Inter-Korean naval clash won't affect Bosworth's planned Pyongyang trip: Clinton

By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, Nov. 11 (Yonhap) -- The recent inter-Korean naval clash will not
affect U.S. plans to send its point man on North Korea to Pyongyang "in the near
future" as part of the six-party process to denuclearize the North, Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton said Wednesday.

"This does not in any way affect our decision to send Ambassador (Stephen)
Bosworth," Clinton told reporters in Singapore where she is attending a
ministerial meeting of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.
The naval skirmish took place Tuesday when a North Korean patrol boat entered
South Korean waters and ignored warning shots. The brief exchange of fire forced
the North Korean vessel to retreat in flames with no South Korean casualties
reported.
Similar skirmishes in 1999 and 2002 caused dozens of casualties. North Korea has
long rejected the legitimacy of the Northern Limit Line, the de-facto sea border
drawn by the United Nations Command after the 1950-1953 Korean War.
The rare clash comes amid speculation that North Korea is trying to attract U.S.
attention ahead of President Barack Obama's planned visit to Seoul next week.
Clinton called on the North not to escalate tensions.
"We are obviously hoping that the situation does not escalate, and we're
encouraged by the calm reaction that has been present up until now," she said.
"We are certainly counseling calm and caution when it comes to any kind of
dispute, especially one that can cause repercussions and damage that could be
quite difficult to contend with. But at the same time, we're moving ahead with
our planned visit for Ambassador Bosworth."
The State Department said Tuesday Stephen Bosworth, special representative for
North Korea policy, will visit Pyongyang "sometime between now and the end of the
year" to discuss resumption of the six-party talks deadlocked over U.N. sanctions
on North Korea for its nuclear and missile tests earlier this year.
Clinton reiterated Washington's position that the imminent bilateral talks with
the North aim not to negotiate issues of substance but to pave the way for the
North's return to the multilateral nuclear talks.
"This is not a negotiation; it is an effort to pave the way toward North Korea's
return to the six-party process," she said. "Let me emphasize that our
expectations of Pyongyang have not changed and will not change, nor has our
commitment to the six-party process. We will use diplomacy and we will work
closely with our partners to find a peaceful path to our shared objective on the
Korean Peninsula."
Clinton hoped Bosworth will "use this opportunity to press the basic principles
of the September 2005 joint statement, including full, peaceful, verifiable
denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, and work toward the resumption of the
six-party talks."
The 2005 nuclear deal calls for the North's nuclear dismantlement in return for
hefty economic aid, diplomatic recognition and establishment of a permanent peace
regime on the Korean Peninsula to replace the fragile armistice that ended the
1950-53 Korean War.
Bosworth will likely meet with Kang Sok-ju, North Korea's first vice foreign
minister and the immediate superior of Kim Kye-gwan, head of the North Korean
delegation to the six-party talks amid reports that the bilateral talks will be
held at least twice before Pyongyang returns to the six-party talks.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il early last month agreed to return to the
six-party talks pending the outcome of bilateral talks with the U.S.
State Department spokesman, Philip Crowley, said Tuesday the North's overtures
came from successful implementation of financial sanctions and an overall arms
embargo, which Washington believes have effectively cut off revenues from arms
sales, the only source of hard currency for the impoverished communist North.
"We have to believe that North Korea has felt, you know, some of that pressure,"
Crowley said. "So you've seen a shift in their strategy, the so-called charm
offensive that they have engaged in for the past couple of months."
hdh@yna.co.kr
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