6-way talks essential to end N. Korean nuke: Clinton

(ATTN: ADDS remarks by White House spokesman, defense secretary throughout)
By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, Jan. 27 (Yonhap) -- The top U.S. diplomat said Tuesday that six-party
talks are "essential" to ending North Korea's nuclear weapons ambitions and that
North Korea's nuclear proliferation should be resolved quickly through direct
diplomacy of the U.S. if necessary.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in her first news briefing since
taking office Thursday that "With respect to North Korea, the six-party talks are
essential," adding the multilateral talks have been "a useful forum for
participants to deal with the challenge of North Korea's nuclear program, and the
other issues that are part of the North Korean agenda."
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs, meanwhile, said that President Barack Obama
"believe the urgency in dealing with a very important issue of nuclear
proliferation."
"I do believe that the president, regardless of what country or what group we're
talking about, believes that urgency in dealing with the very important issues of
nuclear proliferation is important and must be done quickly, must be done with
the diplomacy of other countries and, when is necessary, through direct diplomacy
of the United States," Gibbs said.
Clinton, for her part, did not dismiss dealing with the North bilaterally as well
as through the six-party talks, saying "We are going to pursue steps that we
think are effective. And I think I will leave it at that."
Clinton was repeating her remarks made at her confirmation hearing before the
Senate Foreign Relations Committee last week that she would engage North Korea
directly as well as through the six-party talks to address the communist nation's
alleged uranium-based nuclear program and suspected nuclear proliferation as well
as its declared plutonium-producing reactor.
She also said that she would employ "smart power" that "requires reaching out to
both friends and adversaries, to bolster old alliances and to forge new ones."
Defense Secretary Robert Gates buttressed Clinton's remarks in written answers to
a House Armed Services Committee hearing by saying, "The six-party talks have
been critical in producing some forward momentum, especially with respect to
North Korea's plutonium production, although I don't think anyone can claim to be
completely satisfied with the results so far."
Gates also said that the six-party talks "do offer a way to curtail and hopefully
eliminate its capacity to produce more plutonium or to enrich uranium, and reduce
the likelihood of proliferation."
The defense secretary, however, said, "It is still to be seen whether North Korea
is willing to give up its nuclear ambitions entirely."
U.S. President Barack Obama said during his inaugural address last week that he
would "work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat with old friends and former
foes."
During his election campaign, he said he will meet with North Korean leader Kim
Jong-il to address the threats from North Korea, which detonated its first
nuclear device in 2006 and has test-fired long-range missiles. The missiles are
believed to have the capability to reach the western part of mainland America.
State Department spokesman Robert Wood said in a daily news briefing that what
Clinton said was clear. "She said it's essential, the six-party framework. And I
think the word essential basically tells you a lot."
Wood said that the Obama administration was reviewing its policy "with regard to
North Korea and its nuclear weapons programs," but would not present a time frame
for the reviewing process.
Under a series of six-party deals in the past years, North Korea agreed to
denuclearize in return for massive economic aid, normalization of ties with
Washington and Tokyo and establishment of a peace regime on the Korean Peninsula.
The six-party process, however, hit a snag in the latest round last month when
Pyongyang refused to agree to a verification protocol for its nuclear facilities.
"My understanding is we wanted North Korea to sign on to a verification protocol
and all of the details in writing. The North didn't want to do that," Wood said.
"So the ball really is in the North's court with regard to meeting...the
obligations that it agreed to."
hdh@yna.co.kr
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