    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2008, Book I)]
    [June 26, 2008]
    [Pages 877-880]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks on the Situation in North Korea and an Exchange With Reporters
    June 26, 2008

        The President. Good morning. The policy of the United States is a
    Korean Peninsula free of all nuclear weapons. This morning we moved a
    step closer to that goal when North Korean officials submitted a
    declaration of their nuclear programs to the Chinese Government as part
    of the six-party talks.
        The United States has no illusions about the regime in Pyongyang. We
    remain deeply concerned about North Korea's human rights abuses, uranium
    enrichment activities, nuclear testing and proliferation, ballistic
    missile programs, and the threat it continues to pose to South Korea and
    its neighbors.
        Yet we welcome today's development as one step in the multistep
    process laid out by the six-party talks between North Korea, China,
    Japan, Russia, South Korea, and the United States.
        Last year, North Korea pledged to disable its nuclear facilities.
    North Korea has begun disabling its Yongbyon nuclear facility, which was
    being used to produce plutonium for nuclear weapons. This work is being
    overseen by officials from the United States and the IAEA. And to
    demonstrate its commitment, North Korea has said it will destroy the
    cooling tower of the Yongbyon reactor in front of international
    television cameras tomorrow.
        Last year, North Korea also pledged to declare its nuclear activity.
    With today's declaration, North Korea has begun describing its
    plutonium-related activities. It's also provided other documents related
    to its nuclear programs going back to 1986. It has promised access to
    the reactor core and waste facilities at Yongbyon, as well as personnel
    related to its nuclear program. All this information will be essential
    to verifying that North Korea is ending its nuclear programs and
    activities.
        The six-party talks are based on a principle of action for action.
    So in keeping with the existing six-party agreements, the United States
    is responding to North Korea's actions with two actions of our own.
        First, I'm issuing a proclamation that lifts the provisions of the
    Trading With the Enemy Act with respect to North Korea.
        And secondly, I am notifying Congress of my intent to rescind North
    Korea's designation as a state sponsor of terror in 45 days.
        The next 45 days will be an important period for North Korea to show
    its seriousness of its cooperation. We will work through the six-party
    talks to develop a comprehensive and rigorous verification protocol. And
    during this period, the United States will carefully observe North
    Korea's actions and act accordingly.
        The two actions America is taking will have little impact on North
    Korea's financial and diplomatic isolation. North Korea will remain one
    of the most heavily sanctioned nations in the world. The sanctions that
    North Korea faces for its human rights violations, its nuclear test in
    2006, and its weapons proliferation will all stay in effect. And all
    United Nations Security Council sanctions will stay in effect as well.
        The six-party process has shed light on a number of issues of
    serious concern to the United States and the international community. To
    end its isolation, North

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    Korea must address these concerns. It must dismantle all of its nuclear
    facilities, give up its separated plutonium, resolve outstanding
    questions on its highly enriched uranium and proliferation activities,
    and end these activities in a way that we can fully verify.
        North Korea must also meet other obligations it has undertaken in
    the six-party talks. The United States will never forget the abduction
    of Japanese citizens by the North Koreans. We will continue to closely
    cooperate and coordinate with Japan and press North Korea to swiftly
    resolve the abduction issue.
        This can be a moment of opportunity for North Korea. If North Korea
    continues to make the right choices, it can repair its relationship with
    the international community, much as Libya has done over the past few
    years. If North Korea makes the wrong choices, the United States and our
    partners in the six-party talks will respond accordingly. If they do not
    fully disclose and end their plutonium, their enrichment, and their
    proliferation efforts and activities, there will be further
    consequences.
        Multilateral diplomacy is the best way to peacefully solve the
    nuclear issue with North Korea. Today's developments show that tough
    multilateral diplomacy can yield promising results. Yet the diplomatic
    process is not an end in itself. Our ultimate goal remains clear: a
    stable and peaceful Korean Peninsula, where people are free from
    oppression, free from hunger and disease, and free from nuclear weapons.
    The journey toward that goal remains long, but today we have taken an
    important step in the right direction.
        I'll take a couple of questions.
        Mike [Mike Emanuel, FOX News].

