and far more prosperous world.
    Q. They use very hostile language sometimes. They've implied that 
sanctions might be, in their mind, a declaration of war. How do you 
respond to that?
    The President. Nothing could be further from the truth. We have done 
nothing offensive to North Korea. All of our military moves, indeed, the 
Patriot missile, has been entirely defensive. And any actions that we 
would support in that regard would be actions to which we have been 
forced by the North Koreans simply because they have declined to keep 
commitments that they themselves have made.
    If we're going to do business in this world, people have got to be 
able to rely on the commitments that countries freely undertake. And 
again, I would say the way is still open to North Korea simply to follow 
the commitments they've already made. There are ways they can do that. 
We are going to work very closely with the South Koreans, but I think we 
have to be firm and persistent and just keep working at it, and we 
intend to do that.
    Q.  How optimistic are you about a U.N. resolution, Mr. President?
    The President. Well, I don't want to characterize it in that way. 
I'll just say that we and the South Koreans are exploring, with all the 
relevant parties, what our options are, and we'll see what develops over 
the next few days.
    Q. Sir, how big of an impediment is the Chinese to try to reach an 
international agreement on this issue? Tonight the nonaligned nations 
said they would support China. Is this hurting the chances for an 
international agreement because of China's problem?
    The President. Well, we'll have to see where China comes down on it 
in the end. The Chinese have always been somewhat more cautious because 
of their longstanding relationship with North Korea. And also they 
have--I think they are genuine in not wanting to do anything which 
provokes some sort of crisis.
    On the other hand, I would remind you that the Chinese certainly 
don't want North Korea to become a clear nuclear power because of the 
consequences that might have for them as well as for Japan. And the 
Chinese are now doing 8 or 10 times as much business with South Korea as 
with North Korea. So, their long-term economic interests clearly are in 
pursuing a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula in which North and South Korea 
are ultimately partners and both trading with a more prosperous China.
    So I think their long-term objectives, security and economic, are 
consistent with what our long-term objectives are. So I hope that we can 
work through this crisis. But in the end, I will say again, the Chinese, 
no different from any other country, should want all nations who give 
their word to keep it.
    Q. Sir, is this in retaliation against the U.S. because of our trade 
problems, our trade differences?
    The President. No, I really don't think so. I don't think that has 
anything to do with this whatever.
    Thank you.

Middle East Peace Process

    Q. Are you going to--[inaudible]--about the Middle East--
[inaudible]--Mr. Arafat or anyone?
    The President. Well, I'm in contact with the Middle East parties all 
the time. To date, this has required quite a lot of effort and personal 
time, and believe me, from here on in, it will require much more, time 
on the part of the Secretary of State, the President, and all of our 
resources. So, I think you can say, over the next couple of months, this 
will require a significant commitment and investment on the part of the 
United States, and we intend to do that. It's worth it.
    Thank you.

Note: The exchange began at 5:55 p.m. at a private residence in San 
Diego. A tape was not available for verification of the content of this 
exchange.