THE WHITE HOUSE

                  Office of the Press Secretary

________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release                              June 20, 1994 

	     
                    INTERVIEW OF THE PRESIDENT
                                BY
                         THE "TODAY SHOW"
	     
                         The Oval Office



7:09 A.M. EDT
	     
	     Q	  Forty years ago, Harry Truman, who was staying 
at the Waldorf Astoria hotel here in New York City, decided to 
take a morning stroll down West 49th Street.  There, the story 
goes, he noticed a group of onlookers watching the Today Show 
through its street-level glass window.  He decided to join the 
crowd, and thus this unusual picture.
	     
	     Today, minus the stroll, we are pleased to welcome 
another President to our street-level digs.  Mr. President, good 
morning.  Welcome to Studio 1A.
	     
	     	  THE PRESIDENT:  Good morning, Bryant.  I wish I 
were with Harry Truman today, out there on the street, looking 
in.
	     
	     Q	  Well, Katie and I are very grateful that you're 
allowing us the opportunity to interview you this morning.  Thank 
you for taking the time.
	     
	     Let's start with North Korea, if we might.  Former 
President Jimmy Carter, just back from the Korean Peninsula in 
meetings with Kim Il Sung, has said that he believes the crisis 
has been defused, and at this point any sanctions would be 
counterproductive.
	     
	     Do his opinions reflect the views of your 
administration in any way?  And if not, could you detail the 
extent to which his views and his trip may have changed your 
approach?
	     
	     THE PRESIDENT:  Well, the North Koreans asked 
President Carter to come as a private citizen.  He called me, and 
we agreed that the trip might be productive -- that he would go; 
he would listen; he would faithfully state the views of our 
administration; and reaffirm that our interest is in seeing that 
North Korea honor it's commitments under the nuclear 
Nonproliferation Treaty and its commitment to a nonnuclear Korean 
Peninsula.
	     
	     While there, when he notified us about what they 
were saying, we put out a statement, which he reaffirmed, which 
simply said that if North Korea wishes to talk and is willing to 
freeze their nuclear program -- that is, not continue 
reprocessing or refueling while they talk, then that would be a 
step forward.  He says that Kim Il Sung made that commitment to 
him.  Now we have to verify that.  So that's the question.
	     
	     We have, surely, something to gain by talking with 
the North Koreans, by avoiding further steps toward a crisis.  
But we have to know there's been a change.  So we'll be looking 
to verify that.  And that's really the question.  This is a 
question of fact now.  
	     
	     There are some hopeful signs -- the willingness to 
meet between North and South.  But the critical question is, are 
they willing to freeze this nuclear program while we try to work 
these differences out?
	     
	     Q	  You say there are hopeful signs.  Are you 
prepared to respond with positive sings of your own, or have you 
reason to believe that Kim Il Sung's history suggests there's a 
wide divergence between what he says and what he does?
	     
	     THE PRESIDENT:  Well, I think what we have to do is 
to look to the present and the future and say we will evaluate 
words in terms of actions.  We have the capacity if the 
international inspectors and the equipment going to be left there 
to evaluate whether, in fact, the nuclear program has been 
frozen.  If it's going to be frozen, then clearly that is a 
grounds for talking.  But we have to know what the facts are, and 
we'll be attempting to determine that.

...................

	     

                               END7:23 A.M. EDT