Daily Press Briefing - US Department Of State

[Frangulian Shushan]

DAILY PRESS BRIEFING - US Department of State

Philip J. Crowley
Assistant Secretary
Daily Press Briefing
Washington, DC
January 28, 2010

DEPARTMENT
Secretary Clinton concluded participation at Afghanistan Conference in
London; had sideline meetings with NATO Secretary General Rasmussen;
the PM of Armenia; and FM Chang of China; Saudi FM al-Faysal; UAE
FM Abdallah bin Zayid Announced appointments of Staffan de Mistura
as new UN representative for Afghanistan; Ambassador Sedwill as NATO
special representative for international coordination for Afghanistan
Secretary, and other FMs, issued statement regarding violence in
Nigeria US assisting Peruvian government with stranded American
citizens around Machu Picchu

HAITI Update on evacuations of AmCits from Haiti; rescues; orphans
processed; concerned about potential for trafficking in persons,
especially children; working closely with UNICEF and GOH Question taken
regarding whether there are any cases of Haitian child trafficking
to the US

NORTH KOREA US has asked protecting power, Sweden, in inquire
regarding report of alleged detention of a second AmCit; take the
report seriously, but no verification; if proved true, we would seek
consular access US unclear re: North Korean intentions regarding the
sending of mixed messages; North Korea has to take the first step;
uphold its prior obligations; return to Six-Party process US has
an interest in resolving outstanding MIA cases; but #1 priority is
getting back to Six-Party process and on getting North Korea to roll
back its nuclear program President Obama cited US's outreach to North
Korea in his SOTU speech

CUBA No announcements concerning restart of immigration talks; no
update on detained AmCit

CHINA At her press event afterwards, the Secretary characterized
her meeting with Chinese FM as detailed and positive; the Google
incident was discussed; Regarding the executions in Xinjiang region,
US requested, but not granted permission to observe trials; urges
China to handle their detention and judicial processes in a more
transparent manner

MIDDLE EAST The ME peace process continues to be a US priority;
Secretary had sideline meetings at London Conference

BURMA No immediate comment on ISIS report concerning Burma's nuclear
ambition; will investigate

IRAN US has an outstretched hand to Iran because we want to see Iran
play a constructive role in the region; we will continue to try to
engage, but also be willing to apply pressure to Iran; we will continue
to speak out on Iran regarding human rights and their relations with
their citizens; No P5+1 conference call on next steps this week

SRI LANKA US has congratulated President Rajapaksa on his victory;
first elections in 20 years; an opportunity to heal the breach that
exists within the Sri Lankan society; US in contact with General
Fonseka  

TRANSCRIPT:

1:44 p.m. EST

MR. CROWLEY: Sorry for the delay. Good afternoon and welcome to
the Department of State. Let me just mention a few things before
taking your questions. The Secretary, as you just heard, finished
the Afghanistan conference and had a number of meetings during the
course of the day on the sidelines of the Afghanistan conference. The
conference itself focused on the issues of security, development,
and governance, civil society, and then a regional framework and the
international architecture for supporting that.

And obviously, during the course of the day, we were pleased with
the announcements of the appointment of Staffan de Mistura as the
new UN representative for Afghanistan, as well as the appointment of
Ambassador Sedwill as the NATO special representative to help with
the international coordination of our efforts in Afghanistan. But
the Secretary had a number of bilaterals, including a meeting with
NATO Secretary General Rasmussen, the prime minister - or the foreign
minister of Armenia, as well as you heard her talk about her meeting
with Foreign Minister Chang of China.

QUESTION: Yang?

MR. CROWLEY: Yeah, I'm sorry. Yang, sorry. The Secretary also issued
a statement along with British Foreign Secretary David Miliband and
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner and EU High Representative
Catherine Ashton regarding the current situation in Nigeria, our
concern about recent violence and the tragic loss of lives, Nigeria's
ongoing efforts towards ensuring stability and democracy within
the country, our concerns about the current uncertainty regarding
the illness of President Yar'Adua, but also the imperative to - for
Nigeria to move forward with gubernatorial elections on February 6th.

