ID :
71709
Thu, 07/23/2009 - 11:19
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/71709
The shortlink copeid
Clinton calls for patience in dealing with N. Korea
By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, July 22 (Yonhap) -- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Wednesday called for patience in dealing with North Korea, expressing hope that Pyongyang will eventually come back to the negotiating table over its nuclear weapons programs.
"I think that there's going to come a moment, I don't want to predict exactly
when, when North Korea is going to want to come back to the table to start
talking about the way forward," Clinton said in an interview with the Fox News
Channel's "On the Record." "We hope that there will be a consensus reached within
their leadership that the path they're on is not sustainable."
She made her remarks on the eve of the annual ASEAN Regional Forum, which will
take place in Phuket, Thailand, Thursday, addressing regional security issues,
including North Korea's refusal to return to the six-party talks on ending its
nuclear ambitions. ASEAN is the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
Earlier in the day, Clinton said at a news conference at the Thai resort island
that the U.S. "will move forward on a package of incentives and opportunities,
including normalizing relations" with North Korea "if they will agree to
irreversible denuclearization."
North Korea, however, "will face international isolation and the unrelenting
pressure of global sanctions ... unless and until they do (agree)," she said.
Clinton was referring to the U.N. Resolution 1874, adopted in early June after
North Korea's second nuclear test on May 25.
Under the resolution, the U.N. Security Council last week listed 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 arms embargo and cargo interdictions to
head off the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
Pyongyang has said it will boycott the six-party talks and bolster its nuclear
arsenal unless the United Nations apologizes for the sanctions.
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."
Clinton downplayed North Korea's nuclear capability despite its second nuclear
test since 2006.
"I mean, their program is not that advanced. It's not that sophisticated, in our
assessment," she said. "I don't want to put, you know, numbers of years on it,
but we have time."
The top U.S. diplomat said a nuclear arsenal will not guarantee North Korea's
security.
"I think neither China nor we want to see Japan feel the necessity to move in
that direction, or South Korea, but neither do the North Koreans," she said. "So
there comes a point when your pursuit of nuclear weapons renders you less secure,
not more secure."
Clinton said she is uncertain that North Korean leader Kim Jong-il is taking
steps to transfer power to his third and youngest son Jong-un, 26, after he
apparently suffered a stroke last summer.
"We have, you know, no insight into what the final decision will be," she said.
"But we would hope that the current government would, you know, begin a dialogue
with us and others that could lead to some positive change that whoever were to
come next would be able to build on."
Clinton said Tuesday that she will not meet with North Korean officials in
Phuket, but suggestions persist that she might have a one-on-one meeting with
North Korea's head delegate, Ambassador Pak Kun-gwang, at the behest of host
nation Thailand and China, which hosts the six-party talks.
Pak, a vice foreign minister-level official, led the North Korean delegation to
Phuket Tuesday 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.
One of the North Korean delegates reportedly told journalists that a meeting with
U.S. officials "depends on the situation."
The ASEAN forum has often served as a venue for high-level contacts between North
Korea and the U.S.
Former 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 denuclearization deal signed a year later.
WASHINGTON, July 22 (Yonhap) -- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Wednesday called for patience in dealing with North Korea, expressing hope that Pyongyang will eventually come back to the negotiating table over its nuclear weapons programs.
"I think that there's going to come a moment, I don't want to predict exactly
when, when North Korea is going to want to come back to the table to start
talking about the way forward," Clinton said in an interview with the Fox News
Channel's "On the Record." "We hope that there will be a consensus reached within
their leadership that the path they're on is not sustainable."
She made her remarks on the eve of the annual ASEAN Regional Forum, which will
take place in Phuket, Thailand, Thursday, addressing regional security issues,
including North Korea's refusal to return to the six-party talks on ending its
nuclear ambitions. ASEAN is the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
Earlier in the day, Clinton said at a news conference at the Thai resort island
that the U.S. "will move forward on a package of incentives and opportunities,
including normalizing relations" with North Korea "if they will agree to
irreversible denuclearization."
North Korea, however, "will face international isolation and the unrelenting
pressure of global sanctions ... unless and until they do (agree)," she said.
Clinton was referring to the U.N. Resolution 1874, adopted in early June after
North Korea's second nuclear test on May 25.
Under the resolution, the U.N. Security Council last week listed 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 arms embargo and cargo interdictions to
head off the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
Pyongyang has said it will boycott the six-party talks and bolster its nuclear
arsenal unless the United Nations apologizes for the sanctions.
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."
Clinton downplayed North Korea's nuclear capability despite its second nuclear
test since 2006.
"I mean, their program is not that advanced. It's not that sophisticated, in our
assessment," she said. "I don't want to put, you know, numbers of years on it,
but we have time."
The top U.S. diplomat said a nuclear arsenal will not guarantee North Korea's
security.
"I think neither China nor we want to see Japan feel the necessity to move in
that direction, or South Korea, but neither do the North Koreans," she said. "So
there comes a point when your pursuit of nuclear weapons renders you less secure,
not more secure."
Clinton said she is uncertain that North Korean leader Kim Jong-il is taking
steps to transfer power to his third and youngest son Jong-un, 26, after he
apparently suffered a stroke last summer.
"We have, you know, no insight into what the final decision will be," she said.
"But we would hope that the current government would, you know, begin a dialogue
with us and others that could lead to some positive change that whoever were to
come next would be able to build on."
Clinton said Tuesday that she will not meet with North Korean officials in
Phuket, but suggestions persist that she might have a one-on-one meeting with
North Korea's head delegate, Ambassador Pak Kun-gwang, at the behest of host
nation Thailand and China, which hosts the six-party talks.
Pak, a vice foreign minister-level official, led the North Korean delegation to
Phuket Tuesday 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.
One of the North Korean delegates reportedly told journalists that a meeting with
U.S. officials "depends on the situation."
The ASEAN forum has often served as a venue for high-level contacts between North
Korea and the U.S.
Former 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 denuclearization deal signed a year later.
