with respect to uzbekistan, we have had -- i have been to uzbekistan twice. my colleague was part of a bilateral dialogue that occurred last week here with the government of the -- of uzbekistan and one of the things he raised was the issue of religious freedom and we have concerns about restrictions on the ability of religious groups, unregistered groups to participate and operate openly. i met with a number of religious figures who had church services disrupted and religious leaders arrested. there is an ongoing problem there and we are eager to work with the government to improve that record. >> hitting pakistan again, i wonder if you see any progress on the blast emmy law and whether you considered adding it. >> we considered adding any country and we are very findful as i said in my opening comments about the misuse of the blasphemy law and the fact that some people have received severe sentences. we will work with the government and have seen positive steps in the last few months but the message here is that we have great concern about the overall situa

after the host's welcoming remarks, the wife of uzbekistan's ambassador to korea offered a speech in appreciation. english "we will make a great contribution to promote mutual understanding, friendship and cooperation between our people and our countries." the ladies visited the island's popular attraction, hanagae beach,... and there they enjoyed walking on the soft mud flats barefoot. english "this island is very beautiful. in romania, we have beaches, beautiful ones also. but they are crowded, populated and not natural. so this is beautiful. you can come here and relax." after enjoying the serenity of the beach, the group visited the house featured in the popular korean drama, "stairway to heaven". there, the ladies had a tea party with rice cakes. english "i tried the sweet potatoes. they are just delicious. we grow them in kenya too, and i am happy i was able to taste the korean variety." after a hearty korean meal, the group ventured out to the sky bridge by farmers' tillers... a kind of transportation unique to farming villages. walking up on the bridge that stands high above

they are burma, china, eritrea, iran, north korea, saudi arabia, sudan and uzbekistan." the list of countries has remained unchanged since 2009... while ten other countries, including afghanistan, egypt, pakistan and russia were cited for failing to sufficiently protect religious rights. the report stated that, although the constitution and other laws and policies protect religious freedom in north korea, genuine religious freedom does not exist... as the government severely restricts religious activity, except that which is tightly supervised by officially recognized groups linked to the government. the north korean government deals harshly with all opponents, including those who engage in religious practices it deems unacceptable. there have been reports of abuses of religious freedom in the country, including repression and persecution.... and members of underground churches have been arrested, beaten, tortured, or even executed because of their religious beliefs. some of the estimated 150 to 200-thousand people thought to be held in political prison camps in the nort

with respect to uzbekistan, we have had a set of -- i've been to uzbekistan twice. we had, my colleague, tom melia, was part of a bilateral dialogue that occurred last week here with the government of uzbekistan. and one of the things he raised and ambassador blake is the issue of religious freedom. we continue to have concerns about both restrictions on the ability of religion -- religious groups, unregistered groups to participate, to operate openly. i met with a number of religious figures when i was last there who had church services disrupted, some religious leaders arrested. so there really is an ongoing problem there, and we are eager to work with the government to try to improve that record. >> last question. go ahead. >> hitting pakistan again, i wondered if you see any progress on the blasphemy law and whether you considered adding it as a ctc? >> um, we certainly considered aing any country -- adding any country, and we are very mindful, as i said in my opening comments, about the both misuse of the blasphemy law, the fact that it's been applied so often,

qualifiers...shinji okazaki scored a second-half equalizer to secure a 1-1 draw for japan against uzbekistan on tuesday while north korea also took its first points of the campaign by defeating tajik-istan 1 -0 in pyongyang. and mother nature has not been so kind to the last grand slam of the year, the u.s. open. on the eve of the tournament, new york was battered by hurricane irene and now the remnants of tropical storm lee are drenching the eastern seaboard and threatening to ruin the second and final week of action. tuesday's entire program was cancelled before even a ball was hit due to showers and it looks like the forecast for the rest of the week is just as bleak. the postponement left tournament officials with a backlog of matches and forced them to reorganize wednesday's schedule. over in golf...it was announced that korean golfers choi kyung-ju, yang yong- eun, and kim kyung- tae have made it unto the roster of the international team for presidents cup in november. this is the very first time for three koreans to make the cut, as the ten-man roster is based on ranking and considere

of the world where russia armenia and some other former soviet states including tajikistan and uzbekistan who are close of course to afghanistan are involved and there's ideas to reform and why did it make that organization bigger it's not going to be discussed here today and the focus there is going to be in fact of course afghanistan and how to deal with security in the region after u.s. and nato forces withdraw as planned in twenty fourteen. the other big topic on the table is the problem of multiethnic society. absolutely it's a big issue especially what we're seeing recently in europe throughout the spring and summer a lot of unrest on the streets of not only the british capital but other european cities you have the euro crisis which is also playing into that and it's most outspoken critics of the multicultural the failure there of the system is that it's just not working that something else needs to be done that immigration laws need to be tightened while. people who supported are very clear about the idea that europe is a place where people should be able to cause we have this war

