Posted on 05/01/2002 1:55:38 PM PDT by flamefront
SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea denied on Wednesday that it had invited former U.S. President Bill Clinton to visit the country to play a role in mediating with the United States and to cool rhetoric from Washington.
A North Korean official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters on Monday that the North's leader Kim Jong-il had hoped Clinton could play a mediating role similar to one played by another former Democrat president, Jimmy Carter, who visited Pyongyang amid a nuclear crisis in 1994 to broker talks.
In a statement issued a day after the United States confirmed that North Korea was willing to resume talks, the North Korean Foreign Ministry denied having invited Clinton.
"Some time ago, Reuters of Britain reported that the DPRK has invited former U.S. President Clinton to Pyongyang. In this regard, we make it clear that no such invitation has been made," said the statement, issued by the state-run Korea Central News Agency.
DPRK is the acronym of North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
Under Clinton's administration, relations between the two Cold War foes began to thaw, with then Secretary of State Madeleine Albright visiting Pyongyang with a view to a possible visit by Clinton.
However, the Clinton visit did not take place after the U.S. decided that such a high-level trip would be premature.
Recent visitors to Pyongyang said North Korea -- angered by U.S. President George W. Bush's harsh rhetoric toward Pyongyang, including his January 29 "axis of evil" speech -- was nostalgic about the Clinton administration.
South Korean and U.S. officials voiced scepticism about the likelihood of a Clinton trip, but interpreted the purported invitation as a further sign North Korea was ready to talk.
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said on Tuesday North Korea had informed the Bush administration it was willing to resume talks.
"The United States will work to determine the timing and other details in the coming days," Fleischer said.
The details of how the U.S.-North Korean talks might resume have not been disclosed, but a U.S. official said Pyongyang had signalled it was open to a visit by Jack Pritchard, U.S. special envoy on Korean affairs.
See the preceding posts for background articles posted here regarding the Clinton invite to North Korea.
It looks as if Clinton is out to assume his duties.
Was it a trial balloon from N. Korea which ended up popping ?
April 30, 2002 06:06 PM ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House said on Tuesday it was making arrangements to resume talks with North Korea after the reclusive communist state told Washington it was ready to return to negotiations frozen last year.
The talks -- which U.S. officials expect to center on North Korea's missile and nuclear programs -- were effectively suspended after President Bush took office in January 2001. He later branded North Korea an "axis of evil" state, along with Iraq and Iran.
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said North Korea had informed the Bush administration that it was willing to resume talks, saying "the United States will work to determine the timing and other details in the coming days."
A resumption of negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang would cap a gradual diplomatic outreach by North Korea toward South Korea and its allies.
The details of how the U.S.-North Korean talks might resume have not been disclosed, but a senior State Department official said Pyongyang had said it would welcome a visit by U.S. envoy Jack Pritchard.
North Korea contacted the United States last Saturday through its mission to the United Nations and conveyed the invitation, said the official, who asked not to be named.
DETAILS STILL TO BE WORKED OUT
"They would welcome a visit by Pritchard. ... We are preparing our response and we will be making arrangements to talk to the North Koreans," he said, adding the United States had not arranged a visit for Pritchard, and it was not clear where and at what level the talks would occur.
North Korea and the United States have never had diplomatic relations, and the Bush administration has had only low-level contacts with North Korea through the U.N. mission.
Fleischer's written statement did not specify the subject of the talks but it noted that in June 2001 Bush had proposed that the discussions cover U.S. concerns about "the North's missile program and exports, implementation of the Agreed Framework ... conventional military posture and other areas."
Washington believes North Korea is a major exporter of missile technology and suspects it of seeking weapons of mass destruction.
Asked if North Korea had agreed to the proposal for broad talks, a senior Bush administration official replied: "Yes."
"They know the subjects we want to talk about. When we have a dialogue, we will raise these issues," added a State Department official.
After taking office, Bush ordered a review of former U.S. President Bill Clinton's push for an agreement under which North Korea would have abandoned its long-range missile programs and halted its missile exports in return for foreign help with launching North Korean satellites.
The review, and Bush's Jan. 29 "axis of evil" speech, cast a pall over U.S.-North Korean relations. Bush later offered a dialogue on condition conventional armed forces be discussed as well and Pyongyang has been slowly edging back to the negotiating table.
LONG-RANGE MISSILES
The main U.S. concern is to stop North Korea from developing and exporting long-range missiles. The United States has a 1994 agreement freezing North Korea's nuclear programs and said recently that the North Koreans appeared to be complying with that agreement.
In a another sign that relations may now be thawing, a North Korean official told Reuters on Monday Pyongyang wanted Clinton to visit as a special envoy.
The apparent spring thaw stems largely from the early April mission to Pyongyang by a South Korean presidential envoy, who met North Korean leader Kim Jong-il and quoted him as saying the communist state was ready to talk to Seoul's allies.
Japan and North Korea also appear set to step up contacts after two days of talks in Beijing following a two-year hiatus.
Amid the warming diplomatic signals, the two Koreas resumed family reunions of war-divided families this week for the first time in a year -- a humanitarian project that Seoul regards as a demonstration of North Korean goodwill that helps maintain public support for aid to the North.
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Good, good, good!
That is more likely.
Of *course* they'd be pining for a fellow commie bastard! :-D
Especially one whom they could easily dupe and roll.
Maybe it was ROGER Clinton who they invited - for an encore of his rotten music.
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