Obama, Hu to discuss N. Korea, Iran, yuan and human rights

   WASHINGTON (Yonhap) -- The White House said Tuesday North Korea will be among the major topics at the crucial Sino-U.S. summit here Wednesday. Also high on the agenda are Iran's nuclear ambitions, the Chinese currency yuan's revaluation and human rights.

   "There are a whole host of issues and topics that we anticipate that the two leaders will discuss tomorrow before meeting with you guys," Robert Gibbs, White House press secretary, told reporters.

"You mentioned Iran and North Korea in the security basket; I'd say currency and trade in the economic basket; and the very important issue and real issue of human rights."

   Chinese President Hu Jintao will give a rare joint press conference at the White House after meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama Wednesday with two reporters each from the U.S. and Chinese sides asking questions, according to White House officials.

   Hu will begin a three-day state visit with a private dinner with Obama at the White House late Tuesday. He will attend a 21-gun salute ceremony for a state visit and have a meeting with Obama Wednesday morning, before attending a luncheon at the State Department hosted by Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary Hillary Clinton.

   Later Wednesday, Hu will visit a new Chinese embassy complex and then attend a state dinner at the White House. On Thursday, Hu will visit congressional leaders on Capitol Hill and give a speech at a luncheon meeting with business leaders before leaving for Chicago later in the day.

   "You heard, again, (Treasury) Secretary (Timothy) Geithner discuss the steps, as you have for many months, on currency that need to take place; the role that the Chinese have to play in that region of the world in dealing with countries like North Korea, just as they have been helpful in dealing with sanctions at the U.N. on previous actions of North Korea as well as sanctions around the Islamic Republic of Iran," Gibbs said.

   North Korea is under U.N. sanctions imposed after its nuclear and missile tests in 2009.

   The six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear dismantlement have been in limbo for more than two years over the North's nuclear and missile tests and the shelling of a South Korean front-line island and the torpedoing of a South Korean warship last year that killed 50 people, including two civilians.

   In an interview with The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal published Sunday, Hu called for early resumption of the six-party talks, expressing hope that "the relevant parties will seize the opportunity to engage in active interactions, resume the process of dialogue and consultation as soon as possible, and ensure that the situation on the peninsula will move forward in a positive direction."

   Seoul and Washington insist that Pyongyang apologize for the shelling of Yeonpyeong Island and the sinking of the Cheonan before any resumption of bilateral or multilateral talks.

   Despite international pressure to rein in North Korea, China has been reluctant to sanction the country as any instability could result in a massive influx of North Korean refugees across their shared border or a unified Korean Peninsula under the control of South Korea, supported by the U.S.

   In an interview with China's CCTV, Clinton said, "When it comes to North Korea, we know that that's a particularly sensitive issue because North Korea is China's neighbor, and we are working intensely to find a way that we can change the behavior of North Korea," according to a transcript released by the State Department.

   Clinton Friday called on China to do more to restrain North Korea, heavily dependent on its communist neighbor for energy, food and other necessities.

   "Until North Korea demonstrates in concrete ways its intention to keep its commitments, China, along with the international community, must vigorously enforce the sanctions adopted by the Security Council last year," she said.

   Pyongyang in recent weeks has proposed unconditional inter-Korean dialogue. Seoul and Washington dismissed the North's proposals as traditional brinkmanship and insisted that the North's rapprochement with South Korea should precede any resumption of bilateral or multilateral talks.

   The top U.S. diplomat urged North Korea to improve ties with South Korea.

   "We are building momentum in support of North-South dialogue that respects the legitimate concerns of our South Korean ally and that can set the stage for meaningful talks on implementing North Korea's 2005 commitment to irreversibly end its nuclear program," Clinton said.

   The six-party deal signed in 2005 calls for the North's nuclear dismantlement in return for massive economic aid and diplomatic and political benefits.

   North Korea revealed in November a uranium enrichment plant that could serve as a second way of building nuclear bombs in addition to its existing plutonium program. Pyongyang insists the facility is producing fuel for power generation.

   South Korean President Lee Myung-bak has called for the U.N. Security Council to discuss the North's uranium program, although China is reluctant to acknowledge the existence of such a program, citing a lack of first-hand information.

   State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said the U.S. has "brought these issues before the U.N. Security Council before."

   "Not ruling out that we will bring these discussions forward again, we are involved in a broad range of discussions to determine what to do about it," he said.  

   Beijing, a veto power in the U.N. Security Council, has greatly diluted a council statement on the Cheonan's sinking -- blamed on North Korea by an international investigation team, and has not yet denounced Pyongyang for the sinking and the artillery attack on Yeonpyeong.

   U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said last week that North Korea's missiles and nuclear weapons will pose a threat to the U.S. within five years, urging the North to impose a moratorium on nuclear and missile testing to help revive the six-party nuclear talks.

   North Korea detonated nuclear devices in 2006 and 2009, and conducted long-range missile tests three times -- in 1998, 2006 and 2009 -- which were seen as a partial success.

   Pyongyang is believed to have several nuclear weapons, with some experts saying it could have already developed nuclear warheads small enough to be mounted on ballistic missiles with the help of China or Pakistan.

   Elizabeth Economy, senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, is pessimistic about Obama and Hu narrowing differences and agreeing to concrete steps on North Korea. 

   "It's not clear to me exactly what substantive steps forward the United States and China are making with regard to North Korea," Economy said. "I think we'll have to wait to see what the reality is of this U.S.-China cooperation and whether we're going to get North Korea to take the steps necessary that I think South Korea and the United States both, and Japan, all want to see North Korea take before we're willing to sit down to the six-party talks."

   Jamie Metzl, executive vice president of Asia Society, is a bit more optimistic.

   Obama and Hu might "compromise on North Korea," Metzl said.

"Washington seems likely to shift to the Chinese position of talking to North Korea, although presumably Beijing will offer something in return, a hard commitment from Pyongyang."

   The scholar hoped for Hu's visit to become more than "a feel good event, highlighted by the bells and whistles of official dinners, investment announcements and photo opportunities."

   "President Hu will need to articulate how specifically China will work to protect American and international intellectual property rights, establish a more level playing field for U.S. investors in China, help prevent nuclear proliferation in places like Iran and North Korea, make its military buildup more transparent, and, more generally, do far more to help promote an international system that benefits all countries," Metzl said. (Yonhap News)