US President Bill Clinton decided yesterday not to visit North Korea before leaving office on Jan. 20 because there was not enough time to prepare for a useful agreement between the two countries.
"I believe new opportunities are opening for progress toward greater stability and peace on the Korean peninsula," Clinton said in a statement.
"However, I have determined that there is not enough time while I am president to prepare the way for an agreement with North Korea that advances our national interest and provides the basis for a trip by me to Pyongyang."
Madeleine Albright made the first visit by a US secretary of state to communist North Korea in October.
Clinton had since expressed an interest in becoming the first US president to travel to the Stalinist state, hoping to seal a deal under which Pyongyang would stop producing and selling ballistic missiles in exchange for foreign assistance in launching satellites.
One of the world's most isolated countries, North Korea has opened up somewhat since South Korean President Kim Dae-jung took office in February 1998 and embarked on his "sunshine policy" of engagement with the North.
Clinton said he had great hopes of continued improvement in the US relationship with North Korea.
"Let me emphasize that I believe this process of engagement with North Korea, in coordination with South Korea and Japan, holds great promise and that the United States should continue to build on the progress we have made," Clinton said.
In a news conference later, Clinton said President-elect George W. Bush did not have any influence on his decision.
Clinton said he briefed Bush during a meeting earlier this month on what his administration was doing to improve ties with North Korea.
"But I also told him that I wouldn't take the trip unless I thought that I had time to organize it and devote the time to it to make it right," Clinton said.
"I was convinced that because of the leadership of President Kim in South Korea and because of the very good talks that we have had with the North Koreans and the success we've had now for six years on the nuclear issue, that further progress could be made, and that it might just have to be something that was done when he became president," he said.
Under a 1994 agreement, North Korea agreed to freeze a nuclear program suspected of developing atomic weapons in exchange for two light water reactors and free supplies of heavy fuel oil.
Some Republican congressional leaders had warned Clinton against pushing ahead with the trip in the final weeks of his administration. During the presidential campaign, some Bush aides also had expressed concern over a rushed trip.
When asked at a separate news conference if he supported Clinton's decision, Bush said: "On all matters between now and the inauguration, the country must speak with the one voice. The president made the decision he thought was important."
Clinton said the US has coordinated each step forward in North Korea with South Korea and Japan.
"Taken together, our efforts have reduced tensions on the Korean peninsula, improved prospects for enduring peace and stability in the region, and opened an opportunity to substantially reduce, if not eliminate, the threat posed by North Korean missile development and exports," the president said.
Clinton said that the US had a "clear national interest" in following up on talks to try and halt missile development in North Korea.
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