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U.S. president meets new Japanese leader |
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June 9, 2000
TOKYO, JUNE 8 (AP) - Joining an array of world leaders, U.S. President Bill Clinton Thursday paid respects to the late Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi - a man who "touched hearts around the world" - and talked diplomacy with Obuchi's successor.
Clinton also took advantage of an eight-hour visit to Japan to meet briefly with South Korea's leader to discuss next week's summit meeting between North and South Korea.
Immediately upon his arrival here, Clinton went to the Akasaka Guest House to meet with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori. They spent about 30 minutes discussing the summit of industrialized nations that Japan will host next month, and U.S.-Japan telecommunications trade.
Clinton also had a 25-minute meeting with South Korean President Kim Dae-jung, to discuss Kim's historic summit with his North Korean counterpart, Kim Jong Il. Kim told Clinton that he hoped the summit - the first in more than 40 years - would be a turning point in resolving tensions on the Korean peninsula, said national security spokesman P.J. Crowley.
"President Kim said during the meeting, 'We will still need patience. This is just a first step,"' Crowley said. He added that the United States would soon announce easing some sanctions against North Korea through a process that has been in place since September, but would not say whether the timing of that announcement would coincide with the Korean leaders' summit.
"It's safe to say decades of conflict are not going to melt away in one meeting," Crowley said. "But if coming out of this is a process for building a dialogue, that would have a tremendous effect on reducing tensions on the (Korean) peninsula." Between meetings, Clinton attended the state funeral for Obuchi, who died last month following a stroke. Along with U.S. Ambassador Thomas Foley, Clinton bowed and laid flowers on a table before a small casket containing Obuchi's ashes; he did not speak during the service.
Later, at Foley's residence, Clinton praised Obuchi for facing Japan's economic crisis "with courage and confidence," and recalled how Obuchi delivered an "unhittable pitch" to Chicago Cubs slugger Sammy Sosa during a visit last year. He said he cherishes a painting of Mount Fuji that Obuchi gave him during his last visit to Washington.
"Prime Minister Obuchi touched hearts around the world in simple human ways," Clinton said. "(He) represented to the whole world the Japanese virtues of honor and loyalty, vision and determination, love for, and commitment to, ordinary people. Our world is a better place thanks to the life that he lived and the work that he did." Clinton arrived in Tokyo just as Mori finished meeting with the South Korean president. Ken Lieberthal, national security aide for Asian affairs, said Mori noted the importance of cooperation between the United States, South Korea and Japan in getting North Korea to "think in more creative and flexible terms." They did not discuss easing sanctions, Lieberthal said.
Clinton did not give Kim a specific message to deliver to Kim Jong Il, Crowley said. Lieberthal said the sanctions likely would not be an issue at the summit.
"I would not expect the North-South summit to be the place to negotiate a particularly American issue such as sanctions easing," Lieberthal said.
He said Clinton and Kim were merely "touching base and reaffirming we will work closely together on this."
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