Carter took his unauthorized trip and undermined everything the US was working toward.
Wasn’t Carter an authorised ‘back channel’ negotiator?
Given Clinton’s reluctance to use force throughout his Presidency, that he would risk a regional war is questionable.
Reluctance?
1991-98; Iraq
1992-94; Somali
1993-94; Macedonia
1994-95; Haiti
1995; Bosnia
1996; Liberia
1996; Central Afircan Republic
1997; Albania
1997; Congo & Gabon
1997; Sierra Leone
1997; Cambodia
1998; Guinea-Bissau
1998-99; Kenya & Tanzania
1998-99; Afghanistan & Sudan
1998; Liberia
1999(-01); East Timor
1999; Serbia
Wasn’t Carter an authorised ‘back channel’ negotiator?
QUOTE]
My understanding was that he went over there unauthorized and angered Clinton and Albright considerably, but then got "authorized" after the fact mainly to make the US government not look confused and disorganized
Carter made everyone in the Clinton White House very angry: they were furious about being bypassed, and that even though he was no longer in government service, he was acting like he was. A strike on NK was expected; in fact the U.S. was preparing to start evacuating non-essential diplomatic personnel and all of the family members, and pass the word to Americans living in South Korea that they'd best start thinking about getting out. There were even maps in the major news magazines (Time, Newsweek, U.S. News and World Report) about how the coming war would play out-assuming the NKs struck back.