At a news conference held in Seoul, Kerry told reporters that the world would not accept North Korea as a nuclear power and that the ongoing rhetoric coming from Pyongyang was not acceptable.

Secretary Kerry said the United States would make sure its allies were defended if necessary. He said during the news conference that U.S. officials were prepared to start talks with leaders from North Korea, but only when Pyongyang was prepared to be denuclearized.

Kerry’s stop in South Korea was the first of three visits to East Asia. The trip is to discuss the current situation regarding North Korea’s unpredictable regime and the possibility it may launch a missile that has the capability of reaching as far as U.S. Pacific territory Guam. After Kerry leaves South Korea, he is scheduled to visit Japan and China.

Kerry mentioned during his press conference that China, with its strength in the region could influence North Korea by putting a great deal of pressure on them.

Kerry’s trip coincides with a recently released U.S. Intelligence report that says the North Koreans have made advances in their nuclear knowhow and had the capability of attaching a nuclear warhead to one of their ballistic missiles.

The visit by Kerry, his first since taking the position as the top diplomat in the U.S., had not been announced beforehand for security. His trip comes following a number of disputes between the U.S. and Afghanistan over detainees’ transfers from U.S. custody to Afghan custody, the expelling of U.S. special forces and a recent accusation by Karzai that U.S. authorities were colluding with members of the Taliban to increase violence in Afghanistan.

Over the past four years, Kerry has met on five occasions with Karzai and the two have a pleasant relationship, said officials from the U.S. that spoke to reporters traveling with the Secretary of State. Officials said that Kerry is not there to lecture Karzai but rather wants to hold an open and frank discussion with the Afghan head of state.

Officials from both countries are attempting to redefine their relationship ahead of the withdrawal of combat troops before the end of 2014. It has not yet been announced by President Obama as to how many troops might stay in Afghanistan following the pull out date. The U.S. and Afghanistan are currently in talks about the status of those troops that remain.

Afghanistan and U.S. officials agreed over the weekend that Parwan detention facility prisoners would be turned over to officials from Afghanistan on Monday. This should eliminate a discord between the two nations if the accord holds and if Afghan officials do not release prisoners the U.S. said have participated in acts of terrorism.

Kerry said that the U.S. and Qatar have tried to tighten sanctions and help the rebels in Syria build effectiveness and unity they need to be successful in changing the government’s tactics.

Kerry’s visit to Qatar is the last of his nine country tour that started in Europe and ended in the Middle East. It is the first international tour Kerry has taken since he was confirmed in January as the Secretary of State.

Even though the U.S. thus far has not given rebels in Syria any arms, last week the Secretary of State announced the U.S. would be providing $60 million in assistance that is non-lethal to the opposition within Syria, including food and medical aid.

At the time, Kerry said the U.S. had now, for just the first time, directed much needed assistance directly to the Syrian opposition. Sheikh Hamad sounded optimistic about Syria.

He said the majority of the international community has now started working in a more constructive way, but said if other countries had been more diligent in their work, over this same issue in the past, the government of President Bashar al-Assad would have been toppled already.

The Sheikh spoke harshly about the al-Assad government, describing the president of Syria as a terrorist who is currently killing his own people.

Qatar as well as Saudi Arabia has been amongst the most outspoken advocates for providing arms to the opposition in Syria.

In the conflict, rebels made substantial headway in northeastern Syria, which has been heavily contested. The rebels captured a complex containing a police academy just west of the city of Aleppo and stormed the city if Ragga’s prison. The rebels also took control of a border crossing along the border of Syria and Iraq, said a rebel spokesperson.

In a Sunday Times interview, al-Assad took a hard line against opponents, rewinding his earlier hints of flexibility over peace talks. Assad said he would negotiate with anyone, which includes the militants, if they surrender their weapons. He said his government would not negotiate with terrorists who want to have weapons, to kills civilians, to terrorize and to attack private enterprise or public places, while destroying the country.

