Clinton begins four-nation Asian tour on N. Korean nuke

By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, Feb. 15 (Yonhap) -- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton embarked
on a weeklong trip to Asia Sunday, her first overseas tour as top U.S. diplomat,
to discuss North Korea and other bilateral and regional issues of mutual concern.

Clinton will be in Seoul Thursday on the third leg of the four-nation tour that
also brings her to Japan, Indonesia and China.
Six-party talks aimed at ending North Korea's nuclear ambitions are among top
priorities in the trip arranged apparently to show the new Barack Obama
administration's willingness to prioritize North Korea and other Asian issues
vis-a-vis Europe and the Middle East.
"Her trip communicates that Asia matters to the United States and that Washington
is committed to a predominant role in the region over the long-term," said Bruce
Klingner, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation.
Clinton told a forum in New York Friday that she "will be ready to announce our
envoy to North Korea soon," addressing concerns that the North Korean nuclear
issue is being sidelined due to the worst economic crisis in decades and the
Middle East, Afghanistan and Pakistan for which Obama has already appointed
special envoys.
Stephen Bosworth, former ambassador to South Korea and currently dean of the
Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, is said to be a leading
candidate.
Clinton said at the forum that the Obama administration "is committed to working
through the six-party talks, and I will discuss with South Korea, Japan and China
how best to get the negotiations back on track."
The on-and-off multilateral talks, whose members include the two Koreas, the
U.S., China, Japan and Russia, stalled again in December when North Korea would
not agree to a verification protocol for its nuclear facilities.
Obama has said he will continue the six-party talks, which began in 2003, and
would not rule out the possibility of meeting with North Korean leader Kim
Jong-il to resolve concerns over North Korea's nuclear weapons and ballistic
missiles.
Clinton echoed Obama's theme in New York, saying "If North Korea is genuinely
prepared to completely and verifiably eliminate their nuclear weapons program,
the Obama administration will be willing to normalize bilateral relations,
replace the peninsula's long-standing armistice agreements with a permanent peace
treaty, and assist in meeting the energy and other economic needs of the North
Korean people."
Clinton said early last week that she hoped to engage North Korea "in the weeks
and months ahead" through bilateral and multilateral talks, although the imminent
Asian trip neither includes a stop in Pyongyang nor a meeting with North Korean
officials.
Any trip to the North Korean capital by Clinton needs to be preceded by
preparations by a soon-to-be-appointed special envoy for North Korea.
In 2000, then Secretary of State Madeleine Albright visited Pyongyang to prepare
for then President Bill Clinton's Pyongyang tour, which did not materialize in
the waning months of the administration.
The outgoing U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asia and the Pacific,
Christopher Hill, flew to Seoul earlier in the day to prepare for Clinton's Seoul
visit. In Seoul, he said he discussed with South Korean officials "the concerns
we have about behavior of late."
Hill, who concurrently served as the chief U.S. nuclear negotiator in the past
four years, was addressing North Korea's threats in recent weeks of scrapping
bilateral ties with South Korea and a possible military conflict.
Meanwhile, Kim Yong-nam, North Korea's ceremonial head of state said Sunday, the
eve of the 67th birthday of its leader Kim Jong-il, that North Korea will
"develop relations with countries that are friendly toward us."
Kim's remarks coincide with the beginning of Clinton's Asia trip and came amid
reports that North Korea is preparing to test-launch a long-range ballistic
missile that can theoretically reach the continental U.S. Pyongyang launched
ballistic missiles twice in 1998 and 2006.
Clinton Friday urged North Korea "to avoid any provocative action and unhelpful
rhetoric towards South Korea."
Klingner sees North Korea's action as its traditional brinkmanship tactic
"designed to raise the ante" in "a clear signal that it will not adopt a more
accommodating position despite the change in U.S. leadership."
The scholar called on Clinton to "reassure our allies that the U.S. remains
committed to the complete and verifiable denuclearization of North Korea and
unequivocally state that Washington will not accept North Korea as a nuclear
weapons state."
Also high on Clinton's agenda in Seoul will be the pending free trade agreement
with South Korea.
At the New York forum, Clinton discussed the sensitivity of the issue.
"I hope that this is an area where, you know, (President) Obama will take a
fairly assertive position vis-a-vis the U.S. Congress," she said. "But again, we
are back into the realm of trade, and that conversation here in Washington still
seems to be a little bit unclear in my mind."
hdh@yna.co.kr
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