Clinton shelves plan to visit N.K. while in office

U.S. President Bill Clinton has suspended a plan to visit North Korea during his term upon the recommendation of foreign policy experts in the United States, the Washington Post reported on Tuesday. The paper said that Clinton had considered his North Korean visit on a leg of his trips to Brunei and Vietnam this week, but withdrew the plan in line with the recommendations of former and incumbent White House officials.

In letters addressed to Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and others, Michael Ocksenburg asserted that it was inappropriate for the U.S. to give the gift of Clinton's Pyongyang visit when there is no North Korean guarantee of concessions in cardinal issues such as Pyongyang¡¯s missile program and tension reduction on the Korean peninsula.

Noting that North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il had Secretary Albright watch an unexpected Stalinist mass demonstration during her visit to Pyongyang, he pointed out that this happening displayed a model case that requires any U.S. president to be cautious about planning a North Korean trip.