Encouraged by North Korean Move, Clinton Says

President Clinton said Saturday that he is pleased by an agreement to allow U.N. inspectors to examine some of North Korea’s nuclear facilities, but Senate Republican leader Bob Dole accused Clinton of giving up too much in the deal.

“I’m encouraged,” Clinton told reporters. “I want to see the details, but I’m encouraged.”

Dole, a Kansas Republican, charged Clinton with “pussyfooting” on North Korea’s suspected nuclear weapons effort. “They won’t let us inspect two sites,” he complained. “We’re talking about . . . more carrots for North Korea.”

Under the U.S.-North Korea deal, completed Friday, the Communist regime in Pyongyang agreed to allow a U.N. team to begin inspecting its seven acknowledged nuclear facilities on Tuesday.

Once the inspections begin, the United States will commit itself to a new round of high-level political talks and call off its “Team Spirit” military exercise with South Korea--two conditions sought by North Korea.

In addition, North and South Korea will set new talks at the border village of Panmunjom to prepare for renewed reconciliation negotiations between the two governments.

The State Department confirmed those details of the agreement, which the North Korean negotiator revealed earlier--but it made a point of saying that they all depend on the U.N. inspections getting under way.

“We’re saying: Hold it, there’s a big contingency here,” a senior State Department official said.

“We’re not going to talk about the other stuff until the inspections have started.”

The United States is still seeking inspections of two other suspected nuclear sites that North Korea has not publicly acknowledged. Those sites were not included in the agreement reached last week. Clinton met with his national security advisers at the White House on Saturday to discuss the next steps on the issue, a presidential aide said.

Dole, in an interview on CNN, said he was not satisfied with the President’s approach.

“You look at North Korea; you know, we’ve been pussyfooting around there for a long time,” he said.

“They talk about inspections; they won’t let us inspect two sites. We don’t know if they have the bomb or not,” Dole said.

CIA officials have said that North Korea may already have one or two nuclear devices made with plutonium from its atomic reactors, but U.S. intelligence has not confirmed the existence of any weapons there.