ID :
44123
Wed, 02/04/2009 - 16:16
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/44123
The shortlink copeid
Senate committee hearing on N. Korea delayed to next week
By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, Feb. 3 (Yonhap) -- A U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on North Korea was postponed to next week due to "scheduling problems," a congressional source said Tuesday.
The closed-door session, the first of its kind since the launch of the Barack
Obama administration last month, will be held next Tuesday amid reports that the
Obama administration is sidelining North Korean nuclear and human rights issues
due to a more urgent economic crisis and security challenges in the Middle East.
The hearing titled "North Korea Status Report" was to be held Wednesday.
Among the scheduled witnesses are Joseph DeTrani, North Korea Mission manager in
the Office of the Director of National Intelligence; Vann Van Diepen, national
intelligence officer for weapons of mass destruction on the National Intelligence
Council; and analysts from the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Central
Intelligence Agency, the State Department Intelligence and Research Bureau, the
Energy Department, and the U.S. Agency for International Development, according
to the source.
The hearing will likely address the six-party talks stalled over North Korea's
refusal to allow international inspectors to take samples from its main nuclear
reactor in Yongbyon, north of its capital, Pyongyang.
Obama has said he will pursue the six-party talks on ending North Korea's nuclear
ambitions concurrently with more direct engagement with the reclusive communist
state.
Among other issues to be discussed are North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's health.
Kim recently made his first public appearance in months at a meeting with a
senior Chinese communist party official in Pyongyang after reports he underwent
brain surgery last summer.
Speculation has surfaced in recent months over the possible designation of Kim's
third son, Jong-un, as heir apparent. Kim's first son, Jong-nam, told reporters
in Beijing last week that he knew nothing about such a move and that his father
is the only one who can make a decision on his successor.
In an apparent gesture to gain attention from the new Obama administration, North
Korea has in recent weeks threatened to cut ties with South Korea in retaliation
against conservative South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, who pledged not to
seek reconciliation unless the North abandons its nuclear arsenal.
The North, however, has not yet leveled criticism at the Obama administration.
WASHINGTON, Feb. 3 (Yonhap) -- A U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on North Korea was postponed to next week due to "scheduling problems," a congressional source said Tuesday.
The closed-door session, the first of its kind since the launch of the Barack
Obama administration last month, will be held next Tuesday amid reports that the
Obama administration is sidelining North Korean nuclear and human rights issues
due to a more urgent economic crisis and security challenges in the Middle East.
The hearing titled "North Korea Status Report" was to be held Wednesday.
Among the scheduled witnesses are Joseph DeTrani, North Korea Mission manager in
the Office of the Director of National Intelligence; Vann Van Diepen, national
intelligence officer for weapons of mass destruction on the National Intelligence
Council; and analysts from the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Central
Intelligence Agency, the State Department Intelligence and Research Bureau, the
Energy Department, and the U.S. Agency for International Development, according
to the source.
The hearing will likely address the six-party talks stalled over North Korea's
refusal to allow international inspectors to take samples from its main nuclear
reactor in Yongbyon, north of its capital, Pyongyang.
Obama has said he will pursue the six-party talks on ending North Korea's nuclear
ambitions concurrently with more direct engagement with the reclusive communist
state.
Among other issues to be discussed are North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's health.
Kim recently made his first public appearance in months at a meeting with a
senior Chinese communist party official in Pyongyang after reports he underwent
brain surgery last summer.
Speculation has surfaced in recent months over the possible designation of Kim's
third son, Jong-un, as heir apparent. Kim's first son, Jong-nam, told reporters
in Beijing last week that he knew nothing about such a move and that his father
is the only one who can make a decision on his successor.
In an apparent gesture to gain attention from the new Obama administration, North
Korea has in recent weeks threatened to cut ties with South Korea in retaliation
against conservative South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, who pledged not to
seek reconciliation unless the North abandons its nuclear arsenal.
The North, however, has not yet leveled criticism at the Obama administration.
