Special Representative for North Korea Policy Glyn Davies delivers remarks on North Korea at the Incheon International Airport in Incheon, South Korea on January 23, 2013. A text transcript can be found at http://www.state.gov/p/eap/rls/rm/2013/01/203145.htm

About the Author: Siriana Nair serves as Senior Economic Officer in the Office of Regional Affairs in the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs.

My journey on the road to Samarkand brings me to the Navoi International Airport and cargo facility, where I am met by airport executives who brief me and my colleagues on the joint venture cargo operation between Uzbekistan Airways and Korean Air. They give us a tour of the site, noting that Korea is Uzbekistan’s fourth largest trading partner, after Russia, China, and Kazakhstan. Trade with the United States, on the other hand, is a mere two percent of Uzbekistan’s total trade, highlighting the enormous potential for future growth. On the tour, I learn that weekly flights from New Delhi, Mumbai, Dhaka, and other South and East Asian cities use the facility for shipping their goods to Europe, Russia, and the Middle East — a very modern incarnation of the ancient Silk Road.… more »

Media Note
Office of the Spokesperson
Washington, DC
October 23, 2012

Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell will travel to San Francisco, Tokyo, and Seoul October 23-27.

Assistant Secretary Campbell will host Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai for the fourth U.S.-China Asia-Pacific Consultations in San Francisco on October 23.

Assistant Secretary Campbell will travel to Tokyo October 24 and will meet with Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Chikao Kawai and other senior officials October 25-26 to discuss bilateral issues and U.S.-Japan coordination on regional and global issues such as Burma, Iran, and Syria.

Assistant Secretary Campbell will continue to Seoul October 26-27 to meet with Republic of Korea Deputy Foreign Minister Kim Kyou-Hyun and other senior officials to continue our close consultation and coordination on the broad range issues of importance to our alliance, including the DPRK, economic issues, and regional cooperation.

Assistant Secretary Campbell will return to Washington, DC, October 27.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton meets with Japanese Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba and Korean Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan, at the Waldorf Astoria in New York City, September 28, 2012. [State Department photo/ Public Domain]

About the Author: Blake Narendra serves in the Bureau of Arms Control Verification and Compliance (AVC).

The United States conducted the world’s first nuclear explosive test, codenamed “Trinity,” 67 years ago this month in the southern New Mexico desert. The atomic age was born.

The former Soviet Union conducted a test of its own nuclear device four years later, sparking an arms race that saw more than 2,000 nuclear explosive tests in the decades to follow.

The Trinity Test had an explosive yield of 10 kilotons (releasing an energy equivalent of 10,000 metric tons of dynamite). The test was literally an earthshaking feat in the fields of science and technology, but also a sobering moment for those involved. It ushered in nearly two decades of further atmospheric testing of nuclear devices.

“[It was] an awesome and foul display,” Harvard Physicist and Trinity Test Director Kenneth Bainbridge said.

In the years since 1945, thinking… more »

Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell poses for a photo with Philippe Cousteau, Chief Spokesperson for USA Pavilion 2012 in Yeosu, South Korea, on July 14, 2012. [State Department photo by Brendan Thornton/ Public Domain]

About the Author: Kurt M. Campbell serves as Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs.

At the end of a long trip through Asia with Secretary Clinton, I was lucky enough to have the chance to visit the USA Pavilion at the Yeosu Expo in the Republic of Korea. Fitting for its seaside location, the theme of the Expo (World’s Fair) is “The Living Ocean and Coast.” With dynamic multimedia displays and Korean-speaking U.S. Student Ambassadors, my visit to the USA Pavilion was a truly impressive experience.

The USA Pavilion is the result of a public-private partnership between the Department of State, corporate sponsors, and Earth Echo International, an ocean conservation non-profit organization. I was able to experience the visually stunning high-tech water screen featured in the USA Pavilion,… more »

More: Trip Page | Interactive Travel Map

On July 11, 2012, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton arrived in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Secretary Clinton participated in regional conferences, to both chair and attend ministerial events and to participate in bilateral meetings with Cambodian officials. Regional conferences included the ASEAN Regional Forum, the East Asia Summit Foreign Ministers Meeting, and the U.S.-ASEAN Post-Ministerial Conference. Secretary Clinton co-chaired the Lower Mekong Initiative (LMI) Ministerial as well as chaired the Friends of the… more »

About the Author: Victoria Esser serves as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Digital Strategy in the Bureau of Public Affairs.

Yesterday, our Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy, Tara Sonenshine, held a Twitter Q & A, answering your questions on everything from exchange programs in Pakistan to who inspires her (her children). Earlier this week, the Secretary of State’s Senior Advisor for Innovation, Alec Ross, spoke to 100 European Union public diplomacy professionals in Brussels, where he underscored the importance of social media in 21st Century Statecraft. One point they both emphasized was that social media is a place for listening and discussing, not just talking.

It was also one of the points I took away from my trip last week to the Republic of Korea, where I gave the keynote at the East West Center’s annual International Media Conference. The three-day conference was an excellent opportunity to… more »

Secretary Clinton poses fr a photo with  Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of the Republic of Korea Kim Sung-Hwan, and Minister of National Defense of the Republic of Korea Kwan-Jin after the U.S.-Korea ministerial dialogue 2+2 meeting at the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C. on June 14, 2012. [State Department photo/ Public Domain]