[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 42, Number 42 (Monday, October 23, 2006)]
[Pages 1827-1828]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
The President's Radio Address

October 14, 2006

    Good morning. Earlier this week, the Government of North Korea 
proclaimed to the world that it had conducted a successful nuclear 
weapons test. In response to North Korea's provocative actions, America 
is working with our partners in the region and in the United Nations 
Security Council to ensure that there are serious repercussions for the 
North Korean regime.
    North Korea has been pursuing nuclear weapons and defying its 
international commitments for years. In 1993, North Korea announced that 
it was withdrawing from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. The United 
States negotiated with North Korea and reached a bilateral agreement in 
1994: North Korea committed to giving up its pursuit of nuclear weapons 
in exchange for help with peaceful nuclear power.
    After I came to office, we discovered that North Korea had been 
violating this agreement for some time by continuing work on a covert 
nuclear weapons program. My administration confronted the North Korea 
regime with this evidence in 2002, and the North Koreans subsequently 
walked away from the 1994 agreement.
    So my administration decided to take a new approach. We brought 
together other nations in the region in an effort to resolve the 
situation through multilateral diplomacy. The logic behind this approach 
is clear: North Korea's neighbors have the most at stake, and they are 
North Korea's principal sources of food, energy, and trade, so it makes 
sense to enlist them in the effort to get the North Korean regime to end 
its nuclear program.
    This diplomatic effort was called the six-party talks, and these 
talks included North and South Korea, China, Japan, Russia, and the 
United States. In September of last year, these diplomatic efforts 
resulted in a wide-ranging joint statement that offered a resolution to 
the problem and a better life for the North Korean people. In this joint 
statement, North Korea committed to abandoning all nuclear weapons and 
existing nuclear programs. North Korea was offered the prospect of 
normalized relations with Japan and the United States, as well as 
economic cooperation in energy, trade, and investment. And the United 
States affirmed that we have no nuclear weapons on the Korean Peninsula 
and no intention to attack or invade North Korea.
    Unfortunately, North Korea failed to act on its commitment. And with 
its actions this week, the North Korean regime has once again broken its 
word, provoked an international crisis, and denied its people the 
opportunity for a better life. We are working for a resolution to this 
crisis. Nations around the world, including our partners in the six-
party talks, agree on the need for a strong United Nations Security 
Council resolution that will require North Korea to dismantle its 
nuclear programs. This resolution should also specify measures to 
prevent North Korea from importing or exporting nuclear or missile 
technologies. And it should prevent financial transactions or asset 
transfers that would help North Korea develop its nuclear or missile 
capabilities.
    By passing such a resolution, we will send a clear message to the 
North Korean regime that its actions will not be tolerated. And we will 
give the nations with the closest ties to North Korea--China and South 
Korea--a framework to use their leverage to pressure Pyongyang and 
persuade its regime to change course.
    As we pursue a diplomatic solution, we are also reassuring our 
allies in the region that America remains committed to their security. 
We have strong defense alliances with Japan and South Korea, and the 
United States will meet these commitments. And in response to North 
Korea's provocation, we will seek to increase our defense cooperation 
with our allies, including cooperation on ballistic missile defense to 
protect against North Korean aggression and cooperation to prevent North 
Korea from importing or exporting nuclear or missile technologies.
    Our goals remain clear: peace and security in Northeast Asia and a 
nuclear-free Korean Peninsula. We will do what is necessary to achieve 
these goals. We will support our allies in the region; we will work with 
the United Nations; and together we will ensure that North Korea faces 
real consequences if it continues down its current path.

[[Page 1828]]

    Thank you for listening.

Note: The address was recorded at 7:50 a.m. on October 13 in the Cabinet 
Room at the White House for broadcast at 10:06 a.m. on October 14. The 
transcript was made available by the Office of the Press Secretary on 
October 13 but was embargoed for release until the broadcast. The Office 
of the Press Secretary also released a Spanish language transcript of 
this address.