Clinton, Putin Discuss N. Korea

A fatigued President Clinton emerged Friday from a meeting here with Russian President Vladimir V. Putin baffled by the Russian leader’s account of North Korea’s aspirations for its missile program.

“We need to have further discussions with our Russian colleagues in order to get a bit more about what actually transpired between President Putin and [North Korean leader] Kim Jong Il in Pyongyang on that,” a senior Clinton administration official acknowledged after the wide-ranging 75-minute meeting.

En route to Okinawa, Japan, to join the annual meeting of the world’s leading economic powers, Putin stopped in the North Korean capital. He met there with Kim, who has been on a diplomatic offensive recently that included the first summit last month between the leaders of the two Koreas.

In Putin’s meeting with Clinton on Friday evening, the Russian president painted an ambiguous picture of Pyongyang’s intentions, and Clinton evidently did not press for clarification. That left aides to pursue the issue in the coming days with not only Moscow but also Pyongyang.

At issue for senior U.S. officials is whether North Korea might be ready to “unplug” its ballistic missile program in exchange for international aid in launching satellites into orbit.

“That is a very germane and immediate question,” said a senior administration official who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity.

“It’s not entirely clear what is in Kim Jong Il’s mind with regard to this possible trade-off,” he said, adding that it could be “a very dangerous idea” to provide North Korea with launch capability.

The official said Putin “clearly thought it was something to be studied and discussed with us.”

The U.S. is considering building a national missile defense system to protect against attacks from “states of concern,” such as North Korea and Iraq. But both Russia and China--whose capital Putin also recently visited--have warned that the proposed program could trigger a new arms race.

Clinton is awaiting a recommendation from Defense Secretary William S. Cohen before deciding whether to take the next step toward a missile defense program. That decision is expected later this summer.

In a separate press briefing, Russian Foreign Minister Igor S. Ivanov said North Korea is not interested in receiving missiles or missile technology to independently launch satellites but, rather, wants other nations to launch Pyongyang’s satellites.

“If such assistance is offered, North Korea is ready to stop ballistic missile tests,” Ivanov declared. “It’s too early to discuss specifics, such as whether such assistance would envisage providing funds or carrying out launches.”

Putin described his impressions of his visit to Pyongyang at Clinton’s request--but only after Clinton first answered the Russian leader’s inquiries about the Middle East peace summit that Clinton has been hosting, U.S. officials said.

On other matters, Clinton urged Putin to allow greater international access to Chechnya and more press freedom in Russia. He also complimented Putin’s economic plan, administration aides said.

On issues of strategic stability, Putin and Clinton issued a joint statement promising to find new ways to cooperate in controlling the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. The statement charted a course for the “transparent” disposition by each side of at least 34 metric tons of weapons-grade plutonium--an amount sufficient for thousands of nuclear weapons.

The goal is to dispose of part of that stockpile--at least 2 metric tons by each nation a year--by 2007.

This plan builds on a June 5 announcement by Clinton and Putin after their summit in Moscow.

One Clinton administration official said Putin told the president that, despite Russia’s opposition to a U.S. national missile defense program, the two nations “can still find a great deal to do together to deal with the overall problem, which Russia recognizes.”

Today, Clinton is scheduled to meet with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, a session that was postponed from Thursday because Clinton canceled his trip to Tokyo in order to stay an extra day as host of the Camp David peace talks in Maryland.

In their session Friday afternoon, world leaders reviewed the generally favorable economic trends around the globe but expressed concern over the volatility of oil prices, officials said. The leaders also renewed their determination to step up efforts to provide debt relief to developing nations.

Many of the leaders opened their remarks by complimenting Clinton for his efforts to broker a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.

“He’s tired. But he’s enjoying his time here,” White House Press Secretary Joe Lockhart said of Clinton.

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Times staff writer Valerie Reitman contributed to this report.