Clinton dismisses N. Korean threats as bid to get attention

By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, July 20 (Yonhap) -- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
downplayed North Korea's nuclear and missile threats Monday, saying Pyongyang's
recent provocations are meant to attract attention from the Obama administration.
"They're no real threat to us," Clinton told the ABC news program "Good Morning
America."
"We know that our allies Japan and South Korea are very concerned, but we share
information," she said. "They watch what we watch and understand what's really
going on there."
Clinton's remarks follow those of Kurt Campbell, U.S. assistant secretary of
state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, who said earlier in the day in Seoul
that the U.S. is preparing a "comprehensive package" for the North in case
Pyongyang takes "irreversible" steps for its denuclearization.
Campbell is in Seoul to meet with officials on ways to persuade North Korea to
return to the stalled six-party talks on ending its nuclear weapons programs. He
also visited Tokyo prior to accompanying Clinton to the annual ASEAN Regional
Forum in Phuket, Thailand, Thursday.
Clinton is scheduled to meet with her Asian counterparts on the Thai resort
island to discuss North Korea and other security issues, but has no plans to meet
with North Korean representatives, according to U.S. officials.
North Korea reportedly will send an ambassador-at-large in lieu of Foreign
Minister Pak Ui-chun.
North Korea's ceremonial head of state, Kim Yong-nam, president of the Presidium
of the Supreme People's Assembly, said last week that the six-party talks "came
to a permanent end" because the U.S. and others refused to respect North Korea's
"sovereign rights."
The U.N. Security Council slapped fresh sanctions on North Korea Thursday by
listing five North Korean officials and as many North Korean firms subject to a
travel ban and asset freeze for their involvement in nuclear and missile
development programs.
The additional sanctions were imposed under the U.N. Resolution 1874, adopted in
early June after North Korea's second nuclear test on May 25.
"We are aggressively implementing the provisions of 1874 and we are continuing
doing things that we believe have an impact on North Korea," Philip Crowley,
assistant secretary of state for public affairs, warned Friday.
In the interview with the ABC News in India, Clinton said North Korea's strategy
to get attention with provocations will not pay off.
"What we've seen is this constant demand for attention, and maybe it's the mother
in me or the experience that I've had with small children and unruly teenagers
and people who are demanding attention," she said. "We weren't going to give the
North Koreans the satisfaction they were looking for, which is to try to elevate
them again to center stage."
"Don't give it to them," Clinton said. "They don't deserve it. They are acting
out in a way to send a message that is not a message we're interested in
receiving."
In a speech prior to her trip to India and Thailand Wednesday, Clinton also
emphasized the need to develop "a tougher joint effort toward the complete and
verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," adding, "Cultivating these
partnerships and their full range takes time and patience; it also takes
persistence."
hdh@yna.co.kr
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