'Bill Clinton did not carry any message on behalf of US govt'

I / Washington August 7, 2009, 12:27 IST

Former President Bill Clinton did not carry any message on behalf of US Government to the North Korean regime, the Obama Administration clarified today.

Bill Clinton was in Pyongyang early this week wherein he successfully secured the release of two female American journalists and met top leadership of North Korea.

"I just want to be clear, he was not carrying any message or sending any message on the part of the US Government," State Department spokesman Robert Wood told reporters. Meanwhile, the White House said US President Barack Obama would soon meet Bill Clinton and a mutually convenient dates are being worked out.

"When President Obama spoke yesterday morning with President Clinton, President Obama expressed his desire to get together fairly soon so the two men would have a chance to talk," White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said.

"Right now we're just trying to coordinate the schedules of two rather busy men," he said. Gibbs said the former President is now being debriefed by members of the National Security Council (NSC).

"There has been and will continue to be a formal debriefing process now on the back end of that trip.

There were some communications between the former President and the NSC yesterday, and that will continue over the next several days," Gibbs said.

Not aware of what was part of the debriefing, Gibbs said: "I can only imagine that given his history on this issue, that he would strongly encourage the North Koreans to set aside their renewed pursuit of a nuclear weapon, come back and live by the agreements that they've been party to before, and to encourage them to understand that the acquisition of those weapons is not going to bring international prestige but further isolation based on his history on these issues."

The White House spokesman said the Obama administration has taken very strong action relating to and responding to the actions of the North Koreans.  

"I think what happened in the UN Security Council, the unanimous passage of those resolutions and the impact that they have already had on ensuring that the North Koreans are unable to move weapons out of their country, quite frankly is the best response for anybody's criticism," he said.