Albright hears North Korea pledge to end missile tests
Chicago Sun-Times, Oct 24, 2000 by GEORGE GEDDA PYONGYANG,
North Korea North Korean leader Kim Jong Il told U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright today that his country won't test any more missiles.
Albright said she took seriously Kim's promise, delivered seemingly offhand at a gymnastic exhibition.
Kim raised the issue when an image of a Taepo Dong I missile was flashed before the audience. "He quipped that this was the first satellite launch and it would be the last," Albright said.
Asked if she interpreted that as a pledge to end missile launches, Albright said, "I take what he said as serious as to his desire to move forward to resolve various questions."
A State Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said after Albright and Kim finished their talks that the North Korean leader has accepted the idea of "serious restraint" in missiles.
Albright was going to Seoul, South Korea, on Wednesday to tell South Korean and Japanese officials about her talks with Kim. President Clinton is considering whether to visit North Korea himself.
Diplomats offered no further elaboration of Kim's words in the meetings. Lower-level talks on missiles were planned for next week.
Many analysts are convinced North Korea already has the capacity to strike at the perimeter of the United States with a long-range missile.
That concern has been the main impetus for proposals to build a U.S. national missile defense system. North Korea already has agreed to freeze its nuclear weapons program and to stop selling missiles to regimes the United States considers hostile.
"Chairman Kim was quite clear in explaining his understanding of U.S. concerns," Albright said of her meetings, describing him as "a good listener and very decisive."
Albright said they also discussed security issues, terrorism, human rights and "the need for concrete steps toward tension reduction on the Korean peninsula."
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