Clinton urges N. Korea to return to 6-way talks for denuclearization

By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, Aug. 5 (Yonhap) -- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Wednesday
called on North Korea to return to six-party talks on ending its nuclear
ambitions amid rumors that her husband might broker a breakthrough in the
standoff over North Korea's nuclear ambitions.
Appearing on NBC's "Today" program, Secretary Clinton also distanced the Barack
Obama administration from former President Bill Clinton's just-concluded trip to
Pyongyang that brought back two American journalists held in Pyongyang since
March for illegally crossing the Chinese border on a reporting tour.
Asked if the ex-president's trip will make a breakthrough in dealing with the
North, Secretary Clinton said, "That wasn't the purpose of it, and it certainly
is not anything we're counting on, because the Obama administration has to deal
with North Korea going forward. I want to be sure people don't confuse what Bill
did, which was a private humanitarian mission to bring these young women home,
with our policy, which continues to be one that gives choices to North Korea."
In a two-day visit, the former president secured the release of Euna Lee and
Laura Ling, reporters for the San Francisco-based Internet outlet Current TV, who
had been held in Pyongyang since March for illegally crossing the Chinese border.
Secretary Clinton said her husband was contacted by the White House and accepted
the mission on humanitarian grounds.
"I think it's, in a way, even more personal since we have a daughter
approximately the same age," she said, referring to their daughter, Chelsea, 29.
"And he told me it was, you know, a very moving experience. He can't wait to get
them reunited with their families."
The top U.S. diplomat repeated her call for the North to return to the
multilateral nuclear talks, which Pyongyang has been boycotting, citing "U.S.
hostility" and international sanctions after its nuclear and missile tests in
recent months.
Pyongyang has demanded bilateral talks with Washington toward a resumption of the
stalled nuclear negotiations.
"They can continue on the path they are on, or perhaps they will now be willing
to start talking to us within the context of the six-party talks about the
international desire to see them denuclearized," Clinton said.
Upon arriving at an airport in Los Angeles, Ling thanked North Korean leader Kim
Jong-il for the special pardon he issued just hours after a meeting with
ex-President Clinton in Pyongyang Tuesday.
"We are very grateful that we were granted amnesty by the government of North
Korea, and we are so happy to be home," Ling said.
The journalists were arrested in March near the China-North Korea border while
reporting on refugees fleeing the isolated state. They were sentenced in June to
12 years in a labor camp for an unspecified "grave crime" and illegally crossing
the border.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs also said Tuesday that the trip was a "solely
private mission" to secure the release of two Americans, throwing cold water on
any hopes that Clinton might have brokered a breakthrough in the stalled
multilateral nuclear talks.
New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, however, said the trip was mutually beneficial.
Appearing on CBS's "Early Show," Richardson, who himself successfully negotiated
the release of two Americans from Pyongyang in the 1990s, said, "I think
everybody's a winner. We win, America, because we get the journalists out.
Tensions are lessened. Maybe we start a dialogue with North Korea."
Attracting a former U.S. president should be a political victory for North Korean
leader Kim, said Richardson, former U.N. ambassador under Clinton.
"Obviously, Kim Jong-il gets a former president on his soil. It's a big prize,"
he said. "It shores up his domestic base at a time that there's some turmoil on
who's going to succeed him."
With Kim in frail health, the North's recent provocations are seen as an attempt
to facilitate an unprecedented third generation power transition to his third and
youngest son, Jong-un. But some analysts say the 26-year-old heir may not be able
to consolidate power in the face of the strong military elite if his father
should die in the next few years.
Richardson said he is "convinced President Clinton wasn't carrying a political
message," but added Kim Jong-il should have used the visit to convey a message to
Obama.
"At a time when we have enormous tensions between the two countries, in the past
and now, what the North Koreans do is they pull out a card," he said. "In this
case, the capture of these journalists in March was a perfect card that they
would use to send a message to America through an American envoy."
Gibbs Tuesday denied reports from North Korea's official Korean Central News
Agency that Clinton delivered a "verbal message" from Obama to Kim Jong-il.
Secretary Clinton has offered an olive branch in recent public statements,
promising that "full normalization of relations, a permanent peace regime, and
significant energy and economic assistance are all possible in the context of
full and verifiable denuclearization."
But she also said the U.S. will not accept "half measures" nor reward
provocations, warning North Korea "will face international isolation and the
unrelenting pressure of global sanctions" until it agrees to denuclearization.

hdh@yna.co.kr
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