Yonhap Interview) Clinton's Asia trip to help restore U.S. image as

)((ATTN: ADDS comments on Seoul's role in Afghanistan, FTA, chemistry of S. Korean,
U.S. governments in last 7 paras)
By Lee Chi-dong
SEOUL, Feb. 17 (Yonhap) -- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's ongoing trip
to Asia marks a start of the new U.S. administration's regional policy and also
Washington's will to "listen" to what others want, an American expert on Korean
affairs said Tuesday.
"The U.S. government has lost the reputation of being a good listener," Scott
Snyder, director of the Center for U.S.-Korea Policy at the Asia Foundation in
Washington, told Yonhap News Agency. "As a politician and as a new secretary of
state, I hope she is able to restore the idea that she can live collaboratively
rather than simply deciding what to do regardless of what others think."
Embarking on an eight-day tour of Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, and China, her
first foreign trip since taking office, Clinton said it is about listening as
much as talking before the Barack Obama government charts a policy on North
Korea.
Snyder, on a trip here to attend the inaugural seminar of his think tank,
expected no big difference between the Obama government's policy on North Korea
and that of the preceding Bush government.
"I think what has been revealed so far ... it shows a lot of continuity," he
said, "So far the Obama administration has established a rhetorical tone of
openness but based on non-nuclear principle."
In that sense, he said, North Korea's reported preparations for a long-range
missile test are "troubling."
He emphasized that it throws cold water on the mood and desire of the neighboring
nations, including the Obama administration.
"This is not a good way to welcome the Obama administration," he said. "If North
Korea conducts a missile test, it will make the possibility of early improved
relations with DPRK (North Korea) more difficult."
Many agree that the North's move is aimed at putting pressure on South Korea and
grabbing the attention of U.S. officials preoccupied with dealing with the
financial crisis and the troubled campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Pyongyang has shunned all government-level exchanges with Seoul since the
conservative Lee Myung-bak administration took office on a pledge to break with
the carrot-only approach of its two previous liberal governments.
Some South Korean newspapers said the North appears to be returning to a strategy
of "talking only with the U.S. while ignoring the South."
Snyder said Washington holds the key to countering the North's plan if it is true.
"I think the antidote to that is strengthened U.S.-South Korea cooperation and
coordination. It does mean the U.S. needs to be very transparent about its
discussions with North Korea." he said. "The U.S. also should actively encourage
the DPRK to recognize that peace on the peninsula cannot be achieved without a
good inter-Korean relationship."
In the final months of the Bush administration, however, some countries felt the
U.S. and North Korea were "doing something in secret," Snyder said. "That is not
in our interest to give that impression."
With regard to the relationship between South Korea and China, meanwhile, Snyder
said it will be challenging.
"There is going to be more tensions in the near future," said Snyder who authored
a book titled "China's Rise and the Two Koreas," which provides an outlook for
economic and political relations among the three nations.
He said South Korea and China have rapidly developed economic ties since the
normalization of their relations in 1992, but such economic relations will no
longer subdue sensitive political disputes, he added.
Snyder praised South Korea's efforts to do more in Afghanistan. South Korea is
considering doubling the number of its medical vocational training staff there to
almost 50 and sending dozens of police trainers.
He said Seoul could consider sending troops there again as a way of contributing
to global security, not just to assist Washington. He said the issue is not about
a "loyalty test."
"If South Korea recognizes its own role and responsibility, I think it is very
positive," he said. "Some past administrations in Korea, they have viewed that
kind of commitment as a burden rather than as something that Korea can do in the
interest of contributing to the global security."
The South Korean government needs to make its own decision as the U.S. refrains
from formally requesting such contributions over concern of causing a public
backlash.
Snyder dismissed worries about the chemistry between South Korea's conservative
government and its U.S. Democratic counterpart, saying President Obama has
demonstrated a bipartisan approach based on pragmatism.
He said the ratification of the South Korea-U.S. free trade agreement (FTA) is
going to take some time due to the global financial crisis.
"It is difficult to address the FTA issue without thinking about the global
financial crisis," he said.
lcd@yna.co.kr
(END)