BIDEN Issues Statement on Reports Confirming North Korea Provided Nuclear Assistance to Syria

Statement

BIDEN Issues Statement on Reports Confirming North Korea Provided Nuclear Assistance to Syria

Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-DE) today issued the following statement after reports confirmed North Korea provided nuclear assistance to Syria over a period of several years:

"Reports that North Korea - over a period of several years - helped Syria build a nuclear reactor make clear that any deal to eliminate North Korea's nuclear programs must also stop its proliferation activities and include vigorous verification.

"Unless we are able to confirm that North Korea is no longer in the nuclear proliferation business, the United States should not lift sanctions on the North. Our goals are, and must remain, both shutting down North Korea's nuclear programs and ensuring that North Korea does not transfer dangerous technology to other irresponsible states.

"Some will argue that North Korea's assistance to Syria is cause to end the Six Party Talks for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. To the contrary, it underscores the need for pursuing the Talks, which remain our best chance to convince North Korea to abandon its pursuit of nuclear weapons and to stop proliferation. Opponents of the Six Party process have no better alternative to offer. The Six Party Talks are not predicated on trust. To take President Reagan one step further, with North Korea we must 'mistrust and verify.'

"To that end, Congress should swiftly enact legislation allowing the President to waive the Glenn Amendment restrictions that will otherwise prevent the United States from carrying out future nuclear dismantlement operations in North Korea or verifying North Korean compliance."

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