[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 52 (Monday, January 1, 2001)]
[Pages 3209-3210]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Statement on Efforts To Improve Relations With North Korea

December 28, 2000

    For several years, we have been working with our east Asian allies 
to improve relations with North Korea in a way that strengthens peace 
and stability on the Korean Peninsula. We have made substantial 
progress, including the 1994 Agreed Framework, which froze North Korea's 
production of plutonium for nuclear weapons under ongoing international 
inspections, and the 1999 moratorium on long-range missile tests. I 
believe new opportunities are opening for progress toward greater 
stability and peace on the Korean Peninsula. However, I have determined 
that there is not enough time while I am President to prepare the way 
for an agreement with North Korea that advances our national interest 
and provides the basis for a trip by me to Pyongyang. Let me emphasize 
that I believe this process of engagement with North Korea, in 
coordination with South Korea and Japan, holds great promise and that 
the United States should continue to build on the progress we have made.
    Our policy toward North Korea has been based on a strong framework 
developed at my request by former Secretary of Defense William Perry and 
carried out by Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and Special Adviser 
Wendy Sherman. We have coordinated each step forward with our allies the 
Republic of Korea and Japan. The engagement policy of President Kim Dae-
jung and his personal leadership have spurred this process and earned 
the world's admiration. Taken together, our efforts have reduced 
tensions on the Korean Peninsula, improved prospects for enduring peace 
and stability in the region, and opened an opportunity to substantially 
reduce, if not eliminate, the threat posed by North Korean missile 
development and exports.
    This past October, when DPRK Chairman Kim Chong-il invited me to 
visit his country, and later when Secretary Albright traveled to 
Pyongyang, Chairman Kim put forward a

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serious proposal concerning his missile program. Since then, we have 
discussed with North Korea proposals to eliminate its missile export 
program as well as to halt further missile development. While there is 
insufficient time for me to complete the work at hand, there is 
sufficient promise to continue this effort. The United States has a 
clear national interest in seeing it through.