Clinton won¡¯t visit N. Korea on Asian tour

U.S. President Bill Clinton will not visit North Korea during his scheduled visit to Asia this month, the White House announced Saturday.

The White House officials said that President Clinton had decided not to go to Pyongyang following his attendance at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit to be held in Brunei and a trip to Vietnam. However, he did not make any decision on whether he will visit the North before his term of office expires Jan. 20, 2001, they said.

The postponement of making a decision on Clinton's North Korean visit came because Washington and Pyongyang could not reach a satisfactory agreement on the North' missile program during course of talks between Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and the Pyongyang leaders during her trip there and at the two nations¡¯ bilateral expert-level talks held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on Nov. 1-3.

A White House spokesman said that the Kuala Lumpur talks contributed to expanding a common ground but that there are many problems that must be addressed.

Daniel Cruise, a spokesman for the National Security Council, said that more discussion needs to happen regarding the outcome of the Kuala Lumpur talks.

A diplomatic source in Washington forecast that the possibility of Clinton's visit to the North Korean capital diminished following Albright's clarification of her North Korean visit in a press conference Nov. 3 and in view of the latest decision to exclude Clinton's Pyongyang visit from his schedule for Asian trip.

Washington agreed with Pyongyang on Clinton's visit to the North during North Korean senior Vice Defense Committee Chairman Jo Myong-Rok's visit to Washington, D.C. But a critical view was raised over a Pyongyang visit by Clinton with his term of office drawing near its end, while outstanding issues pending the two nations remained unresolved.

Han Ki-Heung eligius@donga.com