〈2〉The transcript of the meeting between U.S. President George W. Bush and representatives of Japanese media companies.

Q Thank you, President. Again, on North Korea Well, last week you said you don't have any -- you have no illusions about the North Korean regime, Kim Jong-il. So the question might be hypothetical, but if North Korea -- In the case North Korea does not fulfill its obligation, such as disclosing a number of the weapons that they have, or non-disclosing of the enrichment --

THE PRESIDENT: Or dealing fairly on abductees.

Q -- yes, abductees. Or proliferation issue, activities to Syria. What kind of message do you think you'd --

THE PRESIDENT: Well, we'll of course work with our partners. Now, for example, these won't be unilateral sanctions. These will be multi-party sanctions. But first of all, this regime is highly sanctioned. They have been isolated. And if they choose not to move forward on an agreed upon way forward -- action for action -- there will be further isolation and further deprivation for the people of North Korea.

The regime had made a conscious decision to at least make a declaration within the six-party talks to move forward. I would only surmise that perhaps the leader of North Korea is tired of being isolated in the world, and would try to advance his country in a way that makes it easier for the people to have a better life.

And therefore, if you read the statements that started the six-party -- that confirm the six-party talks, about what the pledges are -- there are very concrete -- it's a concrete action plan. But keep in mind at this point in time this is still a regime that is highly sanctioned. So step one is if he chooses not to move forward, then the status quo is for certain and he'll remain highly sanctioned. And then of course there will be great disappointment with the other parties involved in the six-party talks.

Expectations are that he will move forward, action for action. But if he doesn't, we now have partners at the table who will be wondering how best to send yet another message to him -- and the good news, it won't be just Japan and the United States, there will be other countries there. This is how multilateral diplomacy works.

And I repeat to you, the six-party talks have been aimed to set a framework in place that will serve as an inducement to go forward, but also that can be consequential. And we of course will consult with our partners to deal about -- I mean, step one is no change in the current status, which means highly sanctioned -- probably the most sanctioned nation in the world. And step two is, of course, we'll consult and figure out a way forward.

My hope is, is that the North Koreans continue to move forward. And you mentioned what we expect. We expect there to be full declaration of manufactured plutonium. We expect there to be a full disclosure of any enrichment activities and proliferation activities. And we expect the abductee issue to be solved.

Q I'd like to ask a climate change issue. In the upcoming summit, Prime Minister Fukuda hopes to set a long-term goal for curbing greenhouse gas emission, and I think you share the idea. What goals do you have going into the summit and do you expect to strike an agreement on that?

THE PRESIDENT: I'm hopeful we can strike an agreement. But I caution everybody that such an agreement must have all of us who create greenhouse gases -- not just those of us around the table at the G8. And that's why we worked with the Prime Minister to have this major economies meeting; it was to strengthen the G8, is to make it relevant.

You know, it's an interesting notion that -- I said today in my press availability in the Rose Garden -- I don't know if you were there or not -- you know, I wonder whether or not some of these nations who are creating greenhouse gases -- but considered still developing nations -- are used to the period of Kyoto, when they weren't held to account about what they were producing. I wonder if that's their mind set. Because if it is, it'll make any international agreement ineffective if they're not a part to it, because, you know, it is estimated that -- well, China is creating a lot of greenhouse gases and will continue to do so. And therefore Japan and the United States can maybe make decisions that affect our own production, but it will be ineffective at solving the problem unless China is with us.

And so my hope there is to move the process along so that we, at a very minimum, send a clear message to developing countries that are producing greenhouse gases that we expect you to be a part of an agreement. And step one is a long-term goal. In other words, if you can get nations to commit to a goal, you've got them committed to a process. If, however, the process doesn't matter whether you're a part or not, or you may be a part at some point in time -- in my mind that won't produce the results that are necessary to deal with the global climate change issue.

And so we'll see how that goes. We're working it very hard, as is the Prime Minister and other nations.

The other thing we can do is we can talk about some just practical things we can do, such as insisting that we reduce tariffs and trade barriers on pollution equipment. It makes no sense to make such equipment prohibitively expensive when it is -- when there are some basic technologies that could move and can help. And I will be talking about technologies there, as well. And I told you about some of the technologies dealing with automobiles and, you know, the interesting thing is, is that the world is now beginning to waken up to the beauty of nuclear power.

And, I mean, if one is really concerned about global warming and greenhouse gases, they ought to be carrying signs insisting upon the development of nuclear power plants. This is renewable energy with zero greenhouse gas emissions. And yet the world -- parts of the world are very reluctant about -- even in our country, it's very difficult to build a plant. We've been able to get some regulatory relief through government action. I think four new plants have been permitted or four expansions have been permitted. But we ought to be -- about 25 percent of our electricity comes from nuclear power, and it ought to be a lot higher.

And you know, one of the things that interesting is Japan and the United States are working on technologies to deal with the waste. And that will -- if that -- when that technology comes to fruition, it will ease some people's concerns. There will be some who just simply will never buy into nuclear power; I fully understand that. But this will be a great opportunity to discuss about other things we can do while we're trying to work -- you know, by the way, everything we're going to do is meant to strengthen the United Nations process and not weaken it.

And so, anyway, that's kind of what's on my mind going into the meetings.

Q So, Mr. President, I know your strong U.S. dollar policy -- But do you know how to make it stronger? Or do you expect the possibility of the U.S. intervention in the fiscal -- financial market?

THE PRESIDENT: We believe that the relative worth of economies should set respective currencies. And therefore the best way to reenforce our strong dollar policy is to keep taxes low in the United States, ease regulatory burdens, become less dependent on foreign sources of oil, and make it clear that we're for free and fair trade -- that not only means the trading of goods and services, but also the investment, that the United States is open to investment. And to me those are the best ways to deal with the fundamental aspects of an economy that assures the world that the United States will be a vibrant, strong economy, and that eventually will be reflected in our currency.

Would you like another economic question?

Q Well, does Europe share the same view?

THE PRESIDENT: Share the same view of the U.S. dollar? I think they want there to be -- it's an interesting question. I heard concern about our dollar and I believe they support the U.S. strong dollar policy.(July 3,2008)

(White House transcript, partially edited.)