Date:
14 January 2009
Author(s):
Dennis Wilder (East Asian Affairs), Michael Allen (Counterproliferation)
Classification Level:
Secret
Citation:
National Security Council. Executive Office of the President.North Korea and Six-Party Talks. Michael Allen and Dennis Wilder. Transition 5436.
Transition Memo:
Transition 5436 –North Korea and the Six-Party Talks
North Korea and Six-Party Talks
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Chronology of North Korea and Six-Party Talks
Memorandum of Telephone Conversation with President Kim Dae-jung (January 24, 2001)
Memorandum of Conversation with President Kim Dae-jung of South Korea (March 7, 2001)
Statement by thePresident Announcing North Korea Policy (June 2001)
Public Articulation of the "Bold Message" (July 2002)
Memorandum of Conversation with President Jiang Zemin in Crawford (October 2002)
Date: 24 January 2001
Author(s):George W. BushKim Dae-Jung (Presidnet of South Korea)Tong Kim (interpreter)Joel Ehrendreich, Deana Sutliff, Rob Williams, Brad Mynatt (notetakers)
Description: Kim congratulates Bush on his inauguration. Bush states that the U.S.-South Korean alliance is key, that he intends to closely cooperate with South Korea, and that he appreciates South Korea’s efforts with the North. Kim states that he believesNorth Korean President Kim Jong-ilstrongly desires better U.S. relations and that the U.S., South Korea, and Japan have an opening to secure a reformed regime.
Date: 6 June 2001
Author(s): George W. Bush (statement)
Description: Bush announces thattheadministration has completed policy review on North Korea, stating that he directed his administration to discuss nuclear activities, American conventional posturing, and missile exports. Bush states his approach offers North Korea better relations for better behavior and declares that Secretary Powell will take plan to South Korea and Japan onhisupcoming trip.
Date: July 2002
Author(s): Unknown
Description: The statement portrays the North Korean regime as aggressive, dismissive of international law, and oppressive of its own people. The statement describes disparate conditions in North Korea fueled by government neglect. The United States offers help in moving away from the situation with North Korean cooperation on verifiable agreements on WMD, an end to North Korean missile development, and respect for human rights.
Joint Remarks with President Jiang Zemin in Crawford (October 2002)
Date: 25 October 2002
Author(s): George W. Bush, Jiang Zemin (President of China)
Description: Bush and Zemin discuss results from meeting at Crawford Ranch, includingChina’’s support for UN inspections in Iraq, human rights cooperation, GWOT, Taiwan policy, and nuclear proliferation in North Korea. Leaders take questions on such topics as China’s stance on North Korean nuclear weapons, pathways to address future disagreements, China’s intent to keep developing economic and political freedoms, and U.S.-China future cooperation.
Joint United States-Japan-Korea Trilateral Statement (October 26, 2002)
Date: 26 October 2002
Author(s): Representatives of the United States, Japanese, and South Korean governments
Description: Document summarizes meeting between Presidents Bush, Kin Dae-Jung (South Korea), and Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi (Japan) on a nuclear-free North Korea. Document highlightstheimportance of close, international coordination; Japanese-North Korean talks; Bush’s statement that the U.S. does not intend to invade North Korea; and North Korea’s need to change behavior in order to enjoy benefits of international community.
Memorandum of Telephone Conversation with President Jiang Zemin (January 10, 2003)
Date: 10 January 2003
Author(s): George W. BushJiang Zemin (President of China)Michael Yan (interpreter)Ed Padinske, Clarence Johnson, Leslie Radcliff, Colin Crosby (notetakers)oClassification Level: SecretoFolder: 4
Description: Bush and Jiang discuss North Korean disarmament. Bush implores Jiang to convey to Kim Jong-il that the United States will not be blackmailed and is interested in peaceful disarmament as a first step to wider cooperation. Jiang pushes back, leading Bush to clarifytheimportance of North Korean disarmament to world security. Bush reassures Jiang that the United States has no desire to invade North Korea
Memorandum of Telephone Conversation with President Jiang Zemin (February 7, 2003)
Date: 7 February 2003
Author(s):George W. BushJiang Zemin (President of China)James Brown (interpreter)Andrew Green, Clarence Johnson, Marko Broz, Chris LeGrande, Andrew Boerstling (notetakers)
Description:Bush argues the case for his stance on Iraq and asks for Chinese support. Bush also argues that North Korea is athreat to world security and that the United States will only negotiate with North Korea in multilateral fashion. Jiang states that the solution to Iraq crisis is a stronger UN response, not war, and that the North Koreans have thus far refused to meet inmultilateral format. Jiang says that he will keep working on the problem.
Letter to President Jiang Zemin (February 20, 2003)
Date: 20 February 2003
Author(s): George W. Bush
Description: Letter denounces continued North Korean nuclear development and implores China to help with diplomatic solution. Letter states that China needs to inform North Korea that further development will lead to political, economic, and potentially military consequences.
