U.S. Relations with the People's Republic of China (2006)

U.S. Department of State

Interview With Laura Ingraham on the Laura Ingraham Show

Secretary Condoleezza Rice
Washington, DC
November 3, 2006

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QUESTION: There's a report in Bloomberg that just came out that says that Jimmy Carter, former President Carter, is saying that this claim that North Korea has cheated and reneged on its '94 agreement is just completely false and I guess ginned up by the Bush Administration to grab headlines. What's your response to what President Carter is saying?

SECRETARY RICE: Well, I've not seen those comments. I just know that the North Koreans in violation not just of the '94 agreement but of agreements that they had with the South Koreans even earlier, where they had foresworn nuclear weapons, foresworn enrichment capability in an agreement -- direct agreement -- with the South Koreans, that they were engaging in another route, a second route to a nuclear program just as they were freezing their plutonium route. And they so much as admitted it when we had our Assistant Secretary at the time there with them. He said we know that you have an HEU program, a highly enriched uranium program, which is a way -- a pathway to a bomb. And the North Koreans admitted it. So I don't think there's much there except what the North Koreans themselves have said. But now we have an opportunity to try and deal with this problem and the President's very skillful diplomacy in putting China and other states with real leverage with North Korea at the center of this is paying off.

QUESTION: The Wall Street Journal lead editorial is called the "Six-Party Fever" and the little cut line that they cut out is "This is no time to go wobbly on North Korean finances." And we were certainly happy to see that North Korea was coming back to six-party talks, but obviously the concern is North Korea always seem to do something that looks reasonable as a ploy to get cash.

SECRETARY RICE: Well, the North Koreans are coming back this time under a Chapter 7 resolution, Resolution 1718, which denies them everything from access to financing for their nuclear program to access to technology to luxury goods for their leadership. And so they're coming back to these talks under considerably different circumstances than talks have been held before. And they're coming back to talks in which China has made it very clear that it will not support North Korea's behavior.

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QUESTION: Bill Gertz, who I think you're familiar with, at The Washington Times has a piece out which says -- the title is "The U.S. Speeds Attack Plans for North Korea," essentially making the point that the Pentagon has stepped up its planning for attacks potentially against North Korean nuclear targets. Do you have any knowledge about that?

SECRETARY RICE: First of all, militaries are always planning. That's what they do.

QUESTION: Hope so.

SECRETARY RICE: Absolutely. But the President has made very clear what U.S. policy is, and U.S. policy is that we have no intention to attack or invade North Korea. We are in a diplomatic process here that I think has potential to really pay off. It's a tough diplomacy because it includes very tough sanctions against the North Koreans. We have leverage through the Chinese, who actually have real leverage with the North Koreans, and that's the course that we're on.

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2006/993

Released on November 3, 2006