27 October 2000 Clinton Speaks to Reporters on North Korea In a question and answer session with reporters October 27 in the White House Rose Garden, President Clinton touched on a number of foreign policy issues, including relations with North Korea. Clinton Pleased With Reception Albright Received In North Korea President Clinton said he has not yet made a decision on whether he will visit North Korea, following the recent visit there of Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. "I have not made a decision yet. But I was very pleased with the reception that Secretary Albright received," Clinton told reporters, adding that he hopes the North Koreans are pleased with the reception that Vice Marshall Jo Myong Rok received when he visited Washington in early October. "It's important for the American people to understand just how far this issue (North Korea) has come, and yet what is still out there," said Clinton. "When I became President ... I got all these briefings and we went through all the national security stuff. And the general consensus was that the most dangerous problem I was facing in late 1992 was North Korea's nuclear program, and that it could lead to the development of not only nuclear weapons which would imperil the Korean peninsula and our then-about 40,000 soldiers there -- we have slightly fewer now -- but that in the worst of all worlds, they might develop nuclear weapons and sell them to others, along with missiles, which would be devastating to the whole future of arms control. "And what happened? We got an agreement to end the nuclear program. The Japanese supported it, the South Koreans strongly supported it. We got other countries to kick in a little money. We've worked on it. We've continued to negotiate over missile testing and technology with them. And we refused to have an independent relationship, except on arms control issues, in the absence of some improving relationship between North and South. President Kim Dae Jung gets elected in South Korea, breaks this long icy relationship; justifiably wins the Nobel Peace Prize. I was elated for him. And then they come here, we go there. "So let me just remind you, we are a long, long way in the right direction compared to where we were back in January of '93. But we still have substantial concerns in the missile area... We're working on it. And that's all I think I should say now. We're working on it, and I haven't made a decision on a trip." (Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov) Return to the Washington File