State Dept: U.S. Focused On Stability After N. Korean Leader’s Death

Following the death of North Korean ruler Kim Jong Il, the U.S. State Department today said that it was focused on preserving “regional stability and peace on the Korean peninsula.”

Speaking at today’s press briefing, Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland also said that despite recent discussions between U.S. and North Korean representatives in Beijing, “no decisions have been made” regarding whether or not the U.S. will extend food aid to North Korea or enter into bilateral peace talks with the isolated nation.

Kim Jong Il inherited power from his father, Kim Il Sung, in 1994.  His regime was widely described as the worst violator of human rights in the world.  North Korea’s ruling regime firmly controls all politics and media in the country, and hundreds of thousands of North Koreans are imprisoned in labor camps.

Approximately two million North Koreans died in a famine in the early years of Kim’s rule.  In November, the UN’s World Food Program reported that three million North Koreans were in need of food assistance, and that the amount of grain North Korea was planning to import was 400,000 tons short of its needs.  Many observers had expected the Obama administration to announce a massive food donation this week in exchange for a North Korean pledge to cease enriching uranium for its nuclear weapons program.

At a press conference with the Japanese foreign minister today, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that the U.S. hopes “for improved relations with the people of North Korea,” and is “deeply concerned about their well-being,”

In announcing the elder Kim’s death on Sunday, North Korean state TV declared that power had been passed to one of Kim’s sons, Kim Jong Un, whom Kim had been grooming for leadership for several years.

Nuland said that the U.S. will be “respectful of North Korea’s national mourning period” and wait to “see where they go in this transition period” before continuing talks with the North Korean government.  She also emphasized that the U.S. still expects North Korea to “abide by its international obligations” and give up its nuclear weapons.