Asia-Pacific News
Hillary Clinton warns North Korea against threats, calls for talks
Feb 20, 2009, 7:36 GMT
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (L) and South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan meet n Seoul on 20 February 2009 for talks on North Korea and the Seoul-Washington alliance. Clinton is in Seoul on her first trip to South Korea as the top US diplomat. EPA/YONHAP
Seoul - US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Friday called on North Korea to fulfil its nuclear disarmament promises and return to the negotiating table, while warning it against making further threats against South Korea.
'North Korea is not going to get a different relationship with the United States while insulting and refusing dialogue with South Korea,' she said on a visit to Seoul amid what the United States and South Korea have said are North Korea's preparations for a missile test.
'We are calling on the government of North Korea to refrain from being provocative and unhelpful in a war of words that it has been engaged in because that is not very fruitful,' Clinton said after meeting with South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung Hwan.
The two diplomats urged Pyongyang to unconditionally return to talks and said their countries would in no way accept a nuclear-armed North Korea.
Clinton's trip to Seoul came amid escalating threats from North Korea. On Thursday, its military warned that it was prepared for 'an all-out confrontation' with its neighbour on the Korean Peninsula.
The North Korean People's Army also threatened an open military conflict with the South in January, saying South Korean President Lee Myung Bak and his 'puppet military war hawks' would force it 'to take a strong military retaliatory step to wipe them out.'
Clinton warned Pyongyang Tuesday against test-firing a missile after South Korea said the North had been preparing for weeks to test-fire a Taepodong-2 intercontinental ballistic missile.
The US military said that if technically perfected, the Taepodong-2 could reach the US state of Alaska and carry a nuclear warhead.
The US diplomat also drew a sharp contrast between Stalinist North Korea and democratic South Korea. 'The Republic of Korea's achievement of democracy and prosperity stands in stark contrast to the tyranny and poverty across the border to the North,' she said ahead of a meeting with Lee.
Clinton said the most prominent issue for North Korea, however, is disabling its nuclear facilities and accepting a method of verification of its denuclearization.
Disagreements about verifying North Korea's progress in disabling its nuclear programme, such as through inspections, stalled nuclear talks during the administration of former US president George W Bush, who left office in January.
The former senator and first lady also announced the appointment by US President Barack Obama of his top negotiator with North Korea, Stephen Bosworth, a former US ambassador to South Korea, while she and Yu called for the resumption of six-nation talks aimed at dismantling North Korea's nuclear weapons programme.
Both countries are involved in the talks along with North Korea, China, Japan and Russia.
The two diplomats also agreed to strengthen their military alliance. The United States has 28,500 soldiers stationed in South Korea as a deterrent to North Korea.
South Korea fears the recent tensions with North Korea could escalate into a limited military altercation, possibly over the two countries' contested border in the Yellow Sea.
Relations between the Korean Peninsula neighbours have soured since Lee took office a year ago, scrapped the so-called Sunshine Policy of his liberal predecessors and adopted a tougher course toward Pyongyang, demanding progress in dismantling the North's nuclear weapons programme in exchange for aid.
Repeated requests by Seoul for dialogue with Pyongyang have been rejected. Instead, Pyongyang has threatened Seoul with annihilation several times over the past weeks and in late January scrapped bilateral reconciliation agreements and nullified an agreement over its sea border with the South. It accused Lee's government of pursuing a confrontational policy.
Clinton arrived Thursday in South Korea during an Asian tour, her first overseas trip after becoming secretary of state last month. The former senator and first lady first visited Japan and Indonesia, and her final stop is China, where she was due later Friday.
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Older Talkback
page: 1
is that he thinks he amounts to something special when he is actually a loser.
'is that he thinks he amounts to something special when he is actually a loser.'
... well, let me ask you a question:
With a government that runs sequential trillion dollar deficits and is in hock and debt upto the wazoo, do you think that perhaps government employees can do video conferencing instead of jet setting all over the world?
I see no financial restraint or responsibility. Spendthrift if not a word in the U.S. Where is the financial restraint?
It looks like the U.S. is in this spending binge for the long haul: Spend until the U.S. goes broke.
'Spend until the U.S. goes broke.'
Oops, I made a mistake, that should be:
Spend until the U.S. goes MORE broke.
The people of the Great Depression learned one thing: Spend money wisely.
This recession (soon to be a depression brought about by currency devaluation and then a slamming of inflation) is different. People are learning to spend until every last dime is gone and not worry about what happens afterwards.
Text book credit-holic addict behavior.
Clinton to Obama: Talk optimistically on economy
news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090220/ap_on_go_pr_wh/clinton_obama_economy
Bill recommends 'Willful Ignorance' to ignore the problem while the wife takes luxury vacations to the orient.
Yup. Text book case. Credit-holic addicts through and through.
Barack Obama as next President of The United States of America
The die is cast and for reasons that only a privileged few know, you Sir, will be the next President of the United States of America. Your next 4 years will be a turning point in US history and planet earth. CHANGE, your advisors and high stake investors offer the nation will undoubtedly be the same rhetoric and empty promises that make up a political campaign, that campaigns for appointment for any public office in America.