Our efforts continue along with the Peruvian Government to assist
with stranded American citizens around Machu Picchu. We were able
to evacuate 60 American citizens yesterday. That's on top of the 50
that were evacuated the day before. We think that perhaps as many
as 125 Americans are still in Aguas Calientes and a helicopter -
we've added two more helicopters to the effort, U.S. helicopters,
to bring that total to six. And the weather is acceptable for flying,
so there are ongoing operations there today.

QUESTION: Do you think they'll get them all out today?

MR. CROWLEY: Hmm?

QUESTION: Do you think they'll get them all out today?

MR. CROWLEY: I don't know if we'll get all them out because, obviously,
it's the movement of American citizens and other nationalities. But
we have six helicopters, the Peruvians have a number, and so we'll
just continue to move people off the mountain as quickly as we can.

And then in terms of Haiti, as of 10 o'clock this morning, we have
evacuated 13,126 Americans and family members from Haiti. There are
76 confirmed American fatalities - that's an increase of one from
yesterday: 72 private citizens, the four U.S. Government official
citizens. We processed 21 additional orphans for parole yesterday.

Obviously, everyone was thrilled by the additional rescue of a
17-year-old girl yesterday. That brings the number to 135 that have
been rescued from the various urban search-and-rescue teams since
- over the past two weeks. And our - we're also pleased that the
contributions to our texting program, Haiti to 90999, has now crossed
$30 million.

And one of the things that we're focused on right now is, as we
continue to work with the Haitian Government, with the UN in terms
of the movement of children out of harm's way, we are also concerned
about the potential for trafficking in persons, particularly children,
in the aftermath of the earthquake. Clearly, a number of people,
including many, many children, have been displaced, separated from
their families. They - this poses great risk and, particularly for
children, a higher vulnerability to human trafficking. So we are
working very closely with UNICEF, with the Haitian Government, to
try to - and to alert nongovernmental organizations that are working
in Haiti to be on the look for those who might want to try to take
advantage of the situation.

QUESTION: Do you have any evidence that that's taking place?

MR. CROWLEY: Yes.

QUESTION: Could you give us any examples?

MR. CROWLEY: I should just add to - before going into that, the
Secretary also met today with Saudi Foreign Minister al-Faysal and
the UAE Foreign Minister Abdallah bin Zayid. They were talking about
issues ranging from Yemen and Iran to Afghanistan, but also the Middle
East peace process.

I don't know that I have a lot of particulars, Kirit, on that. But
this is something that - the Haitian police have had child protection
brigades in place for some time. Obviously, we're working with them,
but also to try to supplement the capability on the ground. Haiti has
a tradition of placing children from rural families with wealthier host
families, but it also presents the challenge of bringing children into
involuntary domestic servitude, something that the Haitians refer to
as restaveks.

But we have seen some indications that - in people who have come
down to help, we have concerns about traffickers, we have concerns
about pedophiles. We've seen a couple of cases of those in recent
days. So this is just something that we're working collectively with
those organizations that are actively trying to help children and
the people on the ground to be alert for this kind of danger.

QUESTION: Do you have any numbers of people who have been caught? Can
you give us a sense of --

MR. CROWLEY: I've given you what I've got.

QUESTION: Do you believe - just one other one on this. You may not
know, but do you believe any Haitian children have been trafficked
to the United States?

MR. CROWLEY: Not to my knowledge.

QUESTION: Anywhere else? Is there any --

MR. CROWLEY: And again, this is something that we're just affirmatively
putting people in place because we recognize in the dynamic that's
going on now, there is always this risk.

QUESTION: New subject? North Korea?

QUESTION: Actually, I just have sort of one real quick one.

MR. CROWLEY: Sure.

QUESTION: Do you have a number of possible American deaths? You've
been giving that figure in the past.

MR. CROWLEY: That number actually - we're still -

QUESTION: It hasn't changed for a number of days.

MR. CROWLEY: It hasn't changed. I think we just moved one from the
"possible" to the "actual."

QUESTION: Is it "possible" or those were not identified?

MR. CROWLEY: Well, we've acknowledged there were some fatalities,
but what - just determining whether - confirming that they were
American citizens.

QUESTION: Okay. Can I ask about North Korea --

MR. CROWLEY: Mm-hmm.

QUESTION: -- and this report from the Korean Central News Agency that
an American was detained on Monday crossing from the Chinese border?

