ACCESSION NUMBER:00000
FILE ID:96092606.txt
DATE:09/26/96
TITLE:26-09-96  STATE DEPARTMENT REPORT, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 1996

TEXT:
(Robert Kim, Burma, Iraq)  (480)

There was no regular briefing, but Acting State Department Spokesman
Glyn Davies did speak on-the-record with reporters. No transcript is
available of this briefing.

ROBERT KIM -- Davies said the government of the Republic of Korea
(ROK) is recalling Captain Dong-Il Baek, the naval attache at the
South Korean Embassy in Washington, D.C. who allegedly took U.S.
classified information from Robert Kim, a Korean-born American citizen
who worked at the Office of Naval Intelligence.

The United States and South Korea, Davies said, are "strong allies and
friends, and we continue to count on South Korea's full cooperation in
bringing the case to resolution." Davies said the withdrawal of Baek
is considered to be "a cooperative step" but "it does not finally
resolve this issue. So we look to further discussions with the Korean
government...."

He added that the Justice Department will decide whether the case will
be prosecuted and whether the South Korean government will be asked to
assist in investigations. "We are, at this stage, looking for all the
information we can get," Davies said, to help with the prosecution of
Kim and to assess what kinds of information he conveyed to Baek.

BURMA -- A Burmese government-controlled newspaper recently published
a commentary suggesting that Aung San Suu Kyi faces arrest for
"political crimes," Davies said. "We take very seriously any threats
to re-arrest her, or to prevent her from conducting what we regard as
legitimate political activity." The United States has long urged
Burma's ruling junta "to engage in a meaningful dialogue with the
political opposition and with other ethnic minority groups in Burma.
We think that's the best way to achieve national reconciliation,"
Davies said. He noted that the Clinton administration has supported
the adoption by the U.S. Senate on July 25 of a Burma sanctions
amendment that provides for sanctions on new investment in Burma if
the government of Burma harms or re-arrests Aung San Suu Kyi. (The
measure has yet to be passed into law, however.)

IRAQ -- When asked if northern Iraq is considered a "safe haven,"
Davies said, "We consider that the U.N. Security Council resolutions
that were put in place to protect the Kurds remain in effect, and we
support those resolutions." But he noted that the United Nations never
declared northern Iraq a "safe haven," although the expression came
into play in the press. The United States, however, "led the
international effort to protect the Kurds from the depredations of
Saddam Hussein and succeed in enshrining in U.N. Security Council
resolutions a measure of protection for them," Davies said. The United
States continues to operate the no-fly zone in Northern Iraq to help
protect the Kurds.

(No transcript was available of this briefing.)
NNNN