TOM DASCHLE

National Press Club, January 27, 2003

“But I clearly believe that the only way now for us to successfully deal with the North Koreans is to enter into direct talks, to make sure that we have people sitting across the table to address the concerns specifically enunciated by this administration — and they can’t do it too soon.”

SEN. CARL LEVIN

March 5, 2003 Wednesday,

“The administration says that we should move multilaterally, and of course that’s always advisable. But the one thing that the — all the nations, all our allies are in agreement on, the people with whom we would have the multilateral discussions and presumably multilateral strategy, they are all in agreement on one thing, and that is that the United States should have direct talks with North Korea. And despite the fact that we have that very direct advice from our allies, particularly explicitly from the new government of South Korea, this administration is refusing to do the one thing which all of our allies agree upon, which is that we should engage in direct talks with North Korea to try to make sure that they understand clearly what it is that is so troubling to us and our allies, to avoid miscalculation, and to get discussions back on track, to avoid a crisis from becoming an ever-deepening crisis on the peninsula.”

BILL RICHARDSON

SHOW: CNN NEWSNIGHT AARON BROWN 22:00

February 6, 2003 Thursday

Richardson: “I think the solution, Aaron, is for there to be face-to-face talks, not gotiations to set up subsequent negotiations. I think what will cool this rhetoric, what will decompress this very, very delicate North Korea situation is face-to-face talks. That’s what the North Koreans want. They don’t want termediaries, they don’t want to go to the United Nations.

They don’t want China and South Korea to talk to them. They want to talk to the

United States. And I think it’s reached the point where these direct talks

make sense.”

HOWARD DEAN

The Hotline March 10, 2003 Monday

“HEADLINE: DEAN: GETS TOUGHEST QUESTIONING YET FROM RUSSERT

Ex-Gov. Howard Dean (D-VT) appeared on “Meet the Press” to discuss his WH campaign, Iraq and North Korea.

On if he would hold talks with North Korea: “Yes … The North Koreans have asked for bilateral talks. I’m very happy to do that. My proposal would be that we will enter into bilateral talks, that they will agree to freeze their program now with verifiable inspection on the grounds. We will agree in writing not to attack them and then we will begin the negotiationprocess, both sides agreeing not to alter their status, the status of the non-aggression and the freezing of the nuclear program until bilateral negotiations have concluded.”

MADELEINE ALBRIGHT

AP, March 5

“Madeleine Albright, who spent two days in North Korea as secretary of state in October 2000, said direct talks with that country are necessary “in order to deliver the kinds of messages that we need to about the unacceptability of(

(Pyongyang’s) nuclear program.”

“Talking is not appeasement, talking is the way you deliver the message that

you need to have received by the other side,” she said.”

TED KENNEDY

March 4, 2003 Tuesday

Sen. KENNEDY: “Well, I think the administration, Colin Powell should have

direct conversations with the North Koreans. That is what is being urged by

South Korea, Japan and our allies in the area. This is just a recommendation,

not just of Democrats. Mr. Armitage has also, who’s the deputy secretary of

Defense, made that recommendation sometime ago. Ambassador Lilly made that recommendation. Brent Scowcroft has made that recommendation. And it’s amazing that we’re about to go to war with a country that does not have nuclear weapons, and we refuse to talk to a country that has already produced them.”