MR. CROWLEY: Well, we've asked our protecting power, Sweden, to
inquire of the DPRK about this report. It's obviously something we
take seriously. At this point, we haven't got any specific information
to confirm that, but it is entirely possible.

QUESTION: Is it also possible that it's a reference to the previous
case of --

MR. CROWLEY: Our current thinking is probably not, but --

QUESTION: Based on what?

MR. CROWLEY: I mean, we think - I mean, there's been a report of a
recent indication that perhaps an American citizen has crossed into
North Korea and has been detained, and we are looking into it. We've
asked the Swedes to - and they've sent a note into the North Korean
Government seeking additional information.

QUESTION: Was that indication from - sorry. Is the indication - you're
basing it just on the Korean news report, or you have other indicators?

MR. CROWLEY: Well, I think at this point we take the report very
seriously. We have looked into it. Have we got confirmation yet? No.

But --

QUESTION: But you seem to suggest that you had some indication,
based other than on the Korean report. Is that --

MR. CROWLEY: Well, I think right now we're operating on the assumption
that it's entirely possible that we have a second American citizen
detained in North Korea, in addition to Robert Park. On Mr. Park, we
continue to seek consular access to him through our protecting power in
Pyongyang. And like we say, if this report is verified, we would seek
the same access to a second American citizen, should that be the case.

QUESTION: I understand you probably won't want to get into the person's
identity, but do you actually have a sense of who this person might
be yet?

MR. CROWLEY: No.

QUESTION: Do you have anything you want to say?

MR. CROWLEY: No, I mean, it always - we do not have specific
confirmation. We're taking this seriously. And should we be able
to verify that a second American citizen is being detained in North
Korea, we would seek consular access urgently and immediately so that
we can determine who it is and verify his condition.

QUESTION: Is your message not getting out to Americans who may be
contemplating crossing over the border?

MR. CROWLEY: I don't know. I mean, obviously, we don't know the
circumstances of this particular report, but we do take it very
seriously.

QUESTION: On North Korea again, as you know, North Korean coastal
artillery has fired continued toward the South Korean territorial
coast. And in the meantime, North Korea has proposed United Nations
command to resume search for U.S. soldiers' remains. Can you tell us
what North Koreans' true intentions would be?

MR. CROWLEY: As to what North Korea's intentions may be at any
particular time, who knows? We've seen provocative actions in the
past. We always have concerns about this. As to why they enter into
provocative actions at one point, a so-called charm offensive at
another point, we don't know. We don't know what they're thinking. We
do know what they should be doing, which is to return to the Six-Party
process. And through the Six-Party process, there's the potential to
address and resolve any number of issues. First and foremost among them
is for North Korea to take affirmative steps towards denuclearization.

But as to issues regarding concerns that North Korea may have,
obviously we have longstanding issues and have sought cooperation
from North Korea over decades to determine the fate of American
soldiers from the Korean War. But there's a great deal of potential
here, but North Korea has to take the first step. It has to commit
to this process, commit to its prior obligations. With that, lots of
other things become possible. But we continue to consult closely with
our counterparts in South Korea on the current situation. We remain
concerned that - about any provocative actions that North Korea's
been taking and - but we remain adamant that, at this point in time,
what North Korea needs to do is commit to come back to the Six-Party
process and to meet its obligations.

QUESTION: That's maybe - this is speculation for the true hidden
intentions of North Korea is to get a peace treaty with the United
States.

MR. CROWLEY: I mean, North Korea has a history, when confronted with
a straightforward but difficult decision, of taking any number of
actions to try to hide the ball. The ball is in their court. What
North Korea needs to do is clear. We've communicated that directly.

Our counterparts in the Six-Party process have sent the same message
to North Korea. The fundamental issue remains - what is North Korea
prepared to do?

QUESTION: Thanks.

QUESTION: Can I follow up on (inaudible) part of her question?

MR. CROWLEY: Sure.

QUESTION: I didn't quite follow your answer when it - regarding her
question on the North Koreans' interest in resuming U.S. participation
in the search for remains from the war. Is that something you - I
mean, the U.S. unilaterally cut that off a couple of years ago. Are
you interested in resuming it, or is it part of the Six-Party --

MR. CROWLEY: Well, I think, as we've made clear, our foremost interest
right now is to get North Korea back into the Six-Party process
to address the obligations that they have previously committed to
regarding denuclearization. We know there are a large number of issues
regarding - in the bilateral context. We think there's an opportunity
to address those inside the Six-Party process once it resumes. From
our standpoint, we do have an interest in resolving outstanding MIA
cases. In the case of North Korea, it has expressed an interest in
pursuing a peace agreement.

