Clinton talked to Obama aide on N. Korean trip: White House

By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, Aug. 6 (Yonhap) -- Former U.S. President Bill Clinton has briefly
talked to an aide to President Barack Obama on his just-concluded trip to North
Korea to win the release of two American journalists, the White House said
Thursday.

The briefing was made late Wednesday, soon after Clinton brought back the
journalists, held since March for illegally crossing the Chinese border on a
reporting tour, spokesman Robert Gibbs said.
Clinton met with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il in Pyongyang Tuesday to discuss
the journalists' release and a variety of other issues involving the two
countries in a rare lengthy public appearance for the ailing communist leader.
Gibbs did not elaborate on the substance of the briefing, but Obama Wednesday
expressed his hope to get more information from Clinton on Kim's health.
"I suspect that President Clinton will have some interesting observations from
his trip, and I will let him provide those to me," Obama said in an interview
with NBC.
Gibbs said that the White House is scheduling a formal meeting between Obama and
Clinton.
"We are going to get a fuller briefing," he said. "We are trying to coordinate
schedules. President Obama wants to see President Clinton."
Kim had a meeting and an ensuing dinner with Clinton for more than three hours,
quelling concerns over his health amid rumors of the 67-year-old reclusive
leader, rumored to have suffered a stroke and possibly battling pancreatic
cancer.
Pyongyang's recent provocations are seen as an attempt to facilitate an
unprecedented third generation power transition to Kim's third and youngest son,
Jong-un, amid allegations that the 26-year-old heir will face a challenge from
the military elite if his father does not survive long enough.
The North's nuclear and missile tests in recent months invited international
sanctions, which led the regime to boycott the six-party talks, citing "U.S.
hostility," and to demand bilateral talks with Washington.
The U.S. insists any bilateral talks should be held within the six-party framework.
Gibbs said that the Obama administration will continue imposing sanctions unless
the North returns to the multilateral nuclear dismantlement forum.
"If they would like to see a greater international breakthrough, then they just
have to come back to live up to the responsibilities that they entered into,"
Gibbs said. "We are going to continue to ensure that we take actions to enforce
recently passed Security Council resolutions to ensure there is not the
proliferation of weapons of mass destruction."
The spokesman was repeating a point Obama made Wednesday.
"We have said to the North Koreans, there is a path for improved relations, and
it involves them no longer developing nuclear weapons and not engaging in the
provocative behavior that they've been engaging in," Obama told NBC News.
Obama also distanced himself from Clinton's trip to Pyongyang.
"We were very clear that this was a humanitarian mission," he said. "President
Clinton was going on behalf of the families to get these young journalists out."
The next step remains unclear.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently promised that "full normalization of
relations, a permanent peace regime, and significant energy and economic
assistance are all possible in the context of full and verifiable
denuclearization."
hdh@yna.co.kr
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