Confirmation hearing on Sherman due early next month

By Lee Chi-dong
WASHINGTON, July 22 (Yonhap) -- A U.S. Senate confirmation hearing for Wendy Sherman, nominated to take up the State Department's No. 3 post, will be held early next month, a congressional panel announced Friday.
The Senate Committee on Foreign Relations said the hearing will open at 10 a.m. Aug. 3 at the Dirksen Senate Office Building under the chairmanship of Sen. John Kerry.
In early July, President Barack Obama nominated Sherman to become under secretary for political affairs.
Republican members of the committee are expected to focus attacks on Sherman's role in the Bill Clinton administration's engagement policy toward North Korea.
Sherman, who was adviser to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, worked from 1997 to 2001 as then- Secretary of State Madeleine Albright's counselor and doubled as President Bill Clinton's policy coordinator on North Korea.
Conservatives claim Sherman was behind the former administration's kid-gloves approach to the North, which has continued to bolster its nuclear and missile arsenal.
If confirmed, Sherman will succeed William Burns, nominated to be deputy secretary of state. Burns, if confirmed, would replace James Steinberg, who resigned to teach at Syracuse University.
If Sherman takes office, she is expected to be in charge of the department's Asia policy, while Burns focuses on the Middle East and Europe.
Diplomatic sources say Sherman will likely bring a fresh approach to the Obama administration's policy toward Pyongyang.
When asked about that, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said only that Sherman is "very experienced" in Asia issues, in particular Korea issues.