All of these things are possible. But first and foremost, we need to
see North Korea back in the Six-Party process. We think that's the
right framework for any number of issues to be addressed.

QUESTION: So it seems like you're not really interested, at least for
the moment, in pursuing the search for MIA remains, that coming back
to the Six-Party Talks has to happen first.

MR. CROWLEY: We have a lot of bilateral issues. We're willing to
address those bilateral issues. But first and foremost, our concerns
are to get North Korea back in the Six-Party process.

QUESTION: The previous position was that this was a humanitarian
issue and should be separate from the nuclear issue.

MR. CROWLEY: I mean, it is.

QUESTION: And not --

MR. CROWLEY: But right now, our focus is on getting North Korea to
roll back its nuclear program. That's where our emphasis is. We would
entertain having a bilateral dialogue on issues of concern to us,
issues of concern to them. But at the present time, what we want to
see North Korea do is make a commitment back to the Six-Party process.

QUESTION: On another area?

MR. CROWLEY: Sure.

QUESTION: On Cuba, the restarting of immigration talks. I think it's
an agreement has been reached.

MR. CROWLEY: I have nothing to announce.

QUESTION: No? And about this person who's been detained in Cuba,
I think there has been some talk about with the Cuban Government.

MR. CROWLEY: I - that's a - I don't know where we stand on that
particular issue, whether we've had consular access recently or not.

I'm not aware that we have.

QUESTION: Do you have details of the Secretary's meeting with the
Chinese foreign minister and was Google issue - it came up in the
talks?

MR. CROWLEY: The Secretary addressed that in her press event
afterwards. She did bring up the Google incident. She characterized
it as being a detailed and positive discussion and something that
we will continue to discuss with China within the context of our
broader relationship.

Yeah, go ahead.

QUESTION: President Obama talked about stronger sanctions on North
Korea last night. Do you have any specific plans for that?

MR. CROWLEY: Yeah. Clearly, the fact the President included North
Korea in the foreign policy portion of his State of the Union speech,
as he did in the context of Iran and our efforts on arms control and
nonproliferation, it emphasizes the importance that we attach to this
issue. We've made engagement with North Korea something - a priority
during the course of the past year. We've reached out to North Korea.

We've given them what we think is a compelling rationale for why
heeding the will of the international community and understanding the
unity with which all of the parties in the Six-Party process attach
to this issue.

This is in North Korea's interest. It is in their interest and they
have the opportunity - they control their own destiny. They have the
opportunity to end their isolation. They have the opportunity to have
international cooperation, international support that would result
in improved standards of living for their people. All they have to
do is to understand that by giving up nuclear weapons, by ending
their isolation, that this would be very good for North Korea in the
long run. But as to why they continue to hold out, that's always the
$64,000 question and something of a mystery.

Samir.

QUESTION: How come the President didn't mention the Middle East peace
process in the speech or the Middle East?

MR. CROWLEY: I would say that he - it is a priority. It's a commitment
that we've made from the outset. I think he did talk last night about
the importance that we've attached to engagement on a wide range of
issues. So whether it was explicit or not, I think it was implicit in
his words that we are working aggressively with our partners around the
world on a range of issues. The Middle East peace process is one and
the meetings that the Secretary had on the margins of the Afghanistan
conference today reinforces the importance that we attach to Middle
East peace.

But this is one of a number of issues, whether its climate change,
which he mentioned, whether it's Afghanistan and Pakistan, which he
mentioned, the fact that the Secretary is there, committed to working
with international partners on progress in Yemen, on our strategy with
respect to Afghanistan. We are committed to resolving the sources of
conflict that impede the world from moving forward in a peaceful and
prosperous way.

So there were a number of issues that he talked about directly. It was
a 71-minute speech. So in any State of the Union address, you address
many priorities; you don't necessarily present a comprehensive list.

Yeah.

QUESTION: Thank you.