Joint Statement Between the United States and Korea (May 14, 2003)
Memorandum of Conversation with Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi (May 23, 2003)
Description: Bush and Koizumi holdextensivemeeting at Crawford. Leaders discuss Japanese plans to support Iraq and Afghanistan. Leaders then discuss an in-depth policyregardingNorth Korea, with Bush recounting conversations with China and desire for multilateral approach and Koizumi expressing support while stating challenges ofsituation. Finally, the leaders discuss Japanese economy and potential U.S. review of bases inJapan.
Memorandum of Conversation with President Roh Moo-hyun (October 20, 2003)
President Bush and Premier Wen Jiabao Remarks to the Press (December 9, 2003)
Date: 20 October 2003
Author(s):George W. Bush, Roh Moo-hyn(Presidentof the ROK)Y
Description: Presidents Bush and Rohdiscuss Korean troop deployments to Iraq, strategies for negotiating with North Korea, and the status of American deployments in Korea. The two leaders discuss these topics in reference to a recent American press leak about the Bush administration’s decision on America’s troop commitment in South Korea.
Date: 9 December 2003
Author(s): George W. Bush, Wen Jiabao (Premier of China)
Description: Bush and Wen make brief statements ontheimportance of U.S.-China cooperation and then take questions. Question topics include Taiwan’s 20 March 2004 independence referendum/One China Policy, cooperation on fully dismantling North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, and progress in trade.
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Executive Order: Blocking Property of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferators and Their Supporters (June 29, 2005)
Date: 29 June 2005
Author(s):George W. Bush (executive order)
Description: Executive order amending previous 1994 order aimed at stopping WMD proliferation. Executive order names host of targets and specifies restrictions in transfer, pay, export, and dealing of WMD. Order givestheSecretary of State authority to place on watchlist with no prior notice in coordination with other relevant agencies.
Joint Statement of the Fourth Round of the Six-Party Talks (September 2005)
Memorandum of Conversation with President Hu Jintao (April 20, 2006)
Date: 20 April 2006
Author(s):George W. BushDennis Wilder(Acting Senior Director forEast Asian Affairs, NSC) (notetaker)Jim Brown (interpreter)Hu Jintao(President of the People's Republic of China)T
Description:Presidents Bush and Hu discuss North Korean denuclearization, Sudanese peace, the Iranian nuclear program, and Taiwan’s movement towards independence. The leaders agree to cooperate where possible, and Bush attempts to reassure Hu that he will work towards a solution on Taiwan’s independence movement.
Memorandum of Conversation with President Roh Moo-hyun (November 17, 2005)
Date: 17 November 2005
Author(s):George W. Bush, Roh Moo-hyun (President of the Republic of Korea)Ban Ki-moon (Minister of Foreign Affairsand Tradeof the ROK)
Description: Presidents Bush and Rohdiscuss policy towards North Korea. Presidents express different views on the best way forward on North Korea, with Bush imploring Roh to adopt a tougher stance and Roh asking Bush to give North Korea breathing space. Bush and Roh state the importance of the U.S.-ROK relationship in Asian regional stability.
Date: 19 September 2005
Author(s): Representatives of the governments involved in the Six-Party Talks
Description: Statement summarizes fourth round of six-party talks. The statement notes that U.S. and North Korea agreed to respect each other’s sovereignty, that North Korea agreed to abandon nuclear program, that the U.S. and South Korea both agreed to not deploying nuclear weapons on the Korean Peninsula, and that negotiations would continue to proceed “commitment by commitment, action by action.”
Memorandum of Telephone Conversation with President Hu Jintao (June 1, 2006)
Date: 1 June 2006
Author(s): George W. Bush, Hu Jintao (President of the PRC)Michael Yan (interpreter)Susan Brockhaus, Belinda Jackson, Jon Rohmiller (notetakers)
Description: Presidents Bush and Hu discuss policy towards Iran and North Korea. Bush demands that the Iranians and North Koreans return to their previous international commitments and expresses the need to coordinate with China on responding to a rumored North Korean missile test. President Hu disputes Bush’s missile test report but pledges to play a constructive role on these problems.
United Nations Security Council Resolution 1695 (July 2006)
Date: 15 July 2006
Author(s): United Nations Security Council
Description: Resolution condemns North Korean ballistic missile tests, calls upon North Korea to return to promises made during the six-party talks, and supports the rapid implementation of six-party principles.
Date: 21 August 2006
Author(s):George W. BushHu Jintao (President of the PRC), Deanna Kim, Todd Whatley, and Jim Cooney (notetakers)
Description: Presidents Bush and Hu discuss upcoming U.S.-Chinese economic suggestions and their countries’ response to North Korean provocation tactics. The presidents express the importance of their economic talks, with Hu offering suggestions for enhancing the negotiations. The presidents also agree to continue working through the six-party talks as the mechanism to reach an agreement with North Korea on its nuclear program.
