Bill Richardson North Quotations

The North Koreans basically reversed their position on the aid issue, basically the date of expulsion is now not operational,

The stability of Asia, the future of Japan and the security of America will be determined by our ability to convince the North Koreans once and for all to dismantle their nuclear program, ... That is the goal of the six-party talks which I support and that is the message I will be carrying.

I'll be briefing the administration as soon as we leave North Korea, ... You can't brief them from North Korea because either calls are monitored or the communication system's not the best. So, the moment we're back on our Air Force plane which has telephones and fax and Internet capabilities, that's when I'll most likely brief him, the moment we leave. It's very hard to do it in country.

We're going to focus on two important areas: one is verification, the second is what steps are the North Koreans taking to dismantle their nuclear weapons ? concrete steps,

I strongly believe that we made progress in our discussions in North Korea on the diplomatic front, on the nuclear front, on the humanitarian front,

I am not an official envoy, but I am supportive of the administration's new policy to engage the North Koreans through dialogue and diplomacy,

They're very dogmatic. The North Koreans, they are very programmed, they have their policy statements they don't want to diverge from. They're very doctrinaire. They don't negotiate like others -- quid pro quo.

Obviously, I'm concerned about North Korea's withdrawal from the NPT.

North Korea will return to the talks in early November unconditionally,