Seoul Skeptical About Clinton's Role

Korea Times | May 1, 2002

[Stand Watch Listen]

The Seoul government is skeptical about the role of former U.S. president Bill Clinton as a potential mediator in the stalled Washington-Pyongyang relationship, officials said yesterday.

``The Bush administration doesn't trust Clinton,'' a Seoul official said on condition of anonymity. ``Therefore, it is very unlikely for President Bush to give his go-ahead to Clinton as a mediator and any progress the former president would make, should he go to North Korea, would not likely affect present U.S. policy.''

The official also noted a different set of circumstances between former U.S. president Jimmy Carter's Pyongyang visit and the notion of Clinton playing a similar role.

Carter went to Pyongyang at the invitation of the late North Korean leader Kim Il-sung, father of Kim Jong-il, the current leader, at the height of a crisis involving the Stalinist country's nuclear program in 1994 and came back home with Kim's promise to have an inter-Korean summit that was not realized due to Kim's death.

Carter's visit, however, eventually led to the resumption of talks between the U.S. and the North and defused the crisis.

``Both Clinton and Carter were Democrats and the two shared the basic values, which helped Carter's mediation role get reflected in the Clinton administration's policy,'' the official said. ``But this is not the case this time.''

``The Bush administration will stick to its policy of using its envoy Jack Pritchard in dealing with the North,'' he said.

The North conveyed its consent to allow Pritchard visit Pyongyang through Lim Dong-won, Seoul's special envoy who visited the North in early April.

During his meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, Lim said that he tried to persuade Kim to see the difference between the administrations of Clinton and Bush.

Pyongyang has insisted that Bush offer the same sweet deal as Clinton did or it would not deal with the U.S., a stance that has blocked progress in the two countries' relationship.

Clinton came close to visiting Pyongyang at the last stage of his presidency in an effort to consummate a deal directly with the North Korean leader on weapons of mass destruction.

Having deviated from Clinton's ``carrot-first'' policy, Bush has applied a more strict principle of reciprocity with the North.

A senior official at the Foreign Affairs-Trade Ministry also expressed pessimism about Clinton's role as mediator, noting Bush's aversion to anything related to his predecessor.

Reports have it that the North has invited Clinton to Pyongyang in a hope that he will repeat Carter role and provide a breakthrough for the two countries' stalled relations.

[r9etb]

I've finally figured out Bill Clinton: he's the secret love child of Jimmy Carter and Jesse Jackson.

[homeschool mama]

**``The Bush administration doesn't trust Clinton,'' a Seoul official said on condition of anonymity. ``Therefore, it is very unlikely for President Bush to give his go-ahead to Clinton as a mediator and any progress the former president would make, should he go to North Korea, would not likely affect present U.S. policy.'' **

Well, duh!