{"id":24368,"date":"2010-12-16T08:30:51","date_gmt":"2010-12-16T15:30:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=24368"},"modified":"2010-12-16T14:55:37","modified_gmt":"2010-12-16T21:55:37","slug":"north-korea-trip-is-about-sending-messages","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2010\/12\/north-korea-trip-is-about-sending-messages\/","title":{"rendered":"North Korea trip is about sending messages"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Heath Haussamen \/ NMPolitics.net<\/p>

Gov. Bill Richardson (Photo by Heath Haussamen)<\/p><\/div>\n

Even though Gov. Bill Richardson\u2019s<\/a> trip to North Korea isn\u2019t an official U.S. mission, by inserting himself into the tense situation Richardson remains a key player in international relations.<\/p>\n

Both North Korea and the United States may be sending messages to each other through Richardson\u2019s unofficial trip. He arrived this morning<\/a> in Pyongyang.<\/p>\n

“Whenever the North Koreans contact me, they always want to send a message of some kind,\u201d Richardson told reporters<\/a> during a stop in Beijing on the way to North Korea. \u201cMy hope is that they provide messages that can lessen tensions on the Korean peninsula.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pundit Anne Penketh argues today in The Hill<\/a> that Richardson\u2019s trip also \u201csays something about the strategic direction of President Obama\u2019s foreign policy regarding his two most biggest challenges: North Korea and Iran.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMultilateralism, yes, but the big problems of the day can only be resolved by a hard-headed direct conversation. Not war and not appeasement,\u201d Penketh wrote.<\/p>\n

The issue is China, which \u201cdoesn\u2019t do diplomacy\u201d and is pursuing its own strategic goals in the region \u2013 goals that \u201cmight not coincide with those of the U.S. on North Korea.\u201d<\/p>\n

Enter Richardson, who Penketh wrote will \u201creturn with priceless intelligence on the direction of the regime. So Obama is switching from a multilateral channel to a bilateral one.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Considerable experience in dealing with the North Koreans\u2019<\/h3>\n

<\/p>\n

Richardson knows what\u2019s at stake, both for international affairs and for himself as his rocky tenure as New Mexico\u2019s governor comes to an end. He invited CNN\u2019s Wolf Blitzer<\/a> to travel with him to North Korea.<\/p>\n

Richardson says he plans to stay in New Mexico after he says goodbye to the Roundhouse in a couple of weeks. But that doesn\u2019t mean he plans to stay out of the national \u2013 and international \u2013 spotlight.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are heading to North Korea in hopes of bringing peace,\u201d Richardson told reporters in Beijing. \u201c\u2026 I hope I can help out. I hope I can make a difference.\u201d That\u2019s a message Richardson wants to be certain is broadcast by CNN.<\/p>\n

But a statement from Richardson\u2019s office also mentions that he has \u201cconsiderable experience in dealing with the North Koreans.\u201d As he\u2019s about to lose his job, Richardson wants CNN to remind people of the fact that he is a skilled global troubleshooter who has made a difference in tense situations \u2013 and that he\u2019s not done yet.<\/p>\n

It appears that Obama and the North Koreans aren\u2019t the only ones sending messages through Richardson\u2019s trip.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

North Korea and the U.S. may be sending messages to each other through Gov. Bill Richardson\u2019s unofficial trip. It appears that Richardson also has a message \u2013 one he made sure will be broadcast on CNN.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,1],"tags":[112,116],"class_list":["post-24368","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","category-uncategorized","tag-bill-richardson","tag-washington"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24368","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24368"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24368\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}