John Kerry: “But I want to make it clear, we do not accept the full measure of the comments that have accompanied the amendment, and…”

“But I want to make it clear, we do not accept the full measure of the comments that have accompanied the amendment, and there is nothing in the amendment itself that embraces the notion of accommodation or appeasement. Certainly the Senator is entitled to his views about what the administration approach is. Those views are not reflected within the language of the amendment per se. I share with my colleague enormous concern about events on the Korean Peninsula and about North Korea's propensity to avoid its responsibilities under the nonproliferation treaty. I commend to my colleague the hearings of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in December 1991 and January 1992 where Senator Pell, the chairman, laid out a very important first record on this. This was the first time that the nonproliferation problem, nonadherence problem, of North Korea was really called fully to our attention, and I think a strong record was laid down regarding it. Let me say also, for those who have been following this question closely lately, there is nothing to suggest that this administration is content with where we are or that it is somehow stopped where we are.”