Former President Jimmy Carter, with entourage, in 1994 became the first American to visit North Korea since the end of the Korean War, right after its president, Kim Il Sung, had started that country down a path that could be used to develop nuclear weaponry. By the time he left Pyongyang, Carter had laid the groundwork for Kim to have a summit meeting with South Korean counterpart Kim Young Sam. Unfortunately, he died just a few weeks later, while visiting the proposed summit site in South Korea, and his mentally unstable son, Kim Jong Il, took over North Korea.
I don’t know how much different things would have been if the elder Kim lived long enough to go through the summit, especially if he had then had the time to re-educate his son about some new realities, assuming that would even have been possible. It surely would have made some difference, though.
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