[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 32, Number 16 (Monday, April 22, 1996)]
[Pages 664-665]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Exchange With Reporters in Anchorage, Alaska

April 15, 1996

President's Visit to Korea

    Q. [The exchange is joined in prog-ress.]----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 and 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 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

[[Page 665]]

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. 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.