U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, currently on a trip in India and Thailand, gave an interview to the ABC show “Good Morning America” on Monday. Speaking in New Delhi, Clinton commented on the subtle shift in U.S. policy that has occurred in recent months, whereby the U.S. government generally refuses to comment on inflammatory North Korean rhetoric and activities, including the recent American Independence Day launch of seven missiles, while also dismissing the idea that North Korea represents a direct threat to the U.S.
Clinton spoke in withering terms about North Korean tactics, characterizing them as simple attention-seeking. Commenting on the absence of comment which followed the July 4th launches, Clinton said, “We weren’t going to give them the satisfaction they were looking for, which was to try to elevate them again to center stage.”
“Maybe it’s the mother in me, or maybe the experience I’ve had with small children, and unruly teenagers, and people who are demanding attention,” Clinton said, “don’t give it to them.”
“They are acting out, in a way, to send a message that is not a message that we are interested in receiving,” she concluded.
Additionally, the Secretary of State moved to downplay the threat to the U.S. from North Korea, which has been inflated in the media by virtue of the fact that North Korea’s longest-range weapon, the “Taepodong-2,” is, in theory, capable of reaching the mainland United States.
Clinton, however, was unmoved, saying, “They don’t pose a threat to us.”
Nevertheless, North Korea does continue to hold two American journalists, Laura Ling and Euna Lee, and although she refused to acknowledge that her recent words were an apology, Clinton nevertheless stuck to the line that the two did do something wrong and that they are apologetic, and should be released. “It is a recognition of what the young women themselves have said,” Clinton claimed, talking about the journalists and their families’ public apologies before the June 4th trial in Pyongyang, “Our most important goal now is to make sure that these women get home safely and get returned to their families.”