The White House will be the Black House to some, the Aryan Brothers of America will not be so happy, but yet will blame you and your staff if you fail, which will reinforce their belief that the Aryan Nation is the true leader for America. The religious zealots will be busy bees making nests to survive the onslaught of lies, corruption and deceit. Business enterprises and other competing nations will capitalize off of your inexperience in the art of corruption and murder. The organized crime organizations from different nations including our own will benefit from the lack of control over national crime.
Military governments including our own will test your tolerance to pain and deception and trick you into needless and profitable domestic and international conflict. You will no doubt attempt to colorize your staff to soften the race conflict once in office.
As President you will be President. Nations will respect you only for your title of office. Americans will soon see after your appointment as President that your intentions were manipulated by those that make the rules. You will fill the spot in history as planned, and nothing more.
You will never while in office be able to pull the troops from conflict in any land we are engaged in. As a matter of fact we as a nation will be engaged in a new conflict of war, which will galvanize Americans to seek a different form of government and a different and honest Congress.
You will attempt to shore up Americas problems with false promise and lies, because you cannot directly affect the CHANGE you promised.
Your frustration will be your downfall while in office, and your co-dependence on those that you trust will also add to your demise.
Our Armed Forces in rank will respect you as good soldiers they are, but those under them will not, and for good reasons, that only a good soldier knows.
America will not be America until its government respects the People, and tells the truth. America is a Republic, not a Democracy or Fascist Government or is it?
Until you can walk thru the streets and neighborhoods of America unaided by Secret Service or any other law enforcement agency you will not be respected by the many, only by the fearful and selfish few. Americans can protect their leaders if they are honest and respectful of the people they were elected to serve. Our Government has forsaken us for many hundreds of years, and now we will wait until your 4 years are finished for us to come to fruition.
CHANGE FOR AMERICA FOR AMERICANS!
The American Republic
A Sovereign Republic
...Lance is free to show us all of the stellar accomplishments of his home nation anytime he wants!
'...Lance is free to show us all of the stellar accomplishments of his home nation anytime he wants!'
'Typical U.S. citizen' reaction.
The reaction is filed under any one of these categories:
(a) The U.S. feeds the world, so the U.S. can do anything it wants including mass killing people.
(b) You screw up, so you are not allowed to talk about the U.S.
(c) You sin, so you are not allowed to cast a stone. Only the U.S. is allowed to cast stones, and the U.S. does it with jesus-missiles.
Your comment is filed under the: 'everyone sins so everything is irrelevant' category. Such insipid thinking leads to this predicament and event:
Priests mass rape children and get away with it because everyone is a sinner.
Stupid, stupid, stupid.
...unable to trot out his home nation, most likely because it could never stand the scrutiny he lavishes on America, right Lance?
Heck, Lance, we get it from the world daily, but unlike you, we're still proud of our nation, denial, mass everything's and so on. I can defend my nation's actions...we actually DO feed and protect the world. We cooperate closely with out allies. We have forged close relationships with former enemies, and our trade partners are the most prosperous nations on earth. We have the fairest justice system on earth and the most productive workers in the world.
..can you defend yours? Now run along and focus your razor-sharp insight on that and be sure to get back to us.
You might consider the fact that many people feel the same way about their own country and nation. Such feelings are not exclusive to the U.S. citizen.
And that means ... your feelings are completely arbitrary. If you were a citizen of Russia you might say exactly the same thing!
Typical Nazi replys . How is North Korea doing compared to South Korea ? Mass killing ? 99 percent of the the ' mass killing ' in the world has nothing to do The Great Satan , er , i mean ' America ' .
If i remember correctly World Wars and all other wars were in Europe and Asia and other places not America .
RIP, Socks the White House cat! He died of throat cancer at age 20. I didn't even know he was a smoker! :-o
OK, obama cannot possibly give 1 trillion dollars to help the american working people!
You have to add up the numbers, three - four trillion gone for war in iraq, agfanistan, 2 trillion gone to save the jobs and investments basically of the rich shareholders of banks(who are actually respinsible for all this mess), all these from the tax payers hard worked and needed money, therefore, WE CANNOT POSSIBLY SPARE ONE MORE TRILLION DOLLARS OF THE PEOPLE FOR THE PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!!!!,AND THAT IS WHY NO PATRIOT REPUBLICANS VOTED FOR THIS SCANDALOUS BILL!
WE NEED THOSE TRILLION DOLLARS TO BUILT NEW WEAPONS FOR OUR FIGHT OF TERROR AGAINST THE WORLD, SO THAT WE EVENTUALLY DOMINATE THE WORLD!
and remember there is only one way, the american way!
lololololololololol.
'If i remember correctly World Wars and all other wars were in Europe and Asia and other places not America .'
- The long lasting and many genocidal wars against the American Indian (a 100 year war). Too many to list their names.
- The American Revolutionary War.
- The U.S. civil war.
- The Mexican American war.
- The War of 1812
My, how the 'typical U.S. citizen' is a history slut and 'willfully ignorant' moron.
page: 1
lanceFeb 20th, 2009 - 10:33:20
... Hilary will be OK as long as she doesn't do anything. Sure, she gets paid and uses up valuable resources taking luxury vacations on jets, but that is much better than spending money on cruise missiles.
The problem with the U.S. is when they actually do something. Like spend a trillion dollars mass killing people.
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