Clinton approved by Senate committee, awaiting full Senate vote

By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, Jan. 15 (Yonhap) -- The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee
Thursday confirmed Secretary of State-designate Hillary Clinton, paving the way
for the former first lady to become the third female top U.S. diplomat after
Madeleine Albright and Condoleezza Rice.
The committee's vote was overwhelming with 16 votes for and 1 vote against,
despite concerns over a possible conflict of interest between her position and
her husband Bill Clinton's overseas fundraising work.
A full Senate vote is expected on the day of President-elect Barack Obama's
inauguration Tuesday, according to congressional sources.
At her confirmation hearing Tuesday, Clinton said she would engage North Korea
directly as well as by way of the six-party talks to address its alleged
uranium-based nuclear program and suspected nuclear proliferation.
She also told the hearing that under the Obama administration Washington would
use what she called "smart power," a combination of diplomacy and military force,
to address North Korea and other security issues facing the incoming Barack Obama
administration, a clear break from the "cowboy diplomacy" of the outgoing Bush
administration widely blamed for the U.S.'s tarnished image abroad.
Clinton also made veiled reference to Obama's campaign pledge to meet with North
Korean leader Kim Jong-il without precondition, saying, "Smart power requires
reaching out to both friends and adversaries, to bolster old alliances and to
forge new ones."
During his campaign, Obama expressed his willingness to meet with leaders of
countries deemed hostile to the U.S. without precondition to help resolve pending
security issues, a strategy Clinton dismissed as "naive" during her own
presidential bid.
Clinton also proposed renegotiation of the pending free trade agreement with
South Korea, citing an imbalance in auto trade and restrictions on beef
shipments.
"If the South Koreans are willing to re-engage negotiations on these vital
provisions of the agreement, we will work with them to get to resolution," she
said in written answers submitted to the confirmation hearing.
Clinton echoed Obama's opposition to the FTA with South Korea as it stands.
Obama has described the Korea-U.S. FTA as "badly flawed," noting that South Korea
exports more than 700,000 autos to the U.S. annually while importing just 6,000.
South Korea contests such statistics, saying the figures include 250,000 units
made at an Alabama plant by South Korea's largest automaker, Hyundai, and exclude
more than 125,000 automobiles sold in South Korea by GM Daewoo, a Korean
subsidiary of U.S. automaker GM.
hdh@yna.co.kr
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