[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2003, Book II)]
[October 19, 2003]
[Pages 1357-1359]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]
Remarks Following Discussions With Prime Minister Thaksin
Chinnawat of Thailand and an Exchange With
Reporters in Bangkok, Thailand
October 19, 2003
President Bush. Mr. Prime Minister, thank you very much for your
grand hospitality. Our entire delegation is honored that you have worked
so hard to make our stay comfortable and meaningful.
We just had a very good bilateral with our very close friend. I want
to thank the Prime Minister for his strong support in the war on terror
and remind our fellow citizens that because of his Government and his
good work, Mr. Hambali, one of the masterminds of the Bali bombing, has
been brought to justice. Mr. Prime Minister, the world is safer because
of that. And I want to thank you, and I want to thank you for your
support in Iraq.
I told the Prime Minister that this country is willing to grant
major non-NATO ally status to Thailand, which is a very important
recognition of your friendship and your strong support. As well we
discussed the fact that we want to move forward the free trade
agreement. We have the intention to begin negotiations on our free trade
agreement, which is a very important step in our bilateral relations.
And I want to thank you for that.
We also talked about a wide range of issues, including Burma and our
deep desire for freedom to take place in Burma. We care deeply about
Aung San Suu Kyi and the status of Aung San
Suu Kyi, and we would like to see her free. I appreciate the sympathetic
hearing I got from the Prime Minister. We share the same goal; the
Government assured us of that, and I thank him for that.
All in all, it was very constructive visit, perhaps made more
constructive by the fact that the Prime Minister went to university at
Sam Houston State in Huntsville, Texas--[laughter]--and therefore, we
speak the same language. [Laughter]
Thank you, sir, for your hospitality.
I thought I'd take a couple of questions.
North Korea
Q. Mr. President, would you be willing to offer North Korea some
kind of non-invasion or non-aggression agreement or pact, maybe
something short of a treaty, if it would get out of the nuclear weapons
business?
President Bush. Well, that's exactly what I'm going to talk to the
leader of China about here in a couple of hours,
how to move the process forward. I've said as plainly as I can say that
we have no intention of invading North Korea. And I've also said as
plainly as I can say that we expect North Korea to get rid of her
nuclear weapons ambitions. And the progress we're making on this issue
is that we've convinced other nations to say the same thing, including
China and Japan and South Korea and Russia--and Thailand. The Foreign
Minister recently has had a trip there,
and briefed us on his discussions with the North Korean Government.
We would like to see the Korean Peninsula without any nuclear
weapons. And we will also be willing to discuss with the Chinese and our
other partners how to move the process forward. That's precisely what
I'm going to do.
Holland [Steve Holland, Reuters].
Usama bin Laden Tape/War on Terror
Q. Sir, bin Laden is threatening new attacks. How serious a threat
is this, and will this discourage other countries from stepping forward
in Iraq?
President Bush. I think that the bin Laden tape should say to everybody the war on terror goes on,
that there's still a danger for free nations and that free nations need
to work together more than ever to share intelligence, cut off money,
and
[[Page 1358]]
bring these potential killers or killers to justice. And we've got to
find them. And that's one of the discussion points that the Prime
Minister and I just had. It's something I'll discuss with other leaders
here at APEC. This is still a dangerous world, and that tape just points
out exactly what I meant.
David.
North Korea
Q. Mr. President----
Q. Mr. President----
Q. Which one?
President Bush. Neither. [Laughter] Both. [Laughter] The prettier
one first. [Laughter]
Q. I'll let you go----
Q. I won't go there, Mr. President. If I could just follow up on
your answer on North Korea. You've often said in recent days that you
had made the decision on Iraq because you could not leave the security
of the American people in the hands of a madman----
President Bush. Yes.
Q. You are now in a position where the CIA says, has long said that
North Korea has maybe two weapons. There are some arguments they may now
have four or six, while this slow diplomacy has gone on. Would you say
that Kim Chong-il now poses as urgent and immediate a threat today as
Saddam Hussein did a year ago?
President Bush. I would say that the situation is different between
North Korea and Iraq, and that it's this, David, that we tried diplomacy
for 12 long years in Iraq, and many Security Council resolutions for
Iraq, and the world spoke clearly about Iraq. And Saddam
Hussein ignored the world. And therefore, we
put a coalition together to deal with Saddam Hussein.
We're making progress on the diplomatic front. I'd like to resolve
all issues in a peaceful way, without using our military, and I think we
have an opportunity to do so----
Q. Even if they're still building weapons while you do it?
President Bush. Well, we'll find out if they are or not. We--the key
thing we're going to do is now, for the first time, have started to
speak with not one voice but five voices to convince Mr. Kim Chong-
il that he ought to change his way.
And today is--we're furthering the process with my discussions with
Mr. Hu Jintao on this very subject. China is now
very much engaged in the process. And as you very well know as a student
of this issue, that hasn't been the case up until recently. As a matter
of fact, the bilateral approach to dealing with North Korea didn't work.
We signed an agreement with North Korea prior to our arrival in
Washington, DC, and the North Koreans cheated. And so we're trying
another approach. And I'm hopeful this will work, and we're making good
progress on this approach.
Yes.
Q. Sir, can I just follow on one aspect of that, which is you're
making very clear again today that you have no intention of invading
North Korea, and you want them to know that. But in your mind, is there
a distinction between saying that publicly and putting that down on
paper in a non-aggression pact? Is that something you are unwilling to
do?
President Bush. I'm going to look at all options. But you know,
first of all, it is very important for us to work with our partners on
this issue. That's the difference. And the difference is that we've now
got four other voices besides ourselves who say the same message to Mr.
Kim Chong-il, and that is, ``Disarm.'' And we
want to explore these options with our--with China and Japan, South
Korea, and Russia. And that's what I intend to do.
Q. [Inaudible]--that's an important idea, you may----
President Bush. First of all, what's important is that the burden is
on North Korea, not on America. North Korea must get rid of her nuclear
ambitions. She must get rid
[[Page 1359]]
of her weapons program. That's exactly the point we're trying to make--
in a verifiable way, I might add. And we are--we think there's an
opportunity to move the process forward, and we're going to discuss it
with our partners.
We will not have a treaty, if that's what you're asking. That's off
the table. Perhaps there are other ways we can look at--to say exactly
what I said publicly on paper, with our partners' consent.
Note: The President spoke at 11:21 a.m. at the Grand Hyatt Erawan
Bangkok. In his remarks, he referred to Nurjaman Riduan Isamuddin (known
as Hambali), Al Qaida's chief operational planner in Southeast Asia;
Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the National League for Democracy of Burma;
President Hu Jintao of China; Minister of Foreign Affairs Surakiat
Sathianthai of Thailand; Usama bin Laden, leader of the Al Qaida
terrorist organization; former President Saddam Hussein of Iraq; and
Chairman Kim Chong-il of North Korea. The President also referred to
reporters David Gregory, NBC News, and David Sanger, New York Times. A
tape was not available for verification of the content of these remarks.