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MARCO WERMAN: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had a message for North Korea today. She said Washington was “ready to normalize relations with Pyongyang, if the North Koreans are willing to completely and verifiably dismantle their nuclear weapons program.” Secretary Clinton made the statement in a speech at the Asia Society in New York. The speech previewed her trip to Asia next week – Clinton's first as Secretary of State. The World's Matthew Bell is in New York. And Matthew, what else did Secretary Clinton say about North Korea?

MATTHEW BELL: Marco, she talked a lot about – in terms about North Korea, things that we've heard before, and that is that the Obama administration intends to continue with the six-party talks process that the Bush administration started. The most interesting thing in her speech came during her prepared remarks. And it was sort of laying out what are the carrots involved – the rewards, that is – if North Korea does disarm, get rid of its nuclear weapon programs. Here's what she had to say.

HILLARY CLINTON: If North Korea is genuinely prepared to completely and verifiably eliminate their nuclear weapons program, the Obama administration will be willing to normalize bilateral relations, replace the Peninsula's long-standing armistice agreements with a permanent peace treaty, and assist in meeting the energy and other economic needs of the North Korean people.

WERMAN: Well, that must have come as something of a surprise to the people gathered to hear the Secretary of State, Matt.

BELL: Yeah. As I said, we've heard before that the Obama administration plans to continue the 6-party talks process, but this is a very explicit laying-out of the rewards for the North Koreans. And these are sort of the “end game” rewards that the Bush administration had talked about. They actually set up a working group under the Bush administration to eventually normalize relations with the North Koreans, but it wasn't so explicit and not so upfront and early on in the process. The 6-party talks of course have been stop-and-start for years. They've been incredibly frustrating. The big question now is what can come out of this process that has been so unfruitful? Now, I should mention that Hillary Clinton brought up one of the big concerns from probably the United States most important ally in this, and that's Japan. They're very concerned about the abduction issue. There are families that have relatives abducted back in the 70's and 80's from the North Koreans, and they're still unaccounted for. It's a very emotional issue in Japan, and Hillary Clinton promised to meet with the relatives of the abduction victims next week while she's in Japan.

WERMAN: Usually, the Secretary of State takes their first trip to the “old friends” in Europe. Why is Secretary Clinton going to Asia first?

BELL: She was asked about that, Marco, and she talked about solving global problems with America's partners around the world and other countries. And she talked about rising Asia and said that the United States wants to work with its partners in Asia, work with all countries there. As I talked with one Asia expert who put it this way and said, “You know, Asia's not the Middle East. It's a place where she can take her first trip and not sort of be confronting face-to-face the United States' most troubling foreign policy challenges. It will mostly highlight getting off on the right foot as Secretary of State Clinton gets started.

WERMAN: As far as the economic crisis goes, what do you think is the most important leg of this Asia trip for Hillary Clinton?

BELL: Well, that's absolutely the biggest issue, and she talked about that a bit today. But she's going to talk about it in all four countries, but it's undoubtedly China. She brought up an ancient Chinese saying to highlight this, and it went something like “when you're in the same raft, you have to cross the river peacefully.” I think that actually gives a pretty good picture about how the United States and China, unlike ever before, are definitely interlinked in this financial crisis.

WERMAN: The World's Matthew Bell, who has been listening in on Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's talk at the Asia Society today in New York. Thank you very much, Matthew.

BELL: You're welcome.

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