Secretary Clinton on N. Korea and Honduras

Secretary Clinton continues with a jam-packed schedule in India but while she is there, she has made clear that that is not her sole focus, as other foreign policy issues around the world continue to demand her attention.

With respect to the ongoing deadlock in Honduras:

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has called de factor Honduran leader Roberto Micheletto to warn him about the consequences for his country if it does not permit ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya to return to power, the State Department said Monday.

Clinton called Micheletti on Sunday from New Delhi, where she is meeting with Indian officials on climate change.

It is the first call from Clinton since she met with Zelaya in Washington two weeks ago following his removal from power for trying to hold a referendum in defiance of an order by the nation’s Supreme Court. The United States supports Zelaya’s return to office.

State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley described Clinton’s conversation with Micheletti as “tough,” and said that Clinton warned him the longterm relationship between the U.S. and Honduras could suffer. She explicitly mentioned U.S. aid, Crowley said.

The European Union already has suspended $90 million in aid to Honduras.

Talks between Zelaya and Micheletti have been suspended for 72 hours, U.S. officials said, downplaying reports that negotiations to return Zelaya to his home country have irrevocably collapsed.

The talks broke down amid disagreement over whether Zelaya can return to his position but with limited powers, or whether he would have to stand trial for his alleged crimes.

And of course, who can forget the The Paranoid Kingdom (ie. North Korea). I’ve blogged about Kim Jong Il’s tendency to act out (in addition to my wondering who is actually running The Paranoid KingdomN. Korea) when he feels like he’s being ignored and I am so glad that Secretary Clinton came out and bluntly referred to his attention-seeking behavior, because that’s what it is:

…“What we’ve seen is this constant demand for attention,” said Mrs. Clinton, in an interview that aired on ABC’s “Good Morning America” on Monday morning. “And maybe it’s the mother in me or the experience that I’ve had with small children and unruly teenagers and people who are demanding attention — don’t give it to them, they don’t deserve it, they are acting out,” she said….

Also regarding North Korea (from CNN’s Jill Dougherty):

The State Department on Monday continued to publicly downplay the threat North Korea presents to the United States with spokesman P.J. Crowley telling reporters North Korea “represents an infinitesimal threat to the United States directly.”

The spokesman’s statement followed comments from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in an interview with ABC, broadcast Monday, in which she said the reason for the United States’ low-key reaction to North Korea’s recent missile test was that the United States wasn’t “going to give the North Koreans the satisfaction they were looking for, which was to elevate them to center stage.”

In that interview, Clinton said North Korea has a “constant demand for attention,” and she added, “maybe it’s the mother in me, the experience I’ve had with small children and teenagers and people who are demanding attention: Don’t give it to them.”

After calling the direct threat to the U.S. “infinitesimal,” Crowley went on to say that “North Korea, and its provocative actions, does represent a significant threat to the region and its actions recently have been unhelpful and potentially destabilizing…”