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January 29, 2009
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American Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in her first news briefing since taking office last week that “with respect to North Korea, the six-party talks are essential,” adding the multilateral talks have been “a useful forum for participants to deal with the challenge of North Korea’s nuclear program, and the other issues that are part of the North Korean agenda.” White House spokesman Robert Gibbs, meanwhile, said that President Barack Obama “believes the urgency in dealing with a very important issue of nuclear proliferation.” “I do believe that the president, regardless of what country or what group we’re talking about, believes that urgency in dealing with the very important issues of nuclear proliferation is important and must be done quickly, must be done with the diplomacy of other countries and, when it is necessary, through direct diplomacy of the United States,” Gibbs said. Clinton, for her part, did not dismiss dealing with the North bilaterally as well as through the six-party talks, saying “We are going to pursue steps that we think are effective. And I think I will leave it at that.” Clinton was repeating her remarks made at her confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last week that she would engage North Korea directly as well as through the six-party talks to address the communist nation’s alleged uranium-based nuclear program and suspected nuclear proliferation as well as its declared plutonium-producing reactor. She also said that she would employ “smart power” that “requires reaching out to both friends and adversaries, to bolster old alliances and to forge new ones.” Defense Secretary Robert Gates buttressed Clinton’s remarks in written answers to a House Armed Services Committee hearing by saying, “The six-party talks have been critical in producing some forward momentum, especially with respect to North Korea’s plutonium production, although I don’t think anyone can claim to be completely satisfied with the results so far.” Gates also said that the six-party talks “do offer a way to curtail and hopefully eliminate its capacity to produce more plutonium or to enrich uranium, and reduce the likelihood of proliferation.” The U.S. defense secretary, however, said, “It is still to be seen whether North Korea is willing to give up its nuclear ambitions entirely.” President Obama said during his inaugural address last week that he would “work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat with old friends and former foes.” During his election campaign, he said he would be willing to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il to address the threats from North Korea, which detonated its first nuclear device in 2006 and has test-fired long-range missiles. The missiles are believed to be capable of reaching the western part of mainland America. State Department spokesman Robert Wood said in a daily news briefing that what Clinton said was clear. “She said it’s essential, the six-party framework. And I think the word essential basically tells you a lot.” Wood said that the Obama administration was reviewing its policy “with regard to North Korea and its nuclear weapons programs,” but would not present a time frame for the reviewing process. Under a series of six-party deals in the past years, North Korea agreed to denuclearize in return for economic aid, normalization of ties with Washington and Tokyo and establishment of a peace regime on the Korean Peninsula. The process, however, hit a snag in the latest round last month when Pyongyang refused to agree to a verification protocol for its nuclear facilities. Yonhap |
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