North Korea on Monday indefinitely postponed an unprecedented summit with South Korea's president because of the death of longtime northern leader Kim Il Sung.
The North has also told the United States it is putting off further high-level meetings until after Kim's state funeral Sunday. Talks on the dispute over the North's nuclear program had resumed Friday, the day Kim died at age 82 from reported heart trouble.In a terse one-sentence note, the North's hard-line communist regime informed South Korea that the summit was off - and made no mention of when, or even whether, such a meeting might now take place. Kim had planned to meet with southern President Kim Young-sam on July 25-27.
Observers said the North Korean moves were the latest signs that Kim's son and designated successor, Kim Jong Il, has successfully taken the reins of power.
Many inside and outside South Korea had feared the elder Kim's death would trigger a chaotic power struggle. The South's military remained watchful Monday, but defense officials said there had been no unusual military moves.
Despite initial South Korean fears that Kim's death was the result of a coup by hard-liners, South Korean Foreign Minister Han Sung-joo said there was no indication Kim had died from anything but natural causes.
In a sign that jitters were abating, prices fell only moderately on the Korean Stock Exchange in Seoul Monday, the first trading day since Kim's death. Some analysts had predicted a steeper decline.
In the North, emotional mourning marked the passing of Kim, who during his four decades of rule was the center of a worshipful personality cult. In a central Pyongyang plaza facing a towering statue of Kim, tens of thousands of people knelt, weeping, wailing and touching their heads to the ground.
While Kim Jong Il is apparently in the seat of power, he has not yet formally assumed leadership. But some North Korea watchers believe that could happen soon.
U.S. officials voiced optimism about prospects for the resumption of high-level talks with the North in Geneva, although the North did not suggest any date.
A senior U.S. official traveling in Europe with President Clinton said the administration took it as a "virtual certainty" that the talks would go on.
Those talks are considered crucial to the resolution of the dispute over the North's nuclear program. North Korea says its nuclear program is peaceful but has refused to allow full inspections.
The United States suspended its push for sanctions against the North pending the outcome of the Geneva talks.
Both the Geneva talks and the first-ever North-South summit were agreed to after a mediation mission by former President Carter, during which the North offered to freeze its nuclear program pending talks.
South Korea's national news agency, Yonhap, citing a South Korean official in contact with the North, said Carter had been invited to Kim's funeral, but South Korea's foreign minister denied the report. Carter's office in Atlanta had no comment.
North Korea had said no foreign dignitaries would be invited to the funeral.
Clinton, in Bonn, Germany, dismissed Senate Republican Leader Bob Dole's criticism of his condolences on the death of North Korea's President Kim Il Sung. Clinton said Monday that his remarks had been "to the point and appropriate and very much in the interest of the United States."
Dole said Saturday that the president's remarks were "inappropriate" and insensitive to American veterans of the Korean War and their families.
Asked about Dole's criticism, Clinton said, "I would think that the veterans of the Korean War and their survivors as much as any group of Americans would very much want us to resolve this nuclear question with North Korea and go forward."
At a news conference after meeting with German leaders, Clinton also welcomed North Korea's initial assurances that it will resume talks on its nuclear program "after an appropriate time for grieving."
In Beijing, Chinese President Jiang Zemin and King Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia signed memorial books and bowed before Kim's portrait during a memorial ceremony at the North Korean Embassy. Funeral music played continuously over loudspeakers while embassy officials wept.
China is North Korea's last major ally. Sihanouk lived part-time in North Korea during his exile when a Vietnamese-installed government ruled Cambodia for more than a dozen years.