Clinton to lay out terms for North Korea on nukes

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is laying out the incentives that the U.S. believes could be offered to North Korea if it returns to negotiations over its nuclear weapons program and takes steps to irreversibly end it.

Clinton, winding up a weeklong Asia trip, was meeting Tursday with her counterparts from across the region to discuss a range of security issues, including North Korea and international efforts to end political repression in Myanmar, the military-run country also known as Burma.

U.S. officials held out the possibility of a lower-level U.S. meeting, or exchang, in Phuket on Thursday with a representative from either Myanmar or North Korea, or both. Clinton has said she has no intention of meeting with anyone from either delegation.

She told reporters Wednesday that the U.S. is convinced that Myanmar is taking the wrong road by associating with North Korea - posibly developing a secret military and even a nuclear relationship with Pyongyang.

"So there are lots of issues that Burma raises for the entire region, not just the United States," she said. They include political persecution and the imprisonment of political dissidents. She called for the release of prodemocracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who is accused of violating the terms of her house arrest. The Nobel Peace Prize laureate faces up to five years in prison if convicted.

"And if she were released, that would open up opportunities at least for my country to expand its relationship with Burma, including ivestments in Burma," she said.

At Wednesday's news conference, Clinton also told reporters that North Korea must completely and irreversibly end its nuclear weapons program or face further isolation and "the unrelenting pressure" of international sanctions.

fter consulting at the seaside resort of Phuket with her counterparts from China, Russia, Japan and South Korea on a strategy for enforcing the latest U.N. Security Council sanctions against North Korea, Clinton said there is a more positive way ahead if the North chooses.

She said China, Japan, Russia andSouth Korea agree with Washington on the core goal of irreversibly ending North Korea's nuclear program, and she said the international community is in a "strong position" in its push to change North Korean policy.

Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi told reporters Thursday that it was important to restrt stalled talks aimed at shelving the program soon.

"I believe this is an effective platform from which one can proceed to cooperate on the nuclear issue on the Korean peninsula. China will continue to do its best," he said.

Clinton's staff said she intends to announce on Thursday that if North Kora were to take irreversible steps to denuclearize, then the United States and its negotiating partners would be willing to reciprocate in a "comprehensive and coordinated" fashion.

"Full normalization of relations, a permanent peace regime, and significant energy and economic assistance are all possible n the context of full and verifiable denuclearization," she planned to say Thursday, according to excerpts of her prepared remarks released late Wednesday by her staff.

"In the meantime, we will undertake the necessary defensive measures to protect our interests and our allies. North Korea's ongoing threatening behavior does not inspire trust, nor does it permit us to sit idly by," she added.

Asked by a reporter what specific steps North Korea must take, Clinton indicated they include dismantling its main nuclear reactor at Yongbyon and surrendering its plutonium stockpile. The particular details of required actions are to be determined by technical experts, she added.

"We do not want to be in another negotiation that doesn't move us toward the goal of denuclearization," she said Wednesday. "So we want verifiable, irreversible steps taken." She said the Obama administration knows it will be difficult to achieve this goal, given North Korea's record of having agreed during the administration of President George W. Bush to end its nuclear program, only to change course. Last year it declared the so-called six-party negotiations - with the U.S., Russia, China, Japan and South Korea - dead.

The concern in Asia and the United States about North Korea's nuclear program goes beyond the prospect of the communist regime having the capacity to threaten nuclear attack. It also reflects a growing worry that a nuclear-armed North would lead Japan, South Korea and possibly others in the region to decide they, too, must embark on development of a nuclear arsenal. And there is worry that North Korea, desperate for cash, could sell its nuclear know-how to other rogue regimes or even to a terrorist group.

Clinton arrived in the region last Friday, with stops in India at Mumbai and New Delhi, and was in Bangkok Tuesday and earlier Wednesday. She has used the visits to highlight an administration commitment to broaden U.S. diplomatic ties in Asia.