Albright describes N. Korea visit

The central issue of concern during the press conference following the visit to North Korea by U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright was the confirmation of important advancements in the missile issue, which is the greatest concern for the United States.

The United States has judged that it successfully has gotten a verbal pledge by the North's leader Kim Jong-Il concerning the discontinuation of missile test launches. Albright's early mentioning of the statement made by the North's leader Kim during a visit to the gymnastics practice facility seemed to be an attempt to stress U.S. understanding of North's pledge to North Korea itself.

However, the detailed advancements in important areas have not been revealed. However, the fact that a talk has been scheduled between a U.S. missile expert and North Korea for next week represents a great advancement for the United States, which has placed the missile issue at the top of its agenda.

The earlier statement made by the North's leader to Russian President Vladimir Putin concerning the possibility of conditional shelving of the missile development program had come under heavy speculation concerning whether it had been said in jest. As the statement made by North's leader to Albright has been confirmed as not being spoken in jest, an opportunity for the solution to the missile crisis, which began with the test launch of the Taepodong missile in August 1998 toward the Japanese water, might have been found.

Concerning President Clinton's proposed visit to the North, Secretary Albright simply stated she would report to Clinton the results of her visit and that the final decision would be made by the president. Her statement could be taken as stressing the importance of the visit, which must be decided on solely by President Clinton himself. However, for the visit by Clinton leading to a historic North-U.S. summit to take place, North Korea will necessary feel the pressure to show a greater sincerity during the missiles talks scheduled for next week.

It has been revealed that the current round of talks between Albright and the North has not made any progress in removal of North Korea from the list of states supporting terrorism. The question of establishment of liaison offices between the two states was agreed on without any detailed schedule, much like other pending issues such as the question of nuclear weapon development.

Regardless of the degree of achievement in settling the issues, as her visit symbolizes the first step by the high-ranking officials of the two states in opening themselves to one another, it must be considered a great historic event.

Han Ki-Heung eligius@donga.com