QUESTION: A question on Burma. ISIS has come out with a report today
about Burma's nuclear ambition and it also reports some construction
activities going on near Mandalay, which could be a possible nuclear
reactor site. Are you - do you have any statement about --

MR. CROWLEY: I'm not familiar with that particular report. We - in our
discussions with Burma, we do have concerns about certain activity and
the potential - that risks to the global nonproliferation agenda. I'll
be happy to - why don't you ask me again and we'll see what we can
find out about the report.

QUESTION: Okay, thank you.

QUESTION: The - I know the White House addressed this just momentarily,
just a few moments ago, but on Iran, there's some executions of people
involved in the recent political demonstrations.

How does the State Department feel about this in terms of moving
forward? The President, of course, has reached out to Iran on the
nuclear issue. How would this affect U.S. diplomacy moving forward?

MR. CROWLEY: Well, I mean, we pursue engagement with Iran and
diplomacy because it is in our national interest to do so. We have
an outstretched hand to Iran because we want to see Iran play a
constructive role in the region. We want to see Iran have a different
kind of relationship with its own people. So we are going to continue
our efforts with respect to Iran, both to be willing to engage, but
also be willing to apply pressure to Iran because of - we recognize
the seriousness of the nuclear issue, for example, and we recognize
that Iran's isolation is not in the region's long-term interest.

At the same time, we will continue to speak out on Iran regarding
their relation with their people and what we see as serious human
rights concerns and abuses. From what we can tell, it's unclear that
these individuals had anything to do with the turmoil surrounding the
elections last year. We're - and this - we think this is another sign
of the increasingly ruthless repression and attempts at intimidation
that we see the Iranian Government trying to send signals to its
people. We think they're the wrong signals because Iranian citizens
have the same right that all citizens have to demonstrate peacefully,
to participate in the political process. And this remains a concern
and this - we believe that Iran should change course and respect the
rights of its own citizens.

QUESTION: On a somewhat related note, on the note of executions, there
were a few death sentences handed out in the past week in China in
the Xinjiang region regarding the ethnic violence last year. Is there
anything that the State Department has to say about that in terms of --

MR. CROWLEY: Well, we - it's unfortunate that in the course of the
judicial processes on these cases, we had requested permission to
observe the trials; that was not granted. It's hard to comment on
the specific merits of the case without having been in the courtroom
to observe firsthand. But we continue to urge China to handle their
detention and judicial processes in a more transparent manner.

QUESTION: On Sri Lanka, do you have any further update on the
elections there and on the conflict between the opposition leader
and President-elect Rajapaksa?

MR. CROWLEY: Well, we note that the election commissioner has
certified the election results. I think there's been a statement
from the U.S. Embassy in Colombo congratulating President Rajapaksa
on his victory. We are watching carefully and we have been in touch
with General Fonseka regarding the security around him. But we think
that President Rajapaksa now has an opportunity to continue to move
forward with the political reconciliation process that he has started,
the devolution of responsibility to the provinces, and to continue
to work on full accountability of the - of what happened at the -
as the conflict with the Tamil Tigers was finalized.

QUESTION: What do you expect from him during the political
reconciliation process that you are pushing for?

MR. CROWLEY: Well, I mean, he has taken some steps, and we welcome
those steps. But obviously, now the election itself was a step
forward. This is the first national election that Sri Lanka has been
able to hold in, I think, 20 years. The turnout was very significant,
although we recognize not necessarily as large in certain parts of
the country. So with this election comes an opportunity to continue
to work to heal the breach that exists within Sri Lankan society. So
with his election comes increased responsibility and we'll continue
to work with him on that.

QUESTION: Just to follow up, you mentioned that the U.S. has been in
contact with General Fonseka. What are the nature of those contacts?

Are there concerns about his safety in Sri Lanka?

MR. CROWLEY: Well, he had expressed public concerns and I think the
Embassy reached out to him and just remain - we'll remain in contact
with him to clarify what his future intentions are and to be helpful
if that's appropriate.

QUESTION: He has U.S. residency, doesn't he?

MR. CROWLEY: Yes, he does.

QUESTION: Sorry, very quickly on climate change, the U.S. Government
is supposed to inform the IPCC about their emission target reductions
by the end of the month. Has that happened yet? Is it happening
tomorrow? Or will that be --

MR. CROWLEY: That's a very good question. Let me find out what we can.