    Six-Party Talks/Message to North Korean People

        Q. Mr. President, thank you very much. After declaring them a member
    of the axis of evil, and then after that underground nuclear tests that
    North Korea conducted in 2006, I'm wondering if you ever doubted getting
    to this stage. And also, I'm wondering if you have a message for the
    North Korean people.
        The President. I knew that the United States could not solve or
    begin to solve this issue without partners at the table. In order for
    diplomacy to be effective, there has to be leverage. You have to have
    a--there has to be consequential diplomacy.
        And so I worked hard to get the Chinese and the South Koreans and
    the Japanese and the Russians to join with us in sending a concerted
    message to the North Koreans, and that is that if you promise and then
    fulfill your promises to dismantle your nuclear programs, there's a
    better way forward for you and the people. In other words, as I said in
    the statement, it's action for action.
        It took a while for the North Koreans to take the six-party talks
    seriously. And it also took there to be concerted messages from people
    other than the United States saying that if you choose not to respond
    positively, there will be consequences.
        And so I'm--it's been a--multilateral diplomacy is difficult at
    times. It's hard to get people heading in the same direction. And yet we
    were able to do so along--our partners helped a lot, don't get me wrong.
        The message to the North Korean people is, is that we don't want you
    to be hungry; we want you to have a better life; that our concerns are
    for you, not against you; and that we have given your leadership a way
    forward to have better relations with the international community.
        This is a society that is regularly going through famines. When I
    campaigned for President, I said, we will never use food as a diplomatic
    weapon. In North Korea, we have been concerned that food shipments
    sometimes don't make it to the people themselves. In other words, the
    regime takes the food for their own use.
        So my message to the people is, is that we'll continue to care for
    you and worry

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    about you and, at the same time, pursue a Korean Peninsula that's
    nuclear weapons-free. And today we have taken a step, and it's a very
    positive step, but there's more steps to be done.
        Deb [Deb Riechmann, Associated Press].

    Six-Party Talks/Abduction of Japanese Citizens

        Q. Mr. President, what do you say to critics who claim that you've
    accepted a watered down declaration just to get something done before
    you leave office? I mean, you've said that it doesn't address the
    uranium enrichment issue, and of course, it doesn't address what North
    Korea might have done to help Syria build its reactor.
        The President. Yes. Well, first, let me review where we have been.
    In the past, we would provide benefits to the North Koreans in a hope
    that they would fulfill a vague promise. In other words, that's the way
    it was before I came into office.
        Everybody was concerned about North Korea possessing a nuclear
    weapon; everybody was concerned about the proliferation activities. And
    yet the policy in the past was, here are some benefits for you, and we
    hope that you respond. And of course, we found they weren't responding.
    And so our policy has changed--that says, in return for positive action,
    in return for verifiable steps, we will reduce penalties. And there are
    plenty of restrictions still on North Korea.
        And so my point is this, is that we'll see. They said they're going
    to destroy parts of their plant in Yongbyon. That's a very positive
    step. After all, it's the plant that made plutonium. They have said in
    their declarations--if you read their declarations of September last
    year, they have said specifically what they will do. And our policy and
    the statement today makes it clear we will hold them to account for
    their promises. And when they fulfill their promises, more restrictions
    will be eased. If they don't fulfill their promises, more restrictions
    will be placed on them. This is action for action. This is, we will
    trust you only to the extent that you fulfill your promises.
        And so I'm pleased with the progress. I'm under no illusions that
    this is the first step. This isn't the end of the process; this is the
    beginning of the process of action for action. And the point I want to
    make to our fellow citizens is that we have worked hard to put
    multilateral diplomacy in place, because the United States sitting down
    with Kim Jong Il didn't work in the past. Sitting
    alone at the table just didn't work.
        Now, as I mentioned in my statement, there's a lot of more
    verification that needs to be done. I mentioned our concerns about
    enrichment. We expect the North Korean regime to be forthcoming about
    their programs. We talked about proliferation. We expect them to be
    forthcoming about their proliferation activities and cease such
    activities. I mentioned the fact that we're taking--beginning to take
    inventory, because of our access to the Yongbyon plant, about what they
    have produced. And we expect them to be forthcoming with what they have
    produced and the material itself.
        So today I'm just talking about the first step of a multistep
    process. And I want to thank our partners at the six-party talks. It's
    been incredibly helpful to achieve--the beginnings of achieving a vision
    of a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula, to have the Chinese to be as
    robustly involved as they are. You notice that the North Koreans passed
    on their documents to the Chinese. After all, we're all partners in the
    six-party talks.
        The other thing is--I want to assure our friends in Japan--is that
    this process will not leave behind--leave them behind on the abduction
    issue. The United States takes the abduction issue very seriously. We
    expect the North Koreans to solve this issue in a positive way for the
    Japanese. There's a lot of folks in Japan that are deeply concerned
    about what took place. I remember

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    meeting a mother of a child who was abducted by the North Koreans, right here in
    the Oval Office. It was a heart-wrenching moment to listen to the mother
    talk about what it was like to lose her daughter. And it is important
    for the Japanese people to know that the United States will not abandon
    our strong ally and friend when it comes to helping resolve that issue.
        Today is a positive day; it's a positive step forward. There's more
    work to be done, and we've got the process in place to get it done in a
    verifiable way.
        Thank you.

    Note: The President spoke at 7:40 a.m. in the Rose Garden at the White
    House. In his remarks, he referred to Chairman Kim Jong Il of North
    Korea; and Sakie Yokota, mother of Megumi Yokota, who was abducted by
    North Korean authorities.