*EPF203 07/22/2003
Excerpt: Powell Calls U.S. Policy on North Korea "Very Solid"
(Secretary of State's remarks July 22) (530)

The U.S. policy on North Korea is "very solid," says Secretary of State Colin Powell.

Responding to questions from the press July 22, Powell said: "We will not accept nuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, and we have very successfully over the last seven or eight months brought together all of North Korea's neighbors to provide that same consistent message to North Korea."

Powell made his remarks on Capitol Hill after his meeting with Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert (Republican of Illinois) and the Task Force For A Drug Free America.

The United States, he said, has "made it clear that we are going to have a dialogue with a multilateral framework to try to find a solution to the problem" of North Korea's nuclear weapons program.

Following is a excerpt from the Department of State transcript of the event:

(begin excerpt)

QUESTION: ... Mr. Secretary, if I may, a very hot spot, another very hot spot in the world is North Korea. Some prominent Congressional critics say -- criticize administration policy. Even Senator Biden even says there is no policy on North Korea. How do you react to that?

SECRETARY POWELL: There is a very solid policy on North Korea. We will not accept nuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, and we have very successfully over the last seven or eight months brought together all of North Korea's neighbors to provide that same consistent message to North Korea.

We are working closely with the Chinese, South Korea, Japanese, Russians, and with the Australians, with many other nations throughout the world, as well as with the International Atomic Energy Agency and the United Nations to give that consistent message to North Korea.

We have made it clear that we are going to have a dialogue with a multilateral framework to try to find a solution to the problem. I had a very long meeting with Chinese senior representatives on Friday evening. I thought it was a very useful productive meeting. And so we're hard at work on this issue, and North Korea has to understand that it has -- there is no future in pursuing this kind of technology, this kind of weaponry.

The United States will work closely with our friends and neighbors. We'll not allow this to become, as some have suggested, once again a U.S.-North Korea problem. It is a problem between North Korea and its neighbors, who are most directly threatened, and, frankly, who have considerable influence on North Korea.

And some would suggest that we should just go back to the way it was done 10 years ago. The way it was done 10 years ago, left that capability in place, and also allowed the North Koreans to think that they might be able to sell this again, allowed them to go and find another way developing nuclear weapons through enriched uranium technology. We want a permanent solution this time, that will be irrevocable, and we have a very strong, sound policy that was gaining support from our friends in Asia, the people who are most directly concerned....

(end excerpt)

(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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