DNI-designate Blair calls N. Korea near-term security threat

By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, Jan. 22 (Yonhap) -- The nominee for the chief U.S. intelligence post
Thursday picked North Korea among near-term security concerns for America.

"There are many additional near-term issues that are of concern to us," said
retired Adm. Dennis Blair, tapped as director of national intelligence. "They
include North Korea, Iran, decent progress in South Asia, and of course, the
Israeli-Palestinian violence, which flared up recently."
Speaking at a Senate Intelligence Committee confirmation hearing, Blair said,
"The intelligence community also needs to address longer-term challenges: the
growing power and influence of China, India and other developing countries, as
well as both threats and opportunities that come with failing states."
North Korea has long been named by the outgoing Bush administration as among
failing states that pose security threats to the U.S.
U.S. President Barack Obama said at his swearing-in ceremony Tuesday that he
"will work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat" from North Korea "with old
friends and former foes," suggesting that North Korea will remain a priority
despite the worst economic crisis in decades, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and
heightening tensions in the Gaza Strip.
North Korea is suspected of building a secret highly-enriched-uranium-based
nuclear program and being involved in nuclear proliferation as well as pursuing
its declared nuclear program, which produces weapons-grade plutonium.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told a Senate confirmation hearing last week
that she would engage North Korea directly as well as by way of the six-party
talks, using "smart power," a combination of diplomacy and military force that
"requires reaching out to both friends and adversaries, to bolster old alliances
and to forge new ones."
To coincide with the launch of the Obama administration, North Korea in recent
weeks threatened to take "an all-out confrontational posture" against South Korea
because of what it called a hardline policy by South Korean President Lee
Myung-bak.
North Korea's foreign ministry has also said it will not abandon its nuclear
arsenal unless the U.S. normalizes ties and abandons what it considers a hostile
policy toward North Korea.
The latest round of six-party talks faltered last month over North Korea's
refusal to agree to a verification regime for its nuclear facilities.
hdh@yna.co.kr
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