Clinton's North Korea Trip May Cost The US

The release of the two US television journalists from North Korea may be regarded triumph but the reality is that the United States may have paid a high price to bring the women home.

When Mr Clinton touched down in North Korea the former president was seen as the man who could force the hand of Kim Jong Il and orchestrate the release of the journalists.

In reality it emerged that it was Kim Jong Il himself who had invited Mr Clinton to Pyongyang and had guaranteed freedom for the reporters as long as the visit would not be linked to the issue of North Korea's nuclear weapons.

North Korea's propaganda factory - working overtime - claimed Kim Jong Il had received a personal apology from the former US President.

"Clinton expressed words of sincere apology for the hostile acts committed by the two journalists," state media declared.

Mr Clinton's team later denied any apology had been offered but the damage had already been done.

And while the White House continues to insist that this was "purely a private visit" by Bill Clinton it emerged that he had been fully briefed by Mr Obama's staff prior to the trip.

But most worryingly for the US State Department is the potential political fallout from this trip among America's allies in the region.

For nearly ten years North Korea has been demanding one to one talks with the United States.

It has scrapped any plans to re-engage in joint meetings with Russia, Japan, China and South Korea.

Now the leaders of these countries will be waking up to images of a former US President sitting down in private with the leader of the rogue state.

you remember correctly:

“The trip was reminiscent of one 15 years ago by former President Jimmy Carter when Clinton was in office, also at a time of tensions over North Korea’s nuclear program.

Carter’s visit - he met with Kim Jong Il’s father, the late Kim Il Sung - helped thaw the deep freeze in relations with the Korean War foe and paved the way for discussions on nuclear disarmament. Clinton later sent Albright to Pyongyang for talks with Kim in a high point in the often rocky relations with North Korea”

http://cbs5.com/local/bill.clinton.north.2.1114581.html

more detail per wikipedia:~

North Korea
In 1994, North Korea had expelled investigators from the International Atomic Energy Agency and was threatening to begin processing spent nuclear fuel. In response then-President Clinton pressured for US sanctions and ordered large amounts of troops and vehicles into the area to brace for war.

Bill Clinton secretly recruited Carter to undertake a peace mission to North Korea,[58] under the guise that it was a private mission of Carter’s. Clinton saw Carter as a way to let North Korean President Kim Il-sung back down without losing face.[59]

Carter negotiated an understanding with Kim Il-sung, but went further and outlined a treaty which he announced on CNN without the permission of the Clinton White House as a way to force the US into action. The Clinton Administration signed a later version of the Agreed Framework, under which North Korea agreed to freeze and ultimately dismantle its current nuclear program and comply with its nonproliferation obligations in exchange for oil deliveries, the construction of two light water reactors to replace its graphite reactors, and discussions for eventual diplomatic relations.

The agreement was widely hailed at the time as a significant diplomatic achievement. However, in December 2002, the Agreed Framework collapsed as a result of a dispute between the George W. Bush Administration and the North Korean government of Kim Jong-il. In 2001, President George W. Bush had taken a confrontational position toward North Korea and, in January 2002, named it as part of an “Axis of Evil”. Meanwhile, North Korea began developing the capability to enrich uranium. Bush Administration opponents of the Agreed Framework believed that the North Korean government never intended to give up a nuclear weapons program, but supporters believed that the agreement could have been successful and was undermined.[60]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Carter

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