Clinton says she will not talk to N. Koreans at ARF

(ATTN: ADDS Clinton's remarks on N. Korea-Pakistan cooperation at bottom)
By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, July 21 (Yonhap) -- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said
Tuesday that she will not meet this week with North Korean officials on the
sidelines of a regional security forum in Phuket, Thailand, instead urging North
Korea to return to the six-party talks on ending its nuclear programs.

"We really don't have any intention of talking to them, at least I don't, because
what we are interested in is North Korea coming back to the table and continuing
the negotiation that will lead to a denuclearized Korean Peninsula," Clinton said
in an interview with the Fox News Channel. "We've made that abundantly clear over
and over again."
The North Korean delegation flew into the Thai resort island earlier in the day
to attend the two-day ASEAN Regional Forum, a meeting of foreign ministers held
each year by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. One of the North Korean
delegates reportedly told journalists aboard the flight that a meeting with U.S.
officials "depends on the situation."
Despite Clinton's remarks, speculation still lingers over the possibility of
North Korea's head delegate, Ambassador Pak Kun-gwang, meeting with Clinton
one-on-one at the behest of host nation Thailand or China, which hosts the
six-party talks.
The ARF has often served as the venue for high-level contacts between North Korea
and the U.S.
North Korean Foreign Minister Paik Nam-sun had an impromptu meeting with U.S.
Secretary of State Colin Powell in Jakarta in 2004 to reinvigorate the six-way
talks and pave the way for a six-party denuclearization deal signed a year later.

North Korea this time sent Ambassador Pak, a vice foreign minister-level
official, to Phuket, to the dismay of officials in Beijing and Bangkok, who
wanted North Korean Foreign Minister Pak Ui-chun to attend to meet with Clinton
for a possible breakthrough in the nuclear negotiations.
Kim Yong-nam, North Korea's ceremonial head of state and concurrently 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."
Pyongyang's stance has been to scrap the talks unless the United Nations
apologizes for the sanctions imposed on the North for its nuclear and missile
tests.
Under U.N. Resolution 1874, adopted in early June after North Korea's second
nuclear test on May 25, the U.N. Security Council slapped fresh sanctions on
North Korea last week 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 resolution also bans the North from any further nuclear and ballistic missile
tests and imposes financial sanctions, an overall arms embargo and cargo
interdictions to head off the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction by the
North.
Clinton told Fox News that the Obama administration is ready to "have a different
relationship with North Korea, but it is conditioned on their willingness to give
up nuclear weapons. And they have not yet agreed to do that."
She said she will meet with her counterparts from South Korea, China, Japan and
Russia in Phuket to discuss ways to coax the North back to the table.
"But I do not have any plans to talk to the North Koreans," she said. "They know
where we stand, and they know what we expect."
Clinton last week called for patience in dealing with North Korea, saying it
"takes time and patience; it also takes persistence."
She also said Monday that North Korea's strategy to gain attention with
provocations will not pay off.
"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," she said.
Earlier in the day in Bangkok, Clinton expressed "growing concerns" over
"military cooperation between North Korea and Burma, which we take very
seriously." At stake is the possible transfer of nuclear and missile technology
to Burma, or Myanmar.
A North Korean cargo ship, possibly on its way to Myanmar, returned home recently
after a pursuit by U.S. Navy vessels operating under an interdiction mandate
imposed recently by the U.N. Security Council.
On the allegations of continued exchanges of nuclear technology between North
Korea and Pakistan, Clinton told the Fox News Channel, "We have no evidence of
that."
The top U.S. diplomat, however, added, "This is something that would obviously be
of grave concern to us. We've raised it with our counterparts in Pakistan."
A.Q. Khan, a prominent Pakistani nuclear scientist, is suspected to have provided
uranium-based nuclear technology to North Korea in exchange for missile
technology.
He was released earlier this year after having been under house arrest since 2004
for his alleged role in providing nuclear technology to North Korea and other
countries. He recently disavowed earlier remarks confessing to having played a
part in the development of North Korea's nuclear program.
Clinton warned against any continued military cooperation between North Korea and
Pakistan.
"This is not in Pakistan's interest at all for many reasons," she said. "So we
have no evidence, and we are very vigilant about keeping an eye on that."
hdh@yna.co.kr
(END)