Bill Clinton: “Well, the evidence will be in the action. That is, we have been told--first of all, let me break these two issues up.…”

“Well, the evidence will be in the action. That is, we have been told--first of all, let me break these two issues up. The United States said that we would go back to discussions on the nuclear questions if, but only if, the reprocessing and refueling were suspended so that the situation could not further deteriorate. The North Koreans have told us that they were prepared to continue the discussions, but they wanted an appropriate period of time in the aftermath of Kim Il-song's death. So I think, on balance, we know whether or not they will keep their word and we will be able to see that. We will know whether or not they continue to avoid reprocessing, refueling. And they say they want to continue the talks, so I'm hopeful on that. On the question of the summit, as I understand it--and I haven't had a chance to visit with President Kim about it, I'm going to talk with him in the next couple of days--keep in mind, that's a matter for the North Koreans and the South Koreans to determine between themselves. And I don't think it's entirely clear right now, at least, where both parties stand on the timing of that. I do hope it will be held as soon as it's appropriate and so do the G-7 countries. We, the G-8, yesterday, came out for that in our political statement. But there's no pie-in-the-sky optimism here; there are facts, which are the predicate to continuing talks. And the facts are, will the nuclear reprocessing and refueling be suspended and will the talks resume at an appropriate time and a reasonable time. And so far, the answers to both those questions seem to be yes, and therefore, I think that's good news.”