State Department Noon Briefing

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2001 - 1:35 P.M.
(ON THE RECORD UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED)

Q: A new subject. Last week, the official voice of Pyongyang in North
Korea blasted the United States National Missile Defense proposal,
saying it would create a situation where we would see some sort of
nuclear holocaust.

Are we still pursuing negotiations with North Korea regarding their
missile proliferation? The two seem linked.

MR. BOUCHER: The Secretary, I think several times, has expressed his
interest in building on the work that has been done in the past and
looking at this issue, being very aware of what was done in the last
part of the last administration. So in terms of intentions to continue
to pursue diplomacy to achieve nonproliferation goals with North
Korea, I think that is clearly there. In terms of how we are going to
pursue it and how we are going to discuss it, I think we don't have
anything new at this stage.

Q: If I can follow up, has there been any official contact between
this administration and the North Koreans, and has anyone addressed
their concerns over missile defense?

MR. BOUCHER: I think I mentioned a week ago, we have continued to have
sort of ongoing contact through the New York channel, but no new
departures on the missile defense issue.