2009年6月1日 星期一

Quote of the week

Facing a national uproar over lawmakers claiming lavish expenses, Britain's prime minister, Gordon Brown, promised Sunday to pursue constitutional reforms — including a proposal to remove legislators' power to decide their own pay. He said the government was considering reforms that would mean lawmakers no longer set the rules about their salaries and expenses.
“There will be no more of the gentleman's club,” Mr. Brown said on the BBC's Andrew Marr Show. Self-regulation, closed society — that was a 19th-century idea.”
He said he wanted to overhaul the House of Lords, the unelected upper chamber, and set up external supervision of Parliament, adding that he wanted an independent panel to scrutinize all lawmakers' expense claims for the past four years.

U.S. officials headed to Asia for 'intensive' talks on North Korea

By Elise Labott CNN State Department Producer

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A high-level U.S. delegation is going to Asia for "intensive consultations" on what North Korea's increasingly alarming behavior means for U.S. security alliances in the region, senior administration officials tell CNN.

The trip will spin off Defense Secretary Robert Gates' previously announced trip to a regional security conference in Singapore and consultations in Tokyo, Japan, the senior officials said.
After those stops, a delegation led by Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg is expected to travel to Beijing, Seoul and Moscow to discuss how the U.S. partners in the six-party talks should deal with North Korea, the senior officials said.

The State Department announced Thursday that Steinberg will accompany Gates to Singapore for the security conference, and then to Tokyo "for consultations with senior Japanese officials on a range of bilateral, regional and international issues." Defense ministers from Japan and South Korea are expected to be at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore.

The senior officials said that Steinberg then will lead a delegation to the other three stops. He is expected to be accompanied by Undersecretary of Defense Michelle Flournoy, Special Representative for North Korea Policy Stephen Bosworth, and Jeffrey Bader, senior director for Asian affairs on the National Security Council, the officials said.

While North Korea is unpredictable, Pyongyang has said publicly it would conduct a nuclear test and missile tests and has proved true to its word.

Washington still refuses to accept North Korea as a full-fledged nuclear power. But officials said the Obama administration is having serious discussions about whether the nation's actions this week have constituted a "tipping point," offering the world final proof about its intentions to develop what it calls a "nuclear deterrent."

"People are rightfully asking whether this is a game changer," one senior official said about North Korea's recent antics. "Are they saying, as they have been signaling, 'We are going to be a nuclear power come hell or high water and you will have to deal with us from that position'? Is this for real and how do we deal with this? These are disturbing circumstances which will require a different posture."

Officials say the discussions will go beyond the resolution being crafted at the U.N. Security Council and will address the determination and capability of nations to get tough on North Korea. The goal, they say, is to persuade Pyongyang that going back to the negotiating table is the only option. They say all scenarios will be put on the table, including strengthening resolve to interdict ships bound for and coming from North Korea, as well as tougher economic and trade sanctions to curb Pyongyang's access to income.

"If we accept that this is what they are doing, will China's position be the same?" the senior official asked. "Russia will also be key. Are these countries ready to really put the screws to North Korea?"

South Korea and Japan will also be asked to think beyond their rhetoric and country-specific issues, such as the Japanese abductee issue, to think about the larger issues of security in the region.

"This all makes us ask what this means for our alliance relationship," the senior official said. "We have to discuss how we meet the threat without creating a panic with what we are doing."

Seriously complicating matters is the health of ailing North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. Officials say no one knows who is running North Korea, one of the most opaque and mysterious countries in the world. There is also no clear line of succession in place once Kim dies.

Officials say the country's internal dynamics are a large, if not the critical, component driving North Korea's actions, which is particularly concerning because the future of the regime is an aspect in which no nation, including the China, can do anything to alter the equation. That means that even the most strenuous international diplomacy might influence North Korean behavior only on the margins and will have little effect on how this situation ultimately plays out.

Comment on Korean Peninsula

Recent days, the Korea Peninsula becomes more unstable. The former president of South Korea Roh Moo-Hyun suicide and North Korea keeps launching the missiles to provoke the international society. As soon as South Korea declared that they join the PSI, North Korea also declared that they will no longer observe the armistice of Korean War.

The international society condemns North Korea whenever they launch the missile, especially South Korea and Japan. In 2006, North Korea tested the first nuclear weapon and it made the U.S. very nervous. The U.S. even raised the alarm level to the second. This time, North Korea launched the missiles and tested the nuclear and ignored the denunciation of the international society has made it to be regarded as one of the most dangerous country in the world.

China and Russia, as the best allies of North Korea, also agree with the UN Security Council that North Korea should receive the punishment. But in order to the economic independence and other interests, China may not join the U.S. and other countries to impose sanction against North Korea. Therefore, China plays the most important role in this game.

South Korea and Japan strongly insist that North Korea should give up nuclear and missile, and come back to the table for negotiation. South Korean president Lee Myung-Bak has warned North Korea that they will never allow those provocative actions to happen again, they may try every way to keep peace in the region. UN Security Council hasn't decided the sanction against North Korea yet.

The U.S. and the other countries urge North Korea to come back to the table and negotiate for giving up nuclear and missile. They want to hold the six-party talks as soon as possible, the outside think that they must talk about building a non-nuclear Korean Peninsula and keeping the region peace. However, North Korea holds a strong position, and declares that they are a sovereignty country; it's legal to have nuclear weapon. The international power is now against North Korea power, and they can't reach a balance. As an unpredictable bomb, what's North Korea's next step? The whole world is on the alert.