For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
October 19, 2001
Korean President Reiterates Support
Remarks by the President and President Kim Dae-Jung of Republic of Korea in Photo Opportunity
The Portman Ritz Carlton Hotel
Shanghai, People's Republic of China
Listen to the President's Remarks
2:03 P.M. (L)
PRESIDENT BUSH: I've been
looking forward to yet another meeting with our friend, the leader of
South Korea. We had a good meeting in Washington,
D.C. Now we have a second meeting to discuss our common
interests.
First, we'll spend a lot of time talking
about the war against terror. South Korea has been very firm in their
support for the United States and the people of the United
States. The President was very quick to respond, and I want
to thank you, sir.
Secondly, I look forward to affirming our
support for trade with South Korea. We'll discuss the new
round of trade negotiations. Thirdly, and as importantly,
we'll reaffirm our support for the President's Sunshine Policy with
North Korea.
We appreciate his leadership on this very
important issue and I have looked forward to explaining to the
President that we, after having reviewed our policy, like I told him we
would do -- our policy toward North Korea -- we have done so, and we've
offered Kim Chong-il the chance to meet with United States
representatives. So we look forward to hearing a positive
response from him.
In the meantime, the President is taking
his policy and moving it forward and we're very supportive of that
policy.
PRESIDENT KIM: First of all,
ladies and gentlemen, what I would like to say is that I would like to
convey our most sincere condolences and sympathies to the people of
America for their tremendous loss and the pain and the suffering that
they suffer due to the terrorist attack.
And also, ladies and gentlemen, I would
like to applaud and show my great respect for the leadership of
President Bush, for his calm composure and his very wise decisions in
bringing together, first of all, the people of America together so that
they will be able to effectively fight this war against
terrorism. And also for his outstanding leadership in
bringing together the international community together in this fight to
eradicate terrorism. I would like to take this opportunity
to convey my most sincere congratulations and respect.
As a very close staunch ally and friend
and partner of the United States of America, the Republic of Korea will
continue to take active participation in this war against
terrorism. We will render all the necessary cooperation and
assistance that they might need. And also as for the
specific as to what the Republic of Korea will do, we have already
publicly stated our measures to help this war against terrorism and we
have notified the U.S. government, as well.
And also, ladies and gentlemen, after
September 11th, the world has tremendously become a completely
different place for us. No country, nobody on this earth is
safe from terrorism and from these heinous terrorists. We
must work together, we must cooperate with each other so that the world
will become once again a safe place for us to travel freely by air so
that all of us will be able to freely go live and to visit high rises
and large apartment buildings. And also so that all of us
will be able to safely open our own private mail.
All these are very much in doubt these
days, and we must cooperate with each other to fight this and eradicate
terrorism. And I have great faith that we will, indeed,
succeed and that we will be victorious in this war against
terrorism. And, once again, I would like to applaud the
efforts of President Bush for leading this effort to this endeavor.
And, ladies and gentlemen, so, during
today's meetings with President Bush, it is my hope to have in-depth
discussions on the effective ways to counter terrorism. And
also I wish to discuss, as President Bush mentioned, other issues of
common interest.
Q Mr. President,
the APEC terrorism declaration will not mention Afghanistan or Osama
bin Laden by name. Does this indicate a lack of support for
military action in Afghanistan?
PRESIDENT BUSH: I believe the
APEC nations fully understand that not only terrorists should be
brought to justice, but those who harbor terrorists should be brought
to justice, as well.
I am confident that we've got strong
support here with the leaders who are present here at Shanghai; I've
talked to most of them on the phone. I can tell you that the
support is near unanimous for not only the activities that are going on
now, but for the strategy of fighting terrorism in the long run.
These leaders understand that we're in a
new type of war. They understand that the evil ones are a
threat to established governments. They understand that for there to
be peace throughout the generations that we must be decisive and
victorious. You heard the South Korean President -- he's got
a conviction about the need to fight terror, so do other world
leaders.
