30 October 2000 Secretary Albright Briefs Clinton on Visit to North Korea White House Press Secretary Jake Siewert briefed. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright briefed President Clinton on her recent visit to North Korea at a White House meeting October 30. "It was a good meeting," Siewert said. "It lasted about 30 minutes or so. Secretary Albright gave the President a more detailed account of her trip than she gave to those of you who watched 'Good Morning America.' She reviewed all the issues that they had covered, from nuclear proliferation to human rights to lessening tensions in the Peninsula. "The President was pleased to get that update. We'll need a fuller understanding of what's involved in this offer that the North Koreans have made on missiles. We expect that the discussions in Kuala Lumpur at the end of this week will be helpful in achieving a fuller understanding of what the North Koreans have put on the table. "Those begin, I believe, on November 1st, run for a couple days. And after those meetings, we'll be in a better position to assess what the next steps are." Siewert said "we're not going to be in a position to assess whether or not" Clinton will go to North Korea "until we have a little fuller understanding of the offer that the North Koreans have made on missiles." "It was a unanimous decision at this point to not make that decision, but to explore further with the North Koreans what exactly is on the table, in terms of their offer to cut back on their missiles program. And that's what will be the subject of discussions later this week in the region," Siewert said. "We'll make an overall judgment based on whether we think a trip would advance our interests -- our interest in nonproliferation, our interest in lessening tension on the Peninsula, our interest in reducing the threat that that missile program poses to our allies in the region and to the United States." The outcome of the American presidential election would have no impact on the final decision of whether Clinton will visit North Korea, Siewert said. Clinton and Yemen's President Talk About Next Stage of USS Cole Investigation Yemen's President Ali Abdallah Salih and President Clinton spoke by telephone October 28 for some 25 minutes, Siewert reported. Yemen's President called Clinton after receiving a letter from him thanking him for his cooperation in the first phase of the investigation into the attack on the USS naval ship Cole, and asking for Yemen's continued cooperation "as we go into the next phase of the investigation," Siewert said. The October 12 attack on the Cole killed 17 U.S sailors and wounded 39 others. In the phone conversation, Salih pledged Yemen's "full cooperation in the next phase of the investigation; and we made clear that as part of that investigation we're going to need to see some access to witnesses and access to primary materials there," Siewert said. Asked if this latest pledge of cooperation means that Yemen will give U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) investigators access to the witnesses, suspects and evidence, Siewert responded that "You should check with the FBI on how that is actually playing out in practice, but we've made clear that that's something that we will need." U.S. in Principle Does Not Oppose Iraqi Oil Trading in Euros The Clinton administration does not "oppose, in principle, any Iraqi oil trading that's done in Euros, provided that the humanitarian needs of the Iraqi people are met under the terms of the U.N. oil for food program," Siewert said. "Ultimately, under the terms of that agreement, the U.N. has control over all the funds in the oil for food account," Siewert said. "The money is never in the hands of the Iraqis, it's essentially in an escrow account. So whether the money is in Euros, dollars or another denomination is nothing more than a technical issue." Iraq is reported to have said that as of November 1st, oil exports will only be denominated in Euros. "We will do everything we can to ensure that (oil) supplies continue at high levels. And if they take any measures to cut back, we will have the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the Europeans have reserves that could deal with such a situation," Siewert said. (Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov) Return to the Washington File