U.S. and Macau (2006)

U.S. Department of State

Daily Press Briefing

Adam Ereli, Deputy Spokesman
Washington, DC
February 23, 2006

1:20 p.m. EST

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QUESTION: And also if you could answer the question about the refugees that I asked you yesterday, if you have a number?

MR. ERELI: Yes. On the question of, do we hope the talks can resume; yeah, we hope the talks can resume. We hope the talks will resume tomorrow, even before this briefing takes place. And again, you know, our purpose of giving the briefing is to respond to issues and concerns that the North Koreans have raised with regard to our actions taken against Banco Delta Asia.

It's -- if they're making linkages, that's their business. We're not making linkages. We think talks -- we and the other parties, I should stress, think that talks should -- on denuclearizing in the Peninsula, should resume on their own merits, number one, and number two, very importantly, and this is something that's being lost in our discussion -- because that one was agreed -- that is what was agreed to in the meetings in September.

So, you know, let's not lose sight of the fact that there was a statement of principles that everybody agreed to and that statement of principles said our goal is the denuclearization of the Peninsula. And we all agree that we're going to get back to talks quickly. That hasn't happened and that's unfortunate and it shouldn't be delayed and this issue of actions the United States has taken based on its laws with respect to illicit financial activities has nothing to do with six-party talks.

On the --

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(The briefing was concluded at 2:00 p.m.)