Sen. Sam Brownback said Thursday that he hadn’t decided whether Trent Lott should step down as majority leader in the U.S. Senate.

Brownback told reporters Lott’s comments in support of Strom Thurman’s 1948 presidency — in which Thurman ran on a segregationist platform — were “wrong.”

“We must not forget the past, but deal with it truthfully and move forward as one nation,” Brownback said. “The wounds of segregation and racism are still with us. … Perhaps this incident will help move us down the road toward healing and reconciliation.”

Brownback has been out of the country for most of the time since Dec. 5, when Lott made his comments at Thurman’s 100th birthday party. Brownback met with Iraqi opposition groups in London, then met with officials in China and India to discuss trade.

Brownback said that because he was abroad, he needed more time to decide whether Lott should step down.

“This is something I’ve just got back and started talking to my Republican colleagues about, who to best lead the Republican Party and serve as majority leader,” Brownback said.

Several GOP leaders have said they wanted the Lott question resolved quickly. Among them was Kansas’ other senator, Pat Roberts, who said he hoped it would be settled before a Jan. 6 meeting when Republican senators will decide to retain Lott or pick a new leader.

“This matter has gone beyond the statement of a single individual to one of national importance, and unfortunately, divisiveness and turmoil,” Roberts said. “As such, this situation should be and very well may be resolved prior (to) Jan. 6.”

In other comments Thursday, Brownback, who returned Wednesday night to Washington, D.C., said he was pleased by cooperation among the more than 50 Iraqi opposition groups that gathered Dec. 10 in London.

“I’m very pleased to see them come together united against Saddam Hussein,” Brownback said. “They’ll be working with us, if Saddam is removed, on establishing a democracy and a transition government in Iraq.”

After the London meeting, Brownback spent a week in India and China meeting officials about increasing trade. Brownback said he expected China’s aviation market to boom in coming years, and both China and India could use more U.S. agricultural products.

While in China, Brownback said he called on Chinese and other world leaders to focus attention on helping North Korean refugees, who he said were fleeing starvation and persecution.

“If hell is the absence of God, I think you can see North Korea is the closest place to that on Earth,” he said. “It is really a horrific situation for the refugees.”