In Seoul, Clinton quiet on North Korea issue

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Source: The Washington Post

SEOUL — When Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton landed here Saturday night, she had a whole list of issues she wanted to talk over with South Korean officials, including a pending free-trade agreement and disaster relief for their mutual ally Japan.

But she made no direct mention in her public remarks of one key goal that, according to U.S. officials, she hoped to address: the ever-present, vexing problem of Seoul’s neighbor to the north.

The past two years — ever since President Obama’s inauguration — have been especially challenging for U.S. diplomacy on the Korean peninsula. In that short time, North Korea has torpedoed a South Korean ship unprovoked, bombarded civilians in the South and detonated a nuclear weapon in a test. All the while, the six-party talks to denuclearize North Korea’s government have remained stalled.

In her opening speech to South Korea’s foreign minister, Clinton mentioned none of this, touching on North Korea only obliquely with a mention of “non-proliferation.” But U.S. officials say one major reason for her visit was to shore up the U.S. relationship with Seoul and to make sure they’re on the same page on North Korea.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/in_seoul_clinton_quiet_on_north_korea_issue/2011/04/16/AFJyNdqD_story.html