Flournoy due in Seoul next week to follow up on Lee-Obama summit: Pentagon

(ATTN: ADDS State Department spokesman's remarks at bottom)
By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, June 19 (Yonhap) -- A senior Pentagon official will fly to Seoul next
week to discuss North Korea's provocations and follow up on the agreement between
the leaders of the two countries earlier this week to enhance the alliance.

Michele Flournoy, undersecretary of defense for policy, will visit Seoul next
Friday, a senior Pentagon official said in a background briefing.
"Flournoy will travel to Seoul, South Korea, on 26 June for consultations with
our Republic of Korea allies," the Pentagon official said, asking anonymity.
"This trip has added significance as the first high-level U.S. government visit
to Seoul following the summit between Presidents Obama and Lee on 16 June, during
which the two leaders promulgated the joint vision statement outlining our shared
vision of the future, of a more strategic and global-oriented U.S.-ROK alliance."
ROK stands for South Korea's official name, the Republic of Korea.
South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and President Barack Obama Tuesday urged
North Korea to return to denuclearization talks and warned that Pyongyang will
not be rewarded for its provocations.
In a joint statement titled the Joint Vision for the Alliance of the United
States and South Korea that was released after their summit, Obama affirmed the
nuclear umbrella for South Korea against nuclear-armed North Korea.
It is the first time that the nuclear shield was guaranteed in written form at
any summit between the leaders of the two countries, although such a commitment
was made on several occasions at the ministerial level.
Flournoy's Asian trip will also include stops in Beijing and Tokyo, the Pentagon
official said, adding North Korea will top the agenda in both capitals.
"North Korea will factor in very strongly," the official said of Flournoy's
Beijing trip. "The recent activities by North Korea, of course, occasioned a U.N.
Security Council resolution. And the activities are of great concern to China. So
I expect that we will be having extended discussions on matters where we can find
common interest and cooperate."
North Korea's recent nuclear and missile tests have invited financial sanctions
from the U.N. Security Council, which also authorized an arms embargo and
inspections of North Korean ships believed to be carrying weapons of mass
destruction.
China, North Korea's chief ally, remains a key player in the drama.
"We expect China to operate within the guidelines of the U.N. Security Council
resolution," the official said. "We would hope that China would use whatever
influence they have with North Korea to convince them to change their behavior."
Critics are suspicious that China will interdict North Korean ships for suspect
cargo in the high seas where inspections are illegal unless approved by the flag
state.
The resolution, adopted to punish North Korea for its nuclear test on May 25, the
second since 2006, does not allow use of force to implement the sanctions.
Meanwhile, the U.S. military is closely monitoring a North Korean ship, the Kang
Nam, suspected of carrying weapons of mass destruction prohibited under U.N.
resolutions, since its departure from a North Korean port Wednesday, reports
said.
"I can say it's a ship of interest," the Pentagon official said, adding he had
"no updates on the movement of the Kang Nam."
"We are operating in support of the U.N. Security Council resolution," he said.
"We are urging everybody else involved to operate in conjunction with the
Security Council resolution."
Asked whether China will intercept the North Korean ship currently sailing off
China, State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said, "I believe that the Chinese
worked with us on this resolution. Under the resolution, all U.N. member states
are obliged to enforce the terms of the resolution."
Kelly also said he hopes that "North Korea would comply with international law
and allow the inspection."
hdh@yna.co.kr
(END)