Obama is off to Asia to address N. Korea, economy

By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, Nov. 11 (Yonhap) -- U.S. President Barack Obama Thursday embarked on
an eight-day trip to South Korea and three other Asian nations amid heightened
tensions on the Korean Peninsula after a rare inter-Korean naval clash earlier
this week.

The skirmish, which crippled a North Korean patrol ship that intruded into South
Korean waters and ignored warning shots, took place Tuesday, prompting media
speculation that North Korea is trying to attract U.S. attention ahead of Obama's
planned visit to Seoul next week.
Obama will fly into Seoul Wednesday after visiting Tokyo, Singapore and Beijing.
In Tokyo, Obama will likely discuss realignment of the decades-old alliance after
the inauguration of the liberal Yukio Hatoyama government, which seeks less
dependence on the U.S.
In Beijing, climate change, human rights and economic cooperation, including
reevaluation of the Chinese currency yuan and tariffs on Chinese tires, will
likely be high on the agenda. Obama will also attend the annual Asia Pacific
Economic Cooperation forum in Singapore.
"Many will be focused on what President Obama says about trade policy given Asian
concerns about rising protectionist sentiment in the United States, particularly
in the aftermath of the U.S. decision to slap punitive tariffs on Chinese-made
tires in September," Victor Cha, the Korea chairman at the Washington-based
Center for Strategic and International Studies, said about the APEC summit.
North Korea will likely be the underlying theme of Obama's first Asian trip since
his inauguration in January.
"APEC leaders will discuss North Korea and the state of the six-party talks,
which have lately shown small signs of progress and greater Pyongyang interest in
returning to some form of negotiation," said Cha, formerly senior director for
East Asian affairs at the National Security Council under the Bush
administration.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs also said Monday that the North Korean nuclear
issue will be discussed at the APEC forum, and other U.S. officials said Obama
will exchange opinions on the issue while meeting with his counterparts in Tokyo,
Beijing and Seoul, all members of six-party talks on ending the North's nuclear
ambitions.
Jeffrey Bader, senior director for East Asian affairs at the National Security
Council, said Monday, "North Korea obviously will be the principal focus of this
stop. We will be talking about how we reengage in the six-party process with the
agenda of denuclearization and reaffirmation of previous commitments."
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.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Wednesday said the naval clash will not affect
the U.S. plans to send Bosworth to Pyongyang "in the near future" as part of the
six-party process.
Among other issues to be discussed in the upcoming Lee-Obama summit are South
Korea's contribution to Afghanistan, climate and economic issues, White House
officials said.
"The president has the ability to consult with Asian partners about his strategic
reviews as well as their own commitment in Afghanistan," Bader said. "I believe
this will be a subject of consultations in Japan as well as in South Korea. South
Koreans have recently made a fairly robust commitment to increase their efforts
in Afghanistan."
South Korea announced last month its plans to send a Provincial Reconstruction
Team (PRT) to Afghanistan aside from its 25-member medical team currently
operating in the war-ravaged Central Asian nation.
The South Korean Foreign Ministry said the PRT will be accompanied by troops to
ensure security, without specifying the size of the PRT or the number of troops,
but Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan has said that Seoul was considering sending a
130-strong PRT, and Defense Ministry officials have estimated the number of
troops at 300.
Obama has yet to make a decision on the request by the U.S. military to dispatch
40,000 more troops to Afghanistan, where the Taliban insurgency is gaining power
despite the presence of about 68,000 American troops.
South Korea withdrew more than 200 military medics and engineers from Afghanistan
in 2007 after 23 South Korean Christian missionaries were held captive. Two of
them were killed and the rest released after the Seoul government pledged to
withdraw the troops by the end of that year.
South Korea currently maintains 25 medical civilians at a U.S. base in Afghanistan.
On the pending free trade agreement with South Korea, Michael Froman, deputy
national security adviser for international economic affairs, said, "There are
some outstanding issues to address. He (Obama) is prepared to have conversations
with the Koreans."
Froman did not elaborate on what Obama will propose at the summit with Lee on the
free trade deal, unratified since it was signed in June 2007.
Obama is not expected to bring a concrete proposal. The Democratic Congress is
reluctant to take up the agreement, opposed by trade unions due to fears over job
cuts in the worst recession in decades.
"A bellwether of the administration's overall trade policy for APEC countries
will be the administration's stated views on how and at what speed to proceed
with the U.S.-Korea free trade agreement," said Cha.
hdh@yna.co.kr
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