The majority of the opposition groups have rejected peace talks with Assad’s regime, with some saying no talks would begin until Assad resigns.

However, Assad says resigning or going into exile is not an option, saying that no one who is patriotic would live in any other country but his own.

On Thursday, U.S. Secretary of State John Terry met in Rome with Syria’s rebel leaders. He announced the U.S. would give a $60 million aid package to rebels that was non-lethal. However, Assad said the financial, communication and intelligence assistance the U.S. was giving the rebels was very lethal.

Assad also criticized British leaders saying instead of trying to push for peace talks, David Cameron the Prime Minister of Britain was trying to have an arms embargo of the European Union ended, so he can arm the rebels with new weapons.

Kerry has veered of the course taken by Hillary Clinton, his predecessor. Her initial trip and much of her legacy was in charting new waters and America’s influence throughout Asia. However, that might be ending with Kerry, who since taking office has been more interested in the Middle East. His first calls were to leaders in the region and his first overseas trip will take him through Qatar, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt, after meeting with some allied in Europe.

Kerry, said insiders, is drafting a new proposal for Syria including a negotiated settlement to end the bloody civil war. The settlement would include the exit of Bashar Al-Assad, the Syrian President. The plan will be discussed by Kerry with the leaders of Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey; all are influential players with Assad’s opposition.

On Tuesday, Kerry will also meet with Sergei Lavrov, his counterpart from Russia, whose country maintains strong ties with Assad and his regime. Kerry will head to Rome, where he meets Moaz Khatib, the Syrian National Coalition leader.

Last Sunday, in his half-hour conversation with Lavrov on the phone, Kerry expressed more urgency in ending bloodshed and preventing any further deterioration of Syria’s state institutions.

Kerry’s stop in Egypt will be key, as the transition from the Mubarak regime to current President Mohamed Morsi has not been smooth, with relations between the leader of Egypt and President Barack Obama having become more divided.

Senator Kerry of Massachusetts will likely encounter an audience that is friendly on Capitol Hill, as he is appearing before the same committee he chairs. Of all the many nominees that Obama has chosen for his last term in office, Kerry is probably the least controversial.

However, Kerry is up for one of Washington’s toughest jobs, with a portfolio of problems worldwide that are becoming more and more complex. On Wednesday, Clinton cautioned that the diplomatic work of the country is vital to its national security, particularly with the spread of Islamic extremism in North Africa.

On Capitol Hill, the mood remains tense, following the sparring match Clinton had for nearly eight hours with Republicans from Congress over the terror attack in Libya. John McCain the Arizona Senator, had tough comments for Secretary Clinton Wednesday, but joked about the hearing for Kerry and the tough questions that will not be employed.

McCain is good friends with Kerry and the two have worked very closely on issues of national security. Both are also decorated veterans of the Vietnam War as well as ex-presidential candidates who know how difficult it is to lose.

McCain said, to a great deal of laughter, that the committee would bring waterboarding back for Kerry’s interrogation. Today’s hearing for Kerry is the first of three that nominees for national security will face.

Senator Chuck Hagel will face tough questioning next Thursday, as the nominee for defense secretary, about previous statements made over Israel. John Brennan, the nominee for Director of the CIA will also be quizzed over unmanned drone attacks and security leaks next month at his hearing.

No timetable was released regarding Clinton’s release from the hospital but doctors hinted that she could be at New York’s Presbyterian Hospital at least for another 48 hours. The doctors wanted to monitor Clinton’s condition and treat the blood clot with anti-coagulants, said the U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Philippe Reines.

Reines said that Clinton’s doctors would make an assessment of her condition later on Monday, which would include other issues that deal with her recent concussion. Once the doctors have assessed her, they would make a determination if further medical treatment is needed, said Reines.

It was not released as to where the blood clot was located. Clinton, who is 65, had been suffering from a virus in her stomach earlier in December when she fainted because of dehydration, which caused her concussion.

