eeNFIDENTW -GQNFIDENTIAL 9592 THE WHITE HOUSE WASHINGTON MEMORANDUM OF TELEPHONE CONVERSATION DECLASSIFIED PER E 0 13526 3 e 0kO ‘ KGH SUBJECT Telcon With President Kim Young Sam of Korea on December 7 1993 U PARTICIPANTS The President President Kim Interpreter Kim Tong Notetaker Sandra J Kristoff NSC DATE TIME AND PLACE December 7 1993 8 55 - 9 20 AM EST The Oval Office President Clinton Hello President Kim President Kim I'm very pleased to talk to you and I am very grateful for the warm reception you gave me in Washington Please give my regards to Mrs Clinton President Clinton I will do that She asked me to say hello to you before she left for Boston this morning jC'J President Kim Thank you and once again congratulations on your successful hosting of the APEC meeting President Clinton Yes I think it was a very good meeting hopeful about what we can do in the future with it 2 I'm President Kim I think APEC will play a major role in the world not just in the Asia-Pacific region We will continue to cooperate with you on the development of the organization I also want to congratulate you on the developments in the Uruguay Round Although some potential problems still exist overall there is good progress President Clinton I think we're making progress President Kim Perhaps you've received a report from Ambassador Laney already I want to discuss with you our position on the Uruguay Round negotiations especially the rice import issue I want to ask for your help on this matter Today there has been a large scale demonstration against rice imports It was the largest demonstration since Korea has had a civilian government There are several issues related to rice including inter-Korean relations and the development of anti-American feeling which we are watching closely Rice is more a political and social issue than an economic one I am asking you to look at rice in its wider context and I am asking for your help From 1995 when the -GONFIDEMTIAfeDeclassify on OADR eeNRBBffltt ■C0ww dentimi Uruguay Round is implemented -- for five years after that we would maintain a minimum market access ratio of zero percent Then from 1999 we would introduce foreign rice with a minimum market access ratio of 2 to 4 percent I know this is a diffi­ cult issue and I am asking for a special favor from you President Clinton I would do anything I could to be helpful Frankly the problem is as we talked before that the U S wants to make sure that Korea's arrangement on rice is better than Japan's We've achieved that If we change the package for Korea then we would have to make a change for Japan Korea can do better than Japan but not that much better So that's my problem and I don't see how we can go with a five year delay President Kim I very much understand your perspective My own view on this issue is that meeting the minimum market access ratio of 1 t 2 percent in the first five years will not have a substantial impact on Korea's economy But the psychological problem for the Korean people is difficult We see ourselves in a different context than Japan Korea is a divided country and we have four times more the population involved in agriculture than Japan If a five year delay is too much then how about a two or three year delay Would that be acceptable 2 President Clinton Let me ask a related question Is there a chance we could work our a clearer agreement on financial services Because if we could do that then perhaps I could discuss this other matter with my people and both issues could be settled at the same time President Kim Yes it's possible for us to discuss both issues together We should leave it to our working level negotiators President Clinton I can't promise you anything but I will discuss this with my trade people I want to ask you to put Korea's best financial services offer on the table Then I'll discuss this with my people and we'll be back in touch President Kim We will move in that direction and will try to put our best offer on financial services on the table If you can consider the special conditions of Korea it will be in the best interests of both our countries I'm very grateful for your favorable reaction and hope we can work it out President Clinton We'll go to work on it I want to discuss the North Korean response to our proposal which we worked out when you were here two weeks ago There are some positive points but there are some elements we can't accept President Kim Okay President Clinton I want to go back to North Korea with a proposal Tony Lake will discuss in detail with your National Security Advisor Dr Chong We are strong in our objective of a CONFIDENTIMr eeNFffiffltt pfiMriroilll uuni 3UL 1 eeHriDEHM-M HL nuclear-free Korean peninsula and on our commitment to our security relationship with you Negotiations with North Korea involve fundamental issues related to Korea's national security and the future of the Korean peninsula So I want to consult closely with you and work together on this I do think it's worth going back to North Korea with our reaction to their response to our proposal because we want to use every reasonable opportunity to make progress If we can't get inspections resumed very shortly we will be back in the Security Council on sanctions with all the dangers that entails Therefore I ask you to give careful consideration to the proposal Tony Lake will pass on to Dr Chong and I hope we can agree shortly on our reaction to what they've said President Kim I understand fully your suggestion However what we agreed on in Washington is fundamentally still aliye Based on that we should leave discussions to the national security advisor here and his Washington counterpart I think the most important thing is that the U S and Korea maintain close cooperation By doing so we send a strong message to the North Even this phone call is a strong signal to North Korea So we will continue our discussion on the nuclear issue by maintaining the principles we agreed to last time The issues of speed modalities and procedures will be discussed further by working level counterparts Concerning the Uruguay Round and rice -- all the journalists here know I am talking to you They don't know the content of the talks If you agree I will let the media know the nuclear issue and the Uruguay Round were dis­ cussed but I will keep the details completely confidential SjT President Clinton I agree we should say nothing to the press about rice Let's just say negotiations are going on and nothing else President Kim Of course absolutely Once again I will mention to the press I discussed the Uruguay Round with you but the contents of our discussion will be absolutely confidential I hope you reciprocate in Washington President Clinton I will keep it absolutely confidential 6 President Kim Thank you very much And congratulations to Chelsea for her upcoming performance in the Washington ballet President Clinton President Kim proposal Tell Mrs Kim hello for me Thanks again for your favorable reaction to my President Clinton President Kim Thanks so much Goodbye Goodbye -- End of Conversation -- CONFIDENTIAL CONFIDENTtAl This document is from the holdings of The National Security Archive Suite 701 Gelman Library The George Washington University 2130 H Street NW Washington D C 20037 Phone 202 994-7000 Fax 202 994-7005 nsarchiv@gwu edu