US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton yesterday warned North Korea against following through on a threatened missile launch, saying it would damage its prospects for improved relations with the US and the world.
In Tokyo on her first trip abroad as the US’ top diplomat, Clinton also stressed US commitment to Japan’s security, signed a military deal to advance that and underscored the importance of the alliance by inviting Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso to Washington next week.
Aso, deeply unpopular at home, will be the first foreign leader to visit US President Barack Obama at the White House, and the summit next Tuesday is a sign the world’s two largest economies know they have a special responsibility to deal with the global financial crisis, Clinton said.
After a full day of events, including a visit to a Shinto shrine, meetings with the foreign and defense ministers, tea with Empress Michiko and a talk with students, Clinton had dinner with Aso and then met with opposition leader Ichiro Ozawa, the favorite to succeed the prime minister should his government fall.
She had hoped to broaden US-Asian relations to include climate change, clean energy and the world’s economic woes on her maiden overseas voyage, but North Korea and its increasingly belligerent rhetoric toward its neighbors were clearly at the top of her agenda.
Just before she arrived in Japan on Monday, North Korea used the 67th birthday of its leader Kim Jong-il to claim it has the right to “space development” — a term it has used in the past to disguise a long-range missile test as a satellite launch.
A day later, Clinton, without prompting, told reporters at a news conference with Japanese Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone that such a move would jeopardize the Obama administration’s willingness to work for better ties with Pyongyang.
“The possible missile launch that North Korea is talking about would be very unhelpful in moving our relationship forward,” she said, adding that if Pyongyang wants to end its isolation it also has to fulfill unmet denuclearization pledges made during the Bush administration.
Clinton and Nakasone yesterday signed an agreement to reduce tensions caused by the presence of US troops on Japanese soil. Under the deal, which has been in the works for years, 8,000 Marines now stationed on the Japanese island of Okinawa will be moved to the US Pacific territory of Guam. There are 50,000 US troops in Japan, about 20,000 of them on Okinawa.
On the financial crisis, Clinton said the US and Japan had to work together to formulate an adequate response.
Nakasone agreed.
“This is a global financial and economic crisis and therefore all economic powers will need to cooperate with each other and try to resolve the issue in a concerted manner,” he said, calling the US stimulus bill “most meaningful.”
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