Clinton dismisses N. Korean threats as bid to get attention

(ATTN: UPDATES with more details, background throughout)
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."
Her remarks came amid heightening tensions in Northeast Asia as 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.
In the interview with the ABC News from 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."
Clinton's remarks are in line with her speech made last week to call for patience
in dealing with North Korea.
In the speech prior to her trip to India and Thailand, Clinton 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."
Kurt Campbell, U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific
affairs, 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."
Philip Crowley, assistant secretary of state for public affairs, told a daily
news briefing that Campbell's remarks reflect the changing environment in dealing
with North Korea.
"We do have a new situation, so I think that Assistant Secretary Campbell's, you
know, comments reflect the fact that we do have a kind of a different reality at
the present time, but we are obviously willing to do things if North Korea
themselves does their part, which obviously is coming back to a negotiating
process, reaffirming their obligations under the 2005 agreement and taking
irreversible steps towards denuclearization," Crowley said.
Crowley said that "the ball is in North Korea's court," urging North Korea to
return to six-party talks and take concrete steps for denuclearization.
"I don't think that we are against the concept of action for action, but first
and foremost, we need to see North Korea come back -- in other words, if they
come back to a negotiation, we're not going to reward them for that step --and
that's, I think, a difference reflecting, you know, just the reality of current
situation," he said.
Crowley told foreign correspondents here Friday, "We are aggressively
implementing the provisions of 1874 and we are continuing doing things that we
believe have an impact on North Korea" until the North returns to the six-party
talks.
hdh@yna.co.kr
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