[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1996, Book I)]
[April 15, 1996]
[Pages 581-582]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Exchange With Reporters in Anchorage, Alaska
April 15, 1996

[The exchange is joined in progress.]

President's Itinerary

    Q. ----your stop in Korea?
    The President. Have a talk with President Kim, and we'll have some 
things to say there about the Korean situation. It's much better than it 
was 3 years ago when I took office in terms of trying to minimize the 
North Korean nuclear problem, which was a big security problem for the 
United States.
    And then I'm going on to Japan to reaffirm the security partnership 
we have with the Japanese and Asia, and then on to Russia to deal with 
the problems of nuclear safety. We've made a lot of progress in the last 
3 years; we've got a lot to do. We have a big job to get a comprehensive 
test ban treaty passed, and then to deal with the aftermath of the cold 
war, to deal with all of those nuclear materials that are out there. We 
want to make sure that they don't fall into the wrong hands and someday 
get put to the wrong uses.
    And I'm glad to be back in Alaska, even at 2 a.m. in the morning, 
and I thank you for coming out. I'm sorry that you all had to stay up so 
late.

Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

    Q. Mr. President, one of the big questions concerning a lot of 
Alaskans is the issue of oil drilling in ANWR. Do you think there is, in 
the near future, any possibility of doing that environmentally sensitive 
development in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge?
    The President. I don't know. I received your congressional 
delegation, and I listened to what they had to say. And we have 
continued to work not only in Alaska but all across America on the whole 
issue of reconciling development and the environment, and we continue to 
look for ways to do it. But you know, right now the more imminent issue 
as Congress comes back is whether we can pass a budget for the Interior 
Department that deals with the question of the Tongass, and that is the 
one I think that concerns Alaska that will be up on the plate in the 
next couple of weeks. And we've worked very hard out here to try to deal 
with the legitimate interests of the small loggers in trying to do some 
work there while preserving the old-growth trees that are virtually 
irreplaceable. So I'm hoping that that can be worked out. We've worked 
very, very hard on it, and we'll just take these issues as they come and 
see what happens.

President's Visit to South Korea

    Q. President Clinton, looking at your stop in Korea, what do you 
hope to accomplish there with President Kim?
    The President. Well, we're doing a lot of work on that. I want to 
wait until I see President Kim and make a definitive announcement of any 
kind. But we are essentially continuing on the path of a charter back in 
1993. We're working on ways to not only keep the nuclear problem under 
control and eventually eliminate it, but also to try to do what we can 
to promote an ultimate reconciliation, an end to the conflict. If that 
could happen, then the world would be a much safer place--the whole 
world, and certainly the people in Northern Asia.

Note: The exchange began at approximately 2 a.m. at Elmendorf Air Force 
Base. In his remarks,

[[Page 582]]

the President referred to President Kim Yong-sam of South Korea. The 
press release issued by the Office of the Press Secretary did not 
include the complete opening question. A tape was not available for 
verification of the content of this exchange.