and then finally russia quite frankly is not the neighbor of uzbekistan and so forth. it is separate by kazakhstan and near neighbors are much more afghanistan, pakistan and i would argue india. so we can't always assume that russia would be there forever either. >> well, i guess first on toby's point, you know, i think we have this tendency in washington, i think your point is a very important point. and we have a tendency sitting here to view the united states and the american government as the architect, you know, of all of these different things that are happening. win, you know, as a practical matter, i think in many cases governments, factions within governments, factions inside countries that are not in government, groups of expatriates that don't even live in the country anymore. you know, they're all coming here and trying to influence the united states to do various different things for very different reasons. and, you know, if you look at a case like iraq, you know, it's clear that that can be a real problem. for the united states in different ways. and i th

burma, china, iran, north korea, saudi arabia, sudan and uzbek stan as countries of particular -- uzbekistan as countries of particular concern who have engaged in violations of religious freedom. while these may be the worst offenders we have serious concerns about religious freedom in many other countries around the world. more than ever we need the u.s. commission on international religious freedom to continue its important work. the bipartisan bill before us today re-authorizes the commission, also known as userf, which is set to expire at the end of the month. the bill also contains some sensible reforms that will strengthen usrfs efforts to monitor and report on the status of freedom of religion abroad. these reforms include the process of selecting the chair, terms of service for members of the commission, and a g.a.o. study on improving the effectiveness and coordination of all u.s. government bodies that focus on international religious freedom. in particular i would like to thank mr. roe for agreeing -- wolf for agreing to include a provision that clarifies workplace restrictions a

government couldn't afford the fuel to run the pack and instead contracted to buy electricity from uzbekistan at a fraction of the price. and the power plant built with $300 million american dollars is now just an expensive back-up generator. another one that i thought was particularly outrageous was that $40 million of our money went to build a prison in diyala province in iraq that the iraqis said they didn't want and ultimately refused to take possession of. project was not only never completed, it was abandoned with $1.2 million worth of materials left at the site. so the commission report tells us. much of the waste identified by the commission stems from a lack of competition which, of course, should be the cornerstone of government contracting. i will say that, finally, that perhaps my greatest frustration reading the commission's report is a general one which is that the underlying problems it identifies are not problems of first instance for us. we, in various ways we have seen these kinds of problems for years. and, in fact, at different time we've enacted as congress has enacted re

government couldn't afford the fuel to run the pack and instead contracted to buy electricity from uzbekistanfraction of the price. and the power plant built with $300 million american dollars is now just an expensive back-up generator. another one that i thought was particularly outrageous was that $40 million of our money went to build a prison in diyala province in iraq that the iraqis said they didn't want and ultimately refused to take possession of. project was not only never completed, it was abandoned with $1.2 million worth of materials left at the site. so the commission report tells us. much of the waste identified by the commission stems from a lack of competition which, of course, should be the cornerstone of government contracting. i will say that, finally, that perhaps my greatest frustration reading the commission's report is a general one which is that the underlying problems it identifies are not problems of first instance for us. we, in various ways we have seen these kinds of problems for years. and, in fact, at different time we've enacted as congress has enacted reforms

and also important, the likelihood that the two key states in central asia both kazakhstan and uzbekistan are going to go through some sort of leadership transition over the next decade. after that afghanistan and with the consequences of the u.s. drawdown come potential withdrawal would be over in the next couple of years. but i do the to do have a potential to fall told nixon that part of the world -- potential mix in that part of the world. it's also clear that russia in its current state doesn't have the resources to deal with a major uprising in central asia by the central asian states themselves without those resources. we certainly wouldn't want to do it on our own. we didn't have the domestic abounding but some time but collaboration between russia and the united states as well as with the states of the region is going to have to be the way that you will deal with this problem over the long term. so my sense is this is what we ought to be talking about now. when we think about our own situation in afghanistan the major part of that shouldn't be just focused on afghanistan and paki

government couldn't afford the fuel to run the pack and instead contracted to buy electricity from uzbekistan at a fraction of the price. and the power plant built with $300 million american dollars is now just an expensive back-up generator. another one that i thought was particularly outrageous was that $40 million of our money went to build a prison in diyala province in iraq that the iraqis said they didn't want and ultimately refused to take possession of. project was not only never completed, it was abandoned with $1.2 million worth of materials left at the site. so the commission report tells us. much of the waste identified by the commission stems from a lack of competition which, of course, should be the cornerstone of government contracting. i will say that, finally, that perhaps my greatest frustration reading the commission's report is a general one which is that the underlying problems it identifies are not problems of first instance for us. we, in various ways we have seen these kinds of problems for years. and, in fact, at different time we've enacted as congress has enacted re