Memorandum of Telephone Conversation with President Hu Jintao (August 21, 2006)
Memorandum of Telephone Conversation with PresidentHu Jintao (October 9, 2006)
Implementation of the Joint Statement (February 2007)
Press Communique of the Sixth Round of the Six-Party Talks (July 2007)
Statement by the President on Agreement at the Six-Party Talks (October 2007)
Letter to President Hu Jintao (February 16, 2008)
Date: 9 October 2006
Author(s): George W. BushHu Jintao (President of the PRC)Michael Yan (interpreter)Julie Brotherton, Brian Sollom, Jo-Ann Burdian (notetakers)
Description: Presidents Bush and Hu discuss North Korea’s announcing its testing of a nuclear weapon. The presidents agree to close cooperation between themselves and other powers towards the end goal of denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula, per prior international agreements. Bush tells Hu that he will be calling the other parties of the six-party talks within an hour. Hu tells Bush that he tried and failed to privately get the North Koreans to stand down on the test.
Date: 14 October 2006
Author(s): United Nations Security Council
Description: UN resolution written in response to North Korea’s first nuclear test in October 2006. The UN condemns the test, calls upon North Korea to verifiably disarm, urges all parties to return to the 2005 six-party talks agreements, and imposes an arms embargo upon North Korea.
United Nations Security Council Resolution 1718 (October 2006)
Chairman's Statement on the Fifth Round of the Six-Party Talks (December 2006)
Chairman's Statement on the Sixth Round of the Six-Party Talks (March 2007)
Agreed Minute on Disablement in Second Phase of the Six-Party Talks (October 2007)
Letter to DPRK President Kim Jong-il (December 2007)
Unofficial Memorandum of Conversation between Secretary Rice and President Hu Jintao (February 26, 2008)
Date: December 2006
Author(s): Wu Dawei (Chairman of the Fifth Round of the Six-Party Talks
Description: Chairman Wu states that all parties represented at the six-party talks agree to return to 2005 commitments and affirm common vision of denuclearized Korean Peninsula. All parties agreed to pursue 2005 commitments inanaction-for-action manner.
Date:13 February 2007
Author(s):Representatives of governments of the six-party talks
Description:Document states thatthesix-party countries agree to Korean Peninsula denuclearization. Document outlines parallel first stepsto this end. Steps includeNorth Korea’s shutting down its nuclear facility, North Korea’s providing nuclear program information, US’s removing North Korea from state-sponsor of terrorism list, and North Korea and Japan’s resumption of bilateral talks. Partiesagree to another working group meeting in 30 days, with the sixth round scheduled for 19 March 2007.
Date: 22 March 2007
Author(s):Wu Dawei (Chairman of the sixth round of the six-party talks)
Description:Chairman Wu states that the parties continued discussions on implementing action plans for next phase. Parties reaffirmed that they will carry out their 2005 commitments and 13 February 2007 initial actions for implementation.
Date: 20 July 2007
Author(s): Representatives of the governments of the six-party talks
Description: Statement declares that the countries of the six-party talks reiterated that they will meet their 2005and 13 February 2007 commitments and that North Korea will declare all nuclear programs and disable allfacilities. Statement also saysthatemergency oil assistance will be provided to North Korea, and that the parties will proceed forward on “action-for-action” basis.Statement announces the next meeting dates for the six-party talks.
Date: 3 October 2007
Author(s): George W. Bush (statement)
Description: Bush celebrates progress in denuclearizing Korean Peninsula, pointing totherenewed commitment to the 2005/2007 agreements. Bush communicates that North Korea will provide a complete declaration and disarmament of specified facilities by the end of 2007and that U.S. and other parties are providing energy in exchange.
Date: 17 October 2007
Author(s): Representatives of the governments included in the six-party talks.
Description:Document represents an agreement between the governments of the six-party talks for the disablement of the DPRK’s 5 MWe Yongbyon Experimental Reactor, the Yongbyon Radiochemical Laboratory, and the Yongbyon Fuel Rod Fabrication Facility. Document specifies procedures for the disablement of each site and storage of disabled components.
Date:1 December 2007
Author(s): George W. Bush (letter)
Description: Bush implores Kim Jong-il to fully and accurately declare his nuclear programs in accordance with agreements made at the six-party talks. Bush stresses that the parties are at a critical juncture and that success is close at hand if Kim Jong-il continues complying.
Date: 17 February 2008
Author(s): George W. Bush (letter)
Description: Bush asks Hu to use his influence with North Korea to get the DPRK to produce a complete, accurate declaration of its nuclear program. Bush expresses alarm at North Korean proliferation and uranium enrichment efforts. Bush argues that succeeding will forge the basis for much deeper Northeast Asian cooperation.