We obviously support this process, and Todd Stern is working hard
on national steps that follow up. I think the Secretary had the
opportunity to talk about climate change with Foreign Minister Yang
earlier today in London, but we think that it's now time for individual
countries to demonstrate their commitment to the Copenhagen accord.

And obviously, we will continue to work not only to clarify the nature
of our commitment; we obviously want to see it. And the President
mentioned last night our ongoing commitment to domestic legislation
regarding climate change. But I'll take the question as to if the
United States has to take a specific step and we haven't done that yet.

QUESTION: On Iran, P.J., is there going to be a P-5+1 conference call
on next steps toward Iran, notably sanctions, this week?

MR. CROWLEY: Not to my knowledge.

QUESTION: Have you checked? Is it that you just don't know or you've
checked and --

MR. CROWLEY: I have checked.

QUESTION: And you have no reason to believe that there is one, or
you --

MR. CROWLEY: Correct. Well, I mean, as to next steps, as the Secretary
outlined today, we will continue our consultations on the track
that we're on. We regret that in light of the - Iran's inability to
respond to our offer of dialogue and specific proposals that we've
made, that we are looking at what should be done on the pressure of
the sanctions track. We will continue to work with our partners and
put forward ideas in the coming weeks. But as to a particular next
step this week, I think that report is not correct.

QUESTION: Thank you.

QUESTION: Can you give us any more details on what the United States
is doing to cooperate with Haiti to protect children at risk? I didn't
quite understand when you said we're affirmatively putting people in
place. Does that mean more U.S. officials are going to --

MR. CROWLEY: I'm not sure - I don't think I said quite that. I mean,
we have people who are working here in Washington. We do have people
who are working already on the ground. We have an office here in
Washington to - that is focused on Haiti. But we're - UNICEF is in the
lead, but we will work to supplement their efforts to combat child
trafficking. Part of this will be simply informing those who are -
NGOs in particular who are deeply - faith-based groups who are deeply
engaged in the recovery effort in China - I mean, in Haiti to be on
the lookout for signs that there may be trafficking going on.

In this kind of situation with many, many children, additional
children, orphaned, separated from their families, there is this
danger. And we've seen some small signs of these dangers emerging,
and that's why we're committing people here, working with people
there to try to strengthen Haiti's ability to combat trafficking of
children and others.

QUESTION: P.J., I should have - before I asked you on this topic
whether you were aware of any children having been trafficked to the
United States and you said that no, you were not aware of any - and I
should have asked you, are you aware - and you just said small signs,
but are you aware of any Haitian children since the earthquake being
trafficked anywhere either outside the country or within the country?

MR. CROWLEY: I am not aware. I mean, part of - there has - if you go
back in Haiti pre-earthquake, we had already been working closely with
Haitian officials, working with a special unit within their national
police, because there is - there has always - there has been - there
have been cases in Haiti, the so-called restaveks --

QUESTION: Right.

MR. CROWLEY: -- where children are moved into domestic situations with
wealthier families and they're supposed to be able to go to school,
but in essence --

QUESTION: Right.

MR. CROWLEY: -- it becomes involuntary servitude. So I think we
- knowing that we have some experience in Haiti, this is another
area where we are trying to make sure that working with the Haitian
Government, working with UNICEF, working with our nongovernmental
partners, we want to make sure that we are attuned to any signs that
this would become a growing problem.

But I think we're worried about the potential and - I mean, I'll -
if you're interested in this, I'll put you in touch with our - with
Ambassador de Baca and we'll get some more substance for you.

QUESTION: Can I ask just a different one?

MR. CROWLEY: Sure.

QUESTION: We asked if there were any cases of anybody actually bringing
a Haitian child, trafficking them to the U.S. Have there been attempted
cases of bringing them to the U.S.?

MR. CROWLEY: Let me take the question just to see if we have any
early indications of specific cases so far.

QUESTION: And please, just to clarify, when you were giving us the
latest numbers from Haiti, you said that 21 additional orphans had
been processed for parole. Is that how you phrased that?

MR. CROWLEY: Yes.

QUESTION: Okay. And --

QUESTION: So the total number was what?

MR. CROWLEY: We're still in the range of 500.

QUESTION: Thank you.

(The briefing was concluded at 2:17 p.m.)