Travel  |  Business World  |  Women's World  |  Entertainment

Change Your Life!

Clinton to decide "soon" on whether to visit North Korea

News
Sports
Chat
Travel
Dhaka Today
Yellow Pages
Higher Education
Ask a Doctor
Weather
Currency Rate
Horoscope
E-Cards
B2K Poll
Comment on the Site
B2K Club

November 16, 2000 

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN-- (UNB/AP) - South Korean President Kim Dae-jung told U.S. President Bill Clinton on Wednesday that he "clearly sees value" in a Clinton visit to North Korea, but that the United States must decide if such a trip was in its national interest, a U.S. State Department official said.

Wendy Sherman, the top State Department official on Korea, said Clinton would decide soon whether to make the historic trip.

U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il in October to try to pave a way for a Clinton visit. Followup missile talks were held in Kuala Lumpur, but no agreements were reached.

There had been some discussions about a Clinton visit to Pyongyang at the end of his Asia trip but the White House scrapped it.

"The missile talks that wrapped up in Kuala Lumpur were helpful in clarifying respective U.S. and North Korean positions, expanding areas on common ground, but significant issues remain to be resolved," spokesman Jake Siewert said at the time.

The United States is concerned about North Korean missile exports to Pakistan, Iran and other countries. Kim Jong Il has indicated a willingness to curb missile development and missile exports in exchange for economic ties with the United States.

Asked whether Clinton would go to Pyongyang absent a missile agreement, Sherman said: "If we believe that we can make significant progress on issues of concern to us, and obviously missiles are obviously an issue of primary concern to us, then we need to pursue this to see if we can reach an agreement or a substantial agreement in principle in the North, and that obviously would be a very important part of the president's consideration."

Clinton and Kim Dae-jung met for more than 40 minutes on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. They discussed information technology, South Korea's economy and North Korea, said Park June-young, Kim's spokesman.

Both leaders said they appreciated the ties the reclusive North has made this year with the rest of the world, and agreed to further relations with the communist country, he said.

"Kim, as he has said in the past, believes in engagement with North Korea," Sherman said.

She said Kim "clearly sees value" in a Clinton trip to Pyongyang, but that it was up to the president to decide if it was in the best interest of the United States.