Date: 26 February 2008
Author(s): Condoleezza Rice, Hu Jintao (President of the PRC)
Description: Rice reiterates Bush’s concerns as expressed in (Tab 33) and offers steps to securing a full declaration and resolving North Korea’s nuclear proliferation to Syria, as would be necessary to un-designate North Korea as a state sponsor of terror. Hu pushes back, but Rice states that North Korea’s failure to acknowledge Syrian proliferation will break the six-party talks. The leaders agree that China will talk to North Korea alone but with U.S. coordination.
Date: June 2008
Author(s): George W. Bush (executive order/proclamation)
Description: Bush states that he recognizesthedangers of a nuclear North Koreaand declares the situation a national emergency.Bush uses an executive order to continue certain restrictions of the Trading with the Enemy Act but removes North Korea from the Trading with the Enemy Act’s list of enemy states, pursuant to commitments made by the United States at the six-party talksand North Korea’s submitting declaration of nuclear programs.
Termination of the Trading with the Enemy Act on North Korea (June 2008)
Rescission of North Korea's Designation as a State Sponsor of Terrorism (June 2008)
Date: 26 June 2008
Author(s): George W. Bush (memorandum)
Description: George W. Bush issues a memorandum to the Secretary of State to remove North Korea from the list of state sponsors of terror, in relation to the six-party talks(North Korea submitteddeclaration of programs to China prior to removal). Bush cites that North Korea has not supported terror in over six months, that the North Korean government has supported counterterrorist measures, and that the North Korean government has provided assurances that it will no longer support terror.This removal isto take effect after 45-day congressional review period.
Date: 26 June 2008 (per Bush White House archived website)
Author(s):
Description: Bush issues statement from Rose Garden announcing his removal of North Korea from the Trading with the Enemy Act and the State Sponsorsof Terror list. Bush emphasizes that the U.S. is still deeply concerned about the North Korean regime and that these removals are proceeding only because of the six-party talks’ action-for-action structure. Bush states that North Korea’s current actions, by no means, represent the end of the process.
President Bush Discusses North Korea (June 2008)
DPRK Nuclear Declaration submitted to China (June 2008)
Assistant Secretary Hill Letter to Chinese Vice Minister Wu Dawei (October 8, 2008)
Fact Sheet from the Department of State on Existing Sanctions and Reporting Provisions Related to North Korea (October 11, 2008)
Date: 12 July 2008
Author(s): Representatives of the governments at the six-party talks
Description: Press statement declaresthat the working group agreed upon a verification mechanism to ensure fulfillment of 2005 agreements. Statement further outlines parallel, confidence-building measures for North Korea, the U.S., Russia, and South Korea, with deadlines set. Parties started discussing third-round actions and agreed to continue working together.
Press Communique of the Sixth Round of the Six-Party Talks (July 2008)
Verification Measures Discussion Paper (October 2, 2008)
Date:8 October 2008
Author(s):Christopher R. Hill (U.S. Ambassador to the DPRK)
Description: This letter, written to the Six-Party Talks Chairman Wu Dawei (vice minister of the PRC), declares the U.S.’s discussion with the DPRK from 1-3 October 2008in the interest of transparency within the six-party talks group. Document states what the U.S. and DPRK agreed on regarding the DPRK’s authorization of verification of undeclared sitesand other procedural matters.Letter states that the agreements of (Tab 41) are intended to serve as the basis for the six-party talks’ final agreement on a verification protocol.
Statement by the Department of State on U.S.-North Korea Understandings on Verification (October 11, 2008)
Date: 11 October 2008
Author(s): U.S. Department of State, Office of the Spokesman
Description: Statement highlights accomplishments on creating a verification mechanism from the most recent round of the six-party talks. Accomplishments of noteinclude the involvement of multinational experts in the disarmament process,the achievement ofcomplete accessto North Korean sites, the inclusion of the IAEA, and multinational agreement on scientific procedures.
Date: 2 October 2008
Author(s):Representatives of the United States and the DPRK
Description:Document represents the fruit of a meeting between U.S. and DPRK delegates between 1-3 October 2008 in Pyongyang, North Korea. Document details current landscape regarding North Korea’s conforming with international law and disarmament. Document then states terms the U.S. and DPRK agreed upon for verification of the DPRK’s nuclear disarmament declaration, including personnel selection, site visitation, and other matters.
Date: 11 October 2008
Author(s): U.S. Department of State, Office of the Spokesman
Description: Statement highlights accomplishments on creating a verification
mechanism from the most recent round of the six-party talks. Accomplishments of
note include the involvement of multinational experts in the disarmament process,
the achievement of complete access to North Korean sites, the inclusion of the
IAEA, and multinational agreement on scientific procedures.
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