As Clinton lands in Asia, N. Korea makes threat
TOKYO - As Hillary Clinton arrived in Japan yesterday, her first foreign visit as secretary of state, North Korea threatened to test what its neighbors believe is a ballistic missile capable of reaching the United States.
"The possible missile launch that North Korea is talking about would be very unhelpful," Clinton told a news conference today, in her first remarks on the threat.
Before the North Koreans had made the threat, Clinton had employed a tone that was notably softer than previous US pronouncements, echoing remarks she made in New York last week.
"Our position is when they move forward in presenting a verifiable and complete dismantling and denuclearization, we have a great openness to working with them," she said on the flight to Tokyo.
She also repeated her offer to normalize ties with North Korea and help rebuild its economy if it abandoned its nuclear weapons.
But in what appeared to be a pointed challenge to her mission on this trip to Asia and a test for the new Obama administration, North Korea issued an oblique statement responding to recent news reports that it had been preparing to test-launch a Taepodong-2 missile from a base on its east coast.
"One will come to know later what will be launched," the North's state-run news agency, KCNA, said yesterday, the 67th birthday of the North Korean leader, Kim Jong Il.
In Seoul, the South Korean Defense Minister Lee Sang-hee said North Korea had been preparing to test a Taepodong-2 missile since January.
In recent weeks, South Korean media have reported that North Korean engineers were assembling a 105-foot Taepodong-2 missile.
Analysts and government officials in the region have feared that North Korea may launch a long-range missile to help make its nuclear program a top foreign policy issue for President Obama. North Korea has also threatened a naval clash with South Korea on their disputed western sea border.
With its economy in shambles and its isolation from most of the world, North Korea has often used military threats to extract economic aid and diplomatic benefits from other countries.
As she landed in Tokyo, Clinton appeared to be sticking with her previously scheduled agenda of a trip this week to four Asian countries, intended to build solidarity between the United States and Asia on issues such as the global economic crisis and climate change.
Stepping from her plane on a blustery, cold evening, she reaffirmed the "cornerstone" alliance between Washington and Tokyo and declared that "we have to work together to address the global financial crisis, which is affecting all of us."
With the Japanese government reporting yesterday that its economy shrank at the sharpest quarterly rate since 1974, the financial crisis is sure to figure high on Clinton's agenda, not just in Japan, but in Indonesia, South Korea, and China, which she will visit later in the week.
Choosing to make Asia her first official visit, rather than Europe or the Middle East, where secretaries of state traditionally begin their diplomatic travels, was also intended to send a message that the region was a high priority.
"This region is indispensable to our efforts to seize the opportunities and meet the challenges of the 21st century," she told reporters aboard the plane.
Clinton said she would pursue a partnership on climate change in China at the end of this week. She suggested, though, that she did not intend to press Beijing to accept mandatory caps on carbon emissions, something Obama supports, but which is not yet American policy.
"There are a number of different ways which we can explore with the Chinese to be partners," she said.
She also praised the Chinese for adopting a "robust" economic stimulus program. While she said she would raise human-rights concerns in Beijing, the subject does not seem likely to come up prominently.
Turning to another tense relationship, Clinton said she would meet in two weeks with the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, for what she said she hoped would be a "positive start." But she said the Obama administration had not decided whether to scale back a missile-defense system in Eastern Europe that has caused tension between Moscow and Washington.
Clinton's choice of Japan for her first stop is meant to reassure the Japanese that they remain America's key Asian ally. Ten years ago, former president Bill Clinton skipped Japan during an Asian swing and spent more than a week in Beijing.
But this time, Japan looms large in efforts to recover from the global economic crisis. With its enormous foreign-exchange reserves, the country has pledged as much as $100 billion in aid to the International Monetary Fund to help countries facing credit shortages because of the crisis. 