Clinton spent time during the holidays working from her home while with her family. She had been scheduled to return to the State Department after the first of the year, after being out of work for more than three weeks.

Due to her illness, she was not able to testify before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on December 20 regarding the Benghazi, Libya U.S. Consulate attack. Bills Burns and Thomas Nides two deputies for the State Department appeared in place of Clinton.

Clinton is scheduled to step down from her post and President Obama has already nominated Senator John Kerry to replace Clinton Secretary of State.

The son of the late Edward Kennedy, a longtime Senator from Massachusetts, said he was grateful for all the offers of support he had received, but the healthcare lawyer, who is 51, said he does not plan to run.

He said he does have a great desire to serve the public in office, but he considers his home to be Connecticut. He said he hoped to one-day serve in public office for the state of Connecticut.

On Saturday, former Rhode Island congressman Patrick Kennedy said his brother had been considering running for Kerry’s seat in a special election, due to the numerous calls received that encouraged him to do so from former colleagues and friends of their father, including Lowell Weicker Jr. the former Governor of Connecticut.

Patrick Kennedy told reporters that callers told Edward that he had what was needed to keep the seat in the hands of Democrats thanks to the Kennedy legacy and name, but also because of what is personally know about his brother’s personality and character.

Edward Kennedy Jr. supports people with disabilities and co-founded the Marwood Group, a New York-based healthcare-focused company dealing in financial services. He lives in Connecticut with his family, but also has a home in Hyannis, Massachusetts, one that was once his uncle’s, the late President John F. Kennedy.

The U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. however, is now directly in a vice between the White House and Congress. She is in a vice after helping out Clinton in September, one Sunday morning just five days after the U.S. consulate had been attacked in Benghazi, Libya. She appeared on five different talk shows that Sunday morning in just a few hours and parroted the talking points from the intelligence community that the attack had been a response to the movie that had mocked the prophet Muhammad.

Some Republican senators however, along with a few conservative commentators have accused her of misleading the U.S. public intentionally to hide assessments by the U.S. intelligence that the attack had been a terrorist attack.

Senators have crowded in front of microphones and cameras to condemn Rice, while President Obama defends her and says the critics should be after him and not her.

Rice was raised just minutes from her current political saga in Northwest Washington, D.C. Emmett Rice, her father, who appointed in 1979 to the Federal Reserve Board becoming the second African-American to receive that appointment. Lori Dickson, her mother, was a corporate executive, while a member for many years of the College Board. Her parents divorced when Rice was only 10.

Rice attended school with the city’s elite and played basketball on her school team. Her parents called people like Madeleine Albright their friend. Her mother served on a school board with the former Secretary of State and Albright’s former husband often played tennis with Emmett Rice.

Albright was helpful in Rice becoming the assistant secretary of state for African Affairs at the age of 32. Often times, people believed Rice was Albright’s godchild, but Albright has said that was not true.

Time will tell if she becomes the next U.S. Secretary of State, as she certainly has the right credentials.

She said she would remain on as the Secretary of State until President Obama nominated someone to replace her and a transition could take place. Clinton said that after being in American politics for the past 20 years it was time to step off the high wire and see how tired she really is.

Now the task at hand is finding a successor to Clinton. One of the top candidates is John Kerry the Senator from Massachusetts. Kerry is the Committee of Foreign Relations’ Chairman in the Senate. He is also active abroad in U.S. foreign policy especially in both Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Kerry also has the force of celebrity that is needed to win U.S. goals abroad as he is a former candidate for the presidency. Kerry was chosen by Obama to help him practice for the second debate against former presidential challenger Mitt Romney. Kerry was also used in an ad that was anti-Romney during the recently concluded presidential campaign.

The only obstacle Kerry might face is his seat in the Senate. Any sitting president who chooses a senator for a post in his Cabinet considers whether the party in control can maintain the senator’s seat, especially in the current Senate where the Democrats majority is so small.

Other candidates for the position include Susan Rice the U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. and Tom Donilon, the current National Security Advisor