U.S. Backs Trade Boost for N. Korea : Commerce: Support comes as Seoul says it will lift its ban