[imText1]Once again, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter has been turned down for a meeting with Kim Jong Il; this despite his publicly expressed desire to meet with the Kims, which he stated just before heading to Pyongyang earlier this week.
At a press conference held after arriving in Seoul this afternoon, Carter said that the members of The Elders, who visited North Korea this week, did not meet with Kim Jong Il.
At the same press conference, Carter reiterated his stance, which he released on his blog yesterday, on humanitarian aid for North Korea, the peace treaty issue, and the Six-Party Talks.
He added that as his group was about to leave Pyongyang, they indirectly received a message from Kim Jong Il stating that he would be willing to meet with the South Korean President Lee Myung Bak.
Regardless of these developments, Carter’s attempt to meet with Kim Jong Il once again came up empty making this the second diplomatic embarrassment for Carter, who carried out this visit to Pyongyang despite criticisms.
Carter had expected to meet with Kim Jong Il when he visited Pyongyang last year to take home U.S. citizen Aijalon Mahli Gomes. He failed in this attempt to meet Kim Jong Il as well, as Kim left him in Pyongyang and headed to China.
Diplomatic circles had predicted that Carter and the members of The Elders might succeed in meeting with Kim Jong Il because they are all previous national leaders. Furthermore, North Korea has been actively attempting to show gestures of appeasement towards South Korea and the U.S. since early this year.
Experts on North Korea believe Kim Jong Il may have thought the political gains to be had from meeting with The Elders were not worthwhile, resulting in another failure for Carter.
The same experts explained that since the U.S.-South Korea and China-North Korea have already agreed with the “Three Phase Measure” to resume the Six-Party Talks, Kim may have thought the political effect of meeting with Carter unproductive.
Other experts also suggested that the meeting was not held because the U.S. State Department and the South Korean administration have treated this trip as a private one without any formal expectation regarding Carter’s visit to Pyongyang.
In a telephone interview with The Daily NK, Choi Jin Wook, senior researcher for the Korea Institute for National Unification, said, “Kim Jong Il has already delivered his message to the U.S. and South Korea through China as much as he wanted, so he may not have felt a need to meet Carter and his companions.”
Choi added, “Kim Jong Il may have thought it was not a significant meeting because Carter was visiting as a private citizen without any particular message from the U.S. administration.”
Professor Kim Yeon Su of the Korean National Defense University believes, “Kim Jong Il may have thought the meeting with Carter and the Elders was unnecessary because South Korea, China, and the U.S. have already reached an agreement with the ‘Three Phrase Measure’ to resume the Six-Party Talks.”
