Bush Press Conf North-Korea; Good/Bad what ?

QUESTION_1: Do you feel that the number of troops that you've kept there is limiting your options elsewhere in the world? Just today you had the head of the Defense Intelligence Agency say that he was now concerned that the North Koreans, for example, could put a nuclear weapon on a missile that could reach Japan or beyond.
Do you feel, as you're confronting these problems, the number of troops you've left tied up in Iraq is limiting your options to go beyond the diplomatic solutions that you've described for North Korea, Iran?



BUSH: I appreciate that question. The person I asked that to -- the person I asked that to, at least, is the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, my top military adviser.

I said, Do you feel that we've limited our capacity to deal with other problems because of our troop levels in Iraq? And the answer is no, he doesn't feel we're limited. He feels like we've got plenty of capacity.
You mentioned the Korean Peninsula. We've got good capacity in Korea.
We've traded troops for new equipment, as you know. We've brought some troops -- our troop levels down in South Korea, but replaced those troops with more capacity.


BUSH: Let me talk about North Korea, if you don't mind.
Is that your question?

QUESTION: Go right ahead. (LAUGHTER)

BUSH: I'm surprised you didn't ask it.

Look, Kim Jong Il is a dangerous person. He's a man who starves his people. He's got huge concentration camps. And, as David accurately noted, there is concern about his capacity to deliver a nuclear weapon. We don't know if he can or not, but I think it's best, when you're dealing with a tyrant like Kim Jong Il, to assume he can.
That's why I've decided that the best way to deal with this diplomatically is to bring more leverage to the situation by including other countries.

It used to be that it was just America dealing with North Korea. And when Kim Jong Il would make a move that would scare people, everybody would say, America, go fix it.

BUSH: I felt it didn't work. In other words, the bilateral approach didn't work. The man said he was going to do something and he didn't do it, for starters.

So I felt a better approach would be to include the people in the neighborhood into a consortium to deal with him. And it's particularly important to have China involved. China's got a lot of influence in North Korea.
We went down to Crawford with Jiang Zemin, and it was there that Jiang Zemin and I issued a statement saying that we would work for a nuclear weapons-free Korean Peninsula.

And so, when Kim Jong Il announced the other day about his nuclear intentions and weapons, it certainly caught the attention of the Chinese, because they had laid out a policy that was contradicted by Kim Jong Il.
And it's helpful to have the Chinese leadership now involved with him.

BUSH: It's better to have more than one voice sending the same message to Kim Jong Il. The best way to deal with this issue diplomatically is to have four other nations beside ourself dealing with him. And we'll continue to do so.
Finally, as you know, I have instructed Secretary Rumsfeld, and I have worked with Congress, Secretary Rumsfeld has worked with Congress to set up a missile defense system. And we're in the process of getting that missile defense system up and running.

One of the reasons why I thought it was important to have a missile defense system is for precisely the reason that you brought up: Perhaps Kim Jong Il has got the capacity to launch a weapon; wouldn't it be nice to be able to shoot it down?
And so, we've got a comprehensive strategy in dealing with him.



QUESTION_2: Mr. President, you had talked about North Korea, and you mentioned that the six-party talks allow you to bring extra leverage to the table. But do you think they're working, given North Korea's continued threats and the continuing growth of their nuclear stockpile?

BUSH: Yes.

QUESTION: And how long do you let it go before you get to...

BUSH: No, I appreciate that question.

I do think it's making a difference to have China and Japan and South Korea and Russia and the United States working together with North Korea.

In my judgment, that's the only way to get this issue solved diplomatically, is to bring more than one party to the table to convince Kim Jong Il to give up his nuclear ambitions.

BUSH: And how far we let it go on is dependent upon our consensus amongst ourselves. Condi, the other day, laid out a potential option of going to the United Nations Security Council. Obviously that's going to require, you know, the parties agreeing. After all, some of the parties in the process have got the capacity to veto a U.N. Security Council resolution.
So this is an issue we need to continue to work with our friends and allies.
And, you know, the more Kim Jong Il threatens and brags, the more isolated he becomes.
And we'll continue to work with China on this issue. I spend a lot of time, when I'm dealing with Chinese leaders, on North Korea, as do people in my administration.

BUSH: And I'll continue to work with our friends in Japan and South Korea. And Vladimir Putin understands the stakes as well.

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One of the reasons why I thought it was important to have a missile defense system is for precisely the reason that you brought up: Perhaps Kim Jong Il has got the capacity to launch a weapon; wouldn't it be nice to be able to shoot it down?

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can't really answer this objectively, because I hate Bush. Sorry. No matter what comes out of his mouth I believe it's nothing but garbage

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