Q Is it not
important to have the APEC nations endorse the kind of military action
the United States is leading?
PRESIDENT BUSH: The APEC
leaders that I have talked to all -- at least the ones I've talked to,
fully understand that the United States, as well as other allies, will
do what it takes to bring people to justice.
And, secondly, the doctrine is more than
just the people who perpetuate these crimes on the American
people. It is any country that harbors them, feeds them,
houses them or funds them. And the world leaders understand
that. And I am very grateful for the breadth of support we
have received. So far you've heard from two world leaders
today -- President Jiang of China, President Kim of South Korea, both
of whom stand side-by-side with the American government and the
American people.
And I am most pleased with the support
we're receiving here and I look forward to continuing to describe our
efforts to our close friends and allies. And they will see
in me a determination to succeed. And I fully understand
that some over time may grow weary and may tire. But they'll
realize the United States of America under my leadership will
not. We must be successful in the war against terror.
The United States -- I'm looking forward
to sharing with our friend, the President, about the recent news in the
United States, that we've -- there have been some anthrax cases where
people have sent anthrax through the mail. And although I
cannot pinpoint directly who did it, I will tell him, however, that
anybody who were to do that in any country is obviously an evil
person.
And we're fighting evil. We
don't fight a religion; we fight evil people. There is
widespread support for the coalition and widespread support for the
aims and goals of this country.
Q (Question asked
in Korean.)
PRESIDENT KIM: First of all,
the Republic of Korea, the government of the Republic of Korea during
this APEC meeting will endorse, and we have been actively participating
in endorsing this statement and the declaration condemning terrorism,
international terrorism. We will continue to take a leading
role in this fight against terrorism.
And, secondly, we have notified and
announced to the government of the United States our own measures to
help in this fight against terrorism. For example, we've decided to
send, dispatch a mobile medical team and also we will be dispatching
not only transportation assets and equipment, but also we will be
dispatching our military liaison officers among other measures.
And, also, whenever the need arises, the
Republic of Korea, the government will continue to closely consult with
the U.S. government.
Q (Question asked
in Korean.)
PRESIDENT BUSH: First, I look
forward to talking to our friend about his attitudes. After
all, President Kim has been a leader in seeking exchanges between
families.
Secondly, as I mentioned, my
administration wishes to begin a dialogue with the government of Kim
Chong-il, yet he has refused to accept our invitation. I
would hope that he would accept not only our invitation, but seize an
opportunity to bring more peaceful relations to the Korean
Peninsula. He has an opportunity to lead.
President Kim has given him that
opportunity and so have I. And I would hope he would seize
the opportunity. I would hope he would show the world that
he's interested in peace and interested in improving the lives of the
citizens who live in North Korea. This is a moment in
history where he can prove his worth. This is -- part of our
discussions today, of course, will be the Korean Peninsula.
Final question.
Q Relief
organizations say that Afghanistan faces what could be the worst
humanitarian crisis ever. Should there be any consideration
to halting U.S. military strikes in order to get enough food into the
country by winter?
PRESIDENT BUSH: First of all,
my government -- and I know the leaders involved in the coalition --
are worried about the suffering in Afghanistan. The Taliban
government is seizing food. The Taliban government refuses
to allow for an efficient distribution of aid that has been assembled
to help the Afghanistan people.
We will continue our military operations
in such a way that it will not disrupt the delivery of
food. And not only that, as a matter of fact, concurrent
with our military operations will be the distribution of food.
But the world must understand that the
primary reason why food is not making it to starving people is the
Taliban. If they were that interested in serving as
representatives of the people, they would be encouraging the
distribution of food. We will continue to do everything we
can to make sure that our commitment to aid to the Afghan people is
fulfilled. We are the leading country, in terms of providing
aid to the Afghan people. I have increased our budget from
$170 million to -- or asked to increase the budget to over $300 million
of aid.
Our beef is not with the Afghan
people. Our beef is with a repressive government that
houses, aids and abets terrorists.
END 2:19 P.M. (L)
|