The US said on Thursday it planned no concessions to lure North Korea back to nuclear disarmament talks but welcomed a trial date for two detained US journalists as a sign their ordeal could end.
Showing a cool public face toward a hardening line from North Korea, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Washington and its negotiating partners were united in expecting North Korea to fulfill its disarmament obligations.
“North Korea knows what we expect of them,” Clinton told reporters. “Obviously each of these countries has a different experience and perspective of North Korea but we are very united in our belief that we have to be patient.”
The US has been involved in negotiations with North Korea and South Korea, China, Japan and Russia aimed at scrapping North Korea’s weapons-grade nuclear program in return for aid under a landmark agreement signed in 2007.
“We intend to have an open door for a return to the six-party talks and China, which is the chair, has made it clear as well to the North Koreans that they wish to see this begin again,” Clinton told reporters.
“So the ball is in the North Korean court and we are not concerned about chasing after the North Koreans and offering concessions to North Korea. They know what their obligations are,” the chief US diplomat said.
The six-party negotiations deadlocked late last year over a dispute with North Korea over how to verify disarmament before taking a sharp turn for the worse with North Korea’s launch of a long-range rocket on April 5.
North Korea about two weeks ago threatened to conduct a second nuclear test — after one staged in 2006 — and ballistic missile tests unless the UN Security Council apologized for condemning and punishing its rocket launch.
Pyongyang said it put a peaceful satellite into orbit but the US, South Korea and Japan said it staged a disguised missile test.
Analysts suspect that North Korea is taking an increasingly hard line in a bid to open direct talks with the US.
Days before the missile launch, Clinton’s top envoy for North Korea, Stephen Bosworth, dismissed suggestions that North Korea had taken a tough stance because the US was not using enough leverage to make it back down.
“Pressure is not the most productive line of approach. You have to combine pressure with incentives and I think we’re in a position to begin doing that,” he said without elaborating.
Bosworth also supported a return to one-on-one talks between North Korea and the US, saying they may actually strengthen the broader six-party talks.
Clinton meanwhile saw a silver lining in the case of two US journalists who have been detained for weeks and who now face a trial on June 4, following an announcement by the North Koreans on Thursday.
“Actually the trial date being set, we view as a welcome timeframe,” Clinton said. “We believe that the charges are baseless and should not have been brought and these two young women should be released immediately.”
But she added that “the fact that they are now going to have some process we believe is a signal that there can be and I hope will be a resolution as soon as possible.”
The North Koreans gave no details of the charges against the two women who were detained on March 17 along the narrow Tumen River that marks the border with China.
North Korea has previously said they would go on trial for “hostile acts” and illegally entering the country. Their trial would be held “on the basis of the confirmed crimes committed by them,” it has announced.
Euna Lee, a Korean-American, and Laura Ling (凌志美), a Taiwanese-American, were working on a story about refugees fleeing North Korea.
Nauru has started selling passports to fund climate action, but is so far struggling to attract new citizens to the low-lying, largely barren island in the Pacific Ocean. Nauru, one of the world’s smallest nations, has a novel plan to fund its fight against climate change by selling so-called “Golden Passports.” Selling for US$105,000 each, Nauru plans to drum up more than US$5 million in the first year of the “climate resilience citizenship” program. Almost six months after the scheme opened in February, Nauru has so far approved just six applications — covering two families and four individuals. Despite the slow start —
YELLOW SHIRTS: Many protesters were associated with pro-royalist groups that had previously supported the ouster of Paetongtarn’s father, Thaksin, in 2006 Protesters rallied on Saturday in the Thai capital to demand the resignation of court-suspended Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra and in support of the armed forces following a violent border dispute with Cambodia that killed more than three dozen people and displaced more than 260,000. Gathered at Bangkok’s Victory Monument despite soaring temperatures, many sang patriotic songs and listened to speeches denouncing Paetongtarn and her father, former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, and voiced their backing of the country’s army, which has always retained substantial power in the Southeast Asian country. Police said there were about 2,000 protesters by mid-afternoon, although
MOGAMI-CLASS FRIGATES: The deal is a ‘big step toward elevating national security cooperation with Australia, which is our special strategic partner,’ a Japanese official said Australia is to upgrade its navy with 11 Mogami-class frigates built by Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Australian Minister for Defence Richard Marles said yesterday. Billed as Japan’s biggest defense export deal since World War II, Australia is to pay US$6 billion over the next 10 years to acquire the fleet of stealth frigates. Australia is in the midst of a major military restructure, bolstering its navy with long-range firepower in an effort to deter China. It is striving to expand its fleet of major warships from 11 to 26 over the next decade. “This is clearly the biggest defense-industry agreement that has ever
DEADLY TASTE TEST: Erin Patterson tried to kill her estranged husband three times, police said in one of the major claims not heard during her initial trial Australia’s recently convicted mushroom murderer also tried to poison her husband with bolognese pasta and chicken korma curry, according to testimony aired yesterday after a suppression order lapsed. Home cook Erin Patterson was found guilty last month of murdering her husband’s parents and elderly aunt in 2023, lacing their beef Wellington lunch with lethal death cap mushrooms. A series of potentially damning allegations about Patterson’s behavior in the lead-up to the meal were withheld from the jury to give the mother-of-two a fair trial. Supreme Court Justice Christopher Beale yesterday rejected an application to keep these allegations secret. Patterson tried to kill her
RSS