36NPIBENHAfc COHFIDENTTTtL 5722 THE WHITE HOUSE WASH I NGTON DECLASSIFIED PER E 0 13526 Z i xo 9 KBH MEMORANDUM OF CONVERSATION SUBJECT Presidential TelephoneCallwithSouth Korean President Kim Young Sam PARTICIPANTS The President Kim Young Sam President of South Korea DanielPoneman StanleyRoth Notetakers July14 1994 7 01 ­ 7 23 p m EST The Oval Office DATE TIME AND PLACE President Kim Hello How are you President Clinton The President I'mfine It's niceto hear your voice I wanted to stayin touchwithyour thinking on NorthKorea I was very pleasedthatour governmentsworked so closely together in preparing forthe third round of talks The one day of talks we had beforeKim II Sung's deathwas announced went rather well as Bob Gallucci has told your peoplein Geneva Of coursenow we are all watchfully waiting to hear more from NorthKorea We respect your caution in responseto eventsin Pyongyang and supportForeignMinister Han's statement regarding continued dialogue withNorth Korea and the resumption of US­NorthKorean talks to resolve the nuclearissue We thinkit's very important forus to go forwardwiththe resumption of the third round as soon as possible For one thing it won'tbe long beforesomethingneeds to be done to the spent fuelforsafety reasons For another sincewe do not know what will happen in North Korea it's in our interest to tryas soon as possible to reach a broad and thoroughsettlement thatwould make their freeze permanentand draw them back intocompliancewiththeir nonproliferation commitments •eONFIDENTIAL Declassify on OADR aj MDEirriAL JOHriDEHTIAt OO JFIDENTIAL One last pointI wanted to make the NorthKoreans made very clearin the brief third round meetingthe greatvaluethey attach to acquiring a light waterreactor I think we shouldtry to addressthatissuesquarely Ambassador Gallucci has had good conversations withyour representatives on that and will be following up withthem shortly That concludeswhat I wanted to say and I hoped you would tell me your views on NorthKorea and how you evaluate the situation and the prospects forthe North­South dialogue President Kim Thank you verymuch Mr President I'mpleased to hear your voice I'd like to congratulate your successful completion of the G­7 meetingand alsoyour tourof Europe At the same time I would like to extendwords of condolenceforthe floodsand victims in Georgiaand Florida I want to thankyou forthe briefing you provided me on your talks withNorthKorea There is a lot of uncertainty in the situation in NorthKorea but it seems to be clearto me thatKim Jong IIis goingto succeed Kim II Sung I alsonote thatthere is no problemwhatsoeverin the closecooperation between ROK and U S military forces One thingI can think about isthatbeforethe death of Kim IISung we were supposed to have a North­South summit meetingscheduledforthe 25th I regret thatthis has been put offdue to the death of Kim II Sung NorthKorea notified us by document thatthe summit was postponed sayingthatnotice was made by delegation of authority I believe thatauthority must be Kim Jong II I interpret thatto mean North Korea is still interested in havinga summit but they are telling us they have to put it off It is difficult to predict when this summit will take place We will waitto hear from the North Koreans I also think South­North dialogue is very important as important as US­NorthKorea talks As you explained about the US­NorthKorea talks thesetalks are very important to peace on the Korean Peninsula My judgmentis thatNorth Korea continues to be interested in havinga summit and of coursethereis no change in our basicposition and I made an announcement to thateffect We will maintain thatposition which I think we have to keep forthe sake of peace on the Korean Peninsula As you pointed out it is very important forour two countries South Korea and the UnitedStates to maintain full consultation concerning the North­South summit and US­NorthKorea talks And I believe thisis a time foreven closer consultation between us I'd like to alsoclarify some misinformation reported by the media Some media reported thatNorthKorea informedChina of Kim II Sung's death That is not true They did not tell anybody until theymade the announcement There is alsoa report thatJiangZemin ChinesePresident invited Kim Jong IIto China That is alsonot true -eCiNFIDENTI-Atj' GOMirrDEtrTIAL -Af■ F BENTiM7 The new Japanese Prime Minister Murayama whom you met at the G­7 conference will pay an official visit to Korea nextweek and be accompaniedby his ForeignMinister Kono When they come I would like to discussfully withthem the mattersof the North Korean nuclear program the nuclearissue and the North­South summit Mr President one thingthatis important in my view is that withthe passingof Kim II Sung one generation has passed in NorthKorea Nothingis normal in NorthKorea today although the military maintains its position Other than that factories and everything elseare not working operations are suspended Therefore I believe we shouldnot be impatient but we shouldbe prudentin dealing withthe issuesof US­NorthKorean talks and a summit in a mature manner And again closecooperation between the UnitedStatesand Korea is important President Kim I'msatisfied withthe cooperation between Korea and the UnitedStateswithregardto preparations forthe North­South summit scheduledforJuly25 I alsohope we will continue our closecooperation in the future The President I assureyou we will That iswhat has led us to the pointwe are at now I'mgladyou will see Prime Minister Murayama I had a good meetingwithhim He assuredme he will maintain Japan'spresentpolicy I think you will have a good meetingwithhim Thank you verymuch Please givemy bestto Mrs Kim President Kim Please convey my bestwishes to Mrs Clinton Thank you very much The President Good night President Kim Good night ­ ­ End of Conversation ­­ eeHriDENTIAL “T7 ONFIDENTIAL 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