Ending nuclear impasse is up to N. Korea - Clinton
17 Feb 2009 09:26:30 GMT Source: Reuters
(Adds China foreign ministry quotes paragraphs 11-12) By Arshad Mohammed TOKYO, Feb 17 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton suggested on Tuesday North Korea would have to make the first move to improve its relationship with the United States by ending its nuclear programmes. Speaking a day after Pyongyang said it had the right to launch a long-range missile, Clinton said such a test would be "very unhelpful" and that Washington was watching very closely to see if North Korea ends its "provocative" actions. South Korean media reports say Pyongyang has been preparing to test its longest-range Taepodong-2 missile, which is designed to reach as far as Alaska but has never flown successfully. Officials in South Korea have also been anticipating a short-range missile test near a disputed sea border where navies from the two countries have clashed in the past. "The possible missile launch that North Korea is talking about would be very unhelpful," she told a news conference in Tokyo after talks with her Japanese counterpart. Clinton repeated an offer of a peace treaty, the normalisation of ties and aid if North Korea eliminated its nuclear weapons programme, the topic of long-running, six-country talks. She first made the offer in a speech last Friday. There has been no response to the offer yet from Pyongyang. "If North Korea abides by the obligations it has already entered into and verifiably and completely eliminates its nuclear programme, then there will be a reciprocal response, certainly from the United States," Clinton said. "But the decision as to whether North Korea will cooperate in the six-party talks, end provocative language and actions, is up to them -- and we are watching very closely." NO TURNING CLOCK BACK Talks between the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States on ending North Korea's nuclear ambitions have been stymied for months because of Pyongyang's refusal to agree to a system to verify the dismantling of its atomic programmes. China, the closest thing North Korea has to an ally, appealed for "dialogue and coordination" to reduce tensions. "We hope related parties realise that maintaining the peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula is in accord with the common interests of all sides," said Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu at a regular news briefing. While the Obama administration has said that it is reviewing its policies on North Korea, Clinton has made clear the United States will continue to pursue the six-party talks. In recent weeks, North Korea's harsh rhetoric has increased sharply, including a threat to destroy the wealthy South, in anger at the hardline policies of its President Lee Myung-bak. Analysts say North Korea is using the missile threat to put pressure on President Lee to end curbs he placed on aid to the destitute state and grab the Obama administration's attention. They say Pyongyang may feel it can extract more from the international community by raising tensions rather than by accepting Washington's olive branch. In a gesture to the faltering government of Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso, Clinton plans to meet the families of Japanese citizens abducted decades ago by North Korean agents who wanted to use them to train spies. She declined to say whether she thought former President George W. Bush had erred by removing North Korea from a U.S. terrorism blacklist before it addressed the abductee issue. She appeared unhappy that, during the Bush administration, North Korea resumed reprocessing plutonium. That process had been frozen under an agreement negotiated by her husband, former U.S. President Bill Clinton. "If we could turn the clock back, we would not have let that occur," she said. (Writing by John Chalmers and Arshad Mohammed; Editing by Alex Richardson)
Conservative protesters holding portraits of U.S. President Barack Obama and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton shout slogans during a rally denouncing North Korea's missile threat and to welcome Clinton's visit ...
