White House says policy toward North Korea unchanged

Former president Bill Clinton and North Korea's leader Kim Jong-il pose for a picture in Pyongyang in this photo released by North Korean official news agency KCNA August 4, 2009.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Thursday held back from making conciliatory gestures to North Korea after Bill Clinton's visit there, and Clinton said he wanted to avoid saying anything publicly that might "tip the balance."

"I'm not a policymaker anymore," Clinton said in New York.

The message from White House spokesman Robert Gibbs a day after Clinton returned from retrieving two American journalists held by North Korea was one of thanks to Clinton and no thanks to Pyongyang.

In words that may well serve to reassure U.S. allies Japan and South Korea, Gibbs said U.S. policy had not changed as a result of Clinton's visit.

He said the United States wanted to enforce U.N. resolutions to ensure North Korean weapons of mass destruction are not spread -- a familiar stance.

Clinton, in his first public comments since returning on Wednesday with journalists Euna Lee and Laura Ling, said he was "profoundly honored" to be a part of the mission. He chose his words carefully.

"I wanted those young women to be able to come home and I wanted our two countries to have the ability to decide where to go from here," he said.

"But anything I say beyond that could inadvertently affect the decisions and moves either here or in North Korea and I have no business doing that. I'm not a policy maker anymore," Clinton said at the headquarters of the Clinton Foundation.

Clinton had an hour and 15 minutes of talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il and then a two-hour dinner with him. He was the highest-level American to meet Kim in almost a decade.

'TIP THE BALANCE'

U.S. officials are anxious to get Clinton's impressions of the ailing Kim, whose government tested a nuclear device in May and since then has launched a series of missiles.

The North Korean news agency KCNA said afterward that Clinton had "candid and in-depth discussions on the pending issues between the DPRK (North Korea) and the U.S. in a sincere atmosphere and reached a consensus of views on seeking a negotiated settlement of them."

Obama's national security adviser, General Jim Jones, said he hoped Clinton's visit to North Korea would ultimately lead to progress.

Asked if he thought the visit would change U.S.-North Korean relations, Jones answered, "No, I don't think so. I think that this was a humanitarian mission."

"We certainly hope it will lead to good things ..." he added. But, he said, "Who knows where the future will lead? ... We're delighted that it worked out this way, but I wouldn't draw any other conclusions beyond the fact."

Clinton has begun briefing White House and State Department officials about his trip and a meeting with President Barack Obama is expected soon, although not before Obama travels to Mexico on Sunday for talks on Monday with the leaders of Mexico and Canada.

Clinton said he had "an obligation to report to my government and otherwise say nothing that would in any way tip the balance of any kind of decisions that may or may not be made."

He said he had a brief conversation with Obama and a longer one with his wife, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Hillary Clinton said on Thursday that perhaps Bill Clinton's mission might prompt North Korea to improve its dialogue with the United States.

"What we're hoping is that maybe, without it being part of the mission in a way, the fact this was done will perhaps lead the North Koreans to recognize they can have a positive relationship with us," she said in a CNN interview.

(Additional reporting by Jeff Mason in Washington and Edith Honan in New York; Editing by Cynthia Osterman and Philip Barbara)