Clinton trip over,Obamas message to North Korea: Nothing has changed

Even as the administration took pains through its statements to assure allies abroad and voters at home that it would not be lured naïvely into yet another round of fruitless talks with North Korea,officials were busily calculating whether the psychology in the North had changed in a way that might create opportunities for resolving the long confrontation over its nuclear ambitions.

They were also evaluating preliminary impressions brought back by Clinton and the other Americans on the trip about North Koreas reclusive leader,Kim Jong-il,and any diplomatic signals Kim might have been trying to convey.

Administration officials said the White House had no plans to change its strategy for negotiating with North Korea.

We have said to the North Koreans that theres a path to better relations, Obama said in an interview with MSNBC. We just want to make sure the Government of North Korea is operating within the basic rules of the international community that they know is expected of them.

Officials said the administrations restatement of its policy did not mean that it was blind to the opportunities that could flow out of the missions happy outcome.

How this impacts the psychology of the North Koreans,no one can tell, said a senior administration official.

The release of the journalists could break an impasse between the US and North Korea because,officials and outside experts said,there was virtually no prospect of reviving nuclear negotiations as long as the women appeared to be headed to a North Korean prison camp.

At the same time,Kim is likely to expect some kind of payback for the pardons,political analysts said. How the US responds to Kims expectations may determine whether Clintons visit leads to a genuine opening between the countries.

Theyre going to expect us to take our foot off the pedal, said Victor Cha,who negotiated with North Korea in the Bush administration.

In a sign of the administrations sensitivity,a senior official said the US had briefed officials at the highest levels of the Chinese and Russian governments last weekend about the nature of Clintons mission,to reassure them that the White House did not intend the visit to lead to bilateral talks with North Korea.

A US official noted that Clinton,in his talks with Kim,broached the issue of Japanese and South Koreans abducted by North Korea politically emotive matters for those countries,in their dealings with the North.

American officials are also eagerly interviewing David Straub,a former director of the State Departments Korea desk,who accompanied Clinton. Straub speaks Korean and took part in back-channel communications with North Koreans when he was in the Government.

As the US deliberates over North Korea,there are reports that the North is suspected of spreading its technology. The Sydney Morning Herald in Australia reported last week that Myanmar was building a nuclear reactor and plutonium extraction plant,with help from North Korea.

The acting State Department spokesman,Robert A Wood,said on Tuesday,Were obviously looking into these types of reports.