Scoop: Rice Remarks with President Ricardo Lagos of Chile
Scoop: Rice Remarks with President Ricardo Lagos of Chile: "This morning, Admiral Lowell Jacoby, who is the head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee that the intelligence community does now believe that North Korea does have the capability to fire a two-stage missile carrying a miniaturized nuclear warhead that could reach not just Alaska or Hawaii but perhaps part of the western United States and, theoretically, with a three-stage missile, possibly reach South America, as well.
Even though Admiral Jacoby does say that, because there is no confirmation of any missile testing, this is still a very real possibility. And my question for both of you is this: How worried are your governments about this possibility? Does this raise the prospect that perhaps we might soon see a Security Council meeting discussing what to do about the North Korean situation, since it is still refusing to come back to the six-party talks? Thank you.
SECRETARY RICE: Thank you. Well, first of all, the Security Council remains an option for the international community concerning the North Korean nuclear program. The reason that we have been committed to six-party talks is that we believe that this is a problem that is probably best dealt with by North Korea's neighbors. But it is not that we have not had the support of the rest of the international community in demanding that the North Koreans give up their nuclear weapons programs. I think that there is a fairly universal view that the North Koreans should not try and maintain a nuclear weapons program and that the only way for them to get the kinds of benefits that they seem to want will be to give up that weapons program.
Now, yes, the North Koreans are doing all kinds of things. We have different assessments of what they may or may not be doing. But let me make a couple of things very clear. The North Koreans, if they engage in certain kinds of behavior, are only going to deepen their own"
Even though Admiral Jacoby does say that, because there is no confirmation of any missile testing, this is still a very real possibility. And my question for both of you is this: How worried are your governments about this possibility? Does this raise the prospect that perhaps we might soon see a Security Council meeting discussing what to do about the North Korean situation, since it is still refusing to come back to the six-party talks? Thank you.
SECRETARY RICE: Thank you. Well, first of all, the Security Council remains an option for the international community concerning the North Korean nuclear program. The reason that we have been committed to six-party talks is that we believe that this is a problem that is probably best dealt with by North Korea's neighbors. But it is not that we have not had the support of the rest of the international community in demanding that the North Koreans give up their nuclear weapons programs. I think that there is a fairly universal view that the North Koreans should not try and maintain a nuclear weapons program and that the only way for them to get the kinds of benefits that they seem to want will be to give up that weapons program.
Now, yes, the North Koreans are doing all kinds of things. We have different assessments of what they may or may not be doing. But let me make a couple of things very clear. The North Koreans, if they engage in certain kinds of behavior, are only going to deepen their own"
posted by Greta Jane at Monday, May 02, 2005
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