Pyongyang hurled invective at "schoolgirl" Clinton and declared disarmament talks dead, as she told Asia's largest security forum that international efforts to squeeze the North over its atomic programme were paying off.

"They have no friends left that will protect them from the international community's efforts to move toward denuclearisation," Clinton told the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Regional Forum (ARF) in Phuket.

"I was gratified by how many countries from throughout the region stood up and expressed directly to the North Korean delegation their concern over the provocative behaviour we have seen over the past few months."

In Phuket, Clinton has met counterparts from China and Russia, two other ARF heavyweights that have traditionally been lukewarm about forthright action against North Korea.

North Korean delegates appeared agitated as they tried to organise a rare news conference just before Clinton was supposed to speak in the press area of a seaside hotel in the Thai resort island of Phuket.

Regime officials described Clinton's renewed offer of a package of incentives in return for disarmament as "nonsense," and lambasted the top US diplomat as unintelligent, a "funny lady" and a "primary schoolgirl."

"Hearing about the comprehensive package, I should say this is basically nonsense," roving ambassador Ri Hung-Sik said, vowing no dialogue until Washington changed its "deep-rooted hostile policy."

"The six-party talks are already dead," Ri added, referring to negotiations with the United States, Russia, China, Japan and South Korea which Pyongyang quit after the UN Security Council censured it for a rocket launch in April.

North Korea then conducted an underground nuclear test in May, triggering a Security Council resolution for beefed-up inspections of shipments going to and from the country and an expanded arms embargo.

Pyongyang's state media took an even more venomous line against Clinton, who earlier this week said the North Koreans were acting out like "unruly teenagers."

"Sometimes she looks like a primary schoolgirl and sometimes a pensioner going shopping," a foreign ministry spokesman was quoted as saying in attacking her "vulgar" remarks.

Meanwhile, the State Department hit back Thursday saying the unflattering characterizations of Clinton might better describe the regime in Pyongyang itself.

"What is vulgar is that the North Korean government chooses to harvest missiles rather than enough food for its people," declared State Department Philip Crowley in defense of his boss.

"And what is unintelligent is the path that the North Korean government has chosen. It's a dead-end which dooms the North Korean people to a dismal future," he said.

Clinton outlined possible incentives for North Korea including "significant energy and economic assistance," but only if it agreed to "full and verifiable denuclearisation."

"In short, our approach isolates North Korea, imposes meaningful pressure to force changes in its behaviour and provides an alternative path that would serve everyone's interests."

Clinton ramped up concerns over Pyongyang's activities earlier this week when she spoke of concerns that it was transferring weapons and nuclear technology to fellow pariah state Myanmar.

But she said Thursday that even Myanmar had now shown "encouraging" support for enforcing the sanctions against North Korea, after her aides held a rare meeting late Wednesday with a delegation from Myanmar's junta.

Myanmar had helped turn away a North Korean ship headed for the country last month, she said, noting the "positive" direction shown by the ruling generals while warning that change would not come overnight.

Clinton, who flew out of Phuket late Thursday, had urged the ARF members to deny suspect North Korean ships access to ports and help to enforce financial sanctions on firms linked to nuclear procurement.

A statement issued by the ARF at the end of the forum said ministers "of several countries" condemned North Korea's missile and nuclear tests and urged a resumption of the six-party talks.

But it included a paragraph saying that the talks "had already come to an end" and that Pyongyang "did not recognise and totally rejected" the UN resolutions.

It said North Korea "briefed the meeting of the fact that the ongoing aggravated situation on the Korean peninsula is the product of the hostile policy of the United States against her."

earlier related report
Clinton sanctions call sparks NKorea rage
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Thursday urged Asian nations to enforce sanctions against North Korea, sparking an unusually personal outburst from the nuclear-armed communist state.

Clinton was later expected to hold out both incentives and the threat of reprisals in a bid to prod Pyongyang into scrapping its nuclear aims, amid concerns that military-ruled Myanmar is now receiving help from North Korea.

North Korea hit back by describing six-party disarmament talks on its atomic weapons programme as dead and urging the United States to drop its "hostile" policy, while calling Clinton unintelligent and a "funny lady."

"North Korea must end its pursuit of nuclear weapons and fulfil its pledges. North Korea's response in turn has been more threatening behaviour," Clinton told the 26-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations Regional Forum (ARF).

Speaking in the Thai resort of Phuket, she said Washington would use "every avenue" to get North Korea to drop its nuclear programme, adding: "The ASEAN Regional Forum can play an important role in achieving this outcome."

Kim Jong-Il's hermit regime bolted the six-party negotiations with the United States, Russia, China, Japan and South Korea after the UN Security Council censured it for a long-range rocket launch in April.

North Korea then conducted an underground nuclear test in May, triggering a Security Council resolution for beefed-up inspections of shipments going to and from the country and an expanded arms embargo.

Clinton ramped up concerns over Pyongyang's activities earlier this week when she said there were concerns that it was transferring nuclear technology to fellow pariah state Myanmar.

The US secretary of state -- who met her counterparts from Russia, Japan, South Korea and China on Wednesday -- called on the ARF participant states to continue carrying out the terms of the latest resolution.

"That means denying North Korean vessels access to any trans-shipment points and cooperating with the enforcement of financial sanctions against those designated entities that support North Korea's efforts to acquire nuclear weapons," she said.

Last week, in line with resolution 1874, the Security Council slapped sanctions on five individuals and five entities from North Korea known to be involved in Pyongyang's banned nuclear and ballistic missile activities.

Japanese officials at the forum confirmed that Tokyo would freeze all their assets in Japan on Friday.

Clinton was expected to outline a new approach to Pyongyang later Thursday, including a bid to tempt the North into "full and verifiable denuclearisation" with "significant energy and economic assistance."

But a North Korean delegate at the talks attacked Washington's "deep-rooted hostile policy" and vowed no dialogue until it changes, Seoul's Yonhap news agency reported from Phuket.

A North Korean foreign ministry spokesman quoted separately by the North's state news agency accused Clinton of making "a spate of vulgar remarks unbecoming for her position everywhere she went since she was sworn in."

"Her words suggest that she is by no means intelligent," the spokesman said.

"Sometimes she looks like a primary schoolgirl and sometimes a pensioner going shopping. Anyone making misstatements has to pay for them."

Clinton meanwhile sought to rally support over Myanmar after her aides held a rare meeting late Wednesday with a delegation from the ruling junta focusing on the North Korea sanctions and the treatment of democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, a US official said Thursday.

Myanmar Foreign Minister Nyan Win pledged that his country would obey the UN sanctions on North Korea when he met his Japanese counterpart Hirofumi Nakasone on Wednesday, Japanese officials said.

"We are gratified by Burma's willingness to enforce the Security Council resolution to curb North Korea's nuclear ambitions," Clinton said in her ARF speech, referring to Myanmar by its former name.

In Wednesday's meeting with the Myanmar officials, US officials said future steps on improving ties would depend on the outcome of the trial of Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

She faces up to five years in jail after an American man swam uninvited to her lakeside house in May.

Share This Article With Planet Earth

del.icio.us	Digg	Reddit
YahooMyWeb	Google	Facebook

Related Links
Learn about nuclear weapons doctrine and defense at SpaceWar.com
Learn about missile defense at SpaceWar.com
All about missiles at SpaceWar.com
Learn about the Superpowers of the 21st Century at SpaceWar.com

Memory Foam Mattress Review

SPACE MEDIA NETWORK PROMOTIONS Solar Energy Solutions Tempur-Pedic Mattress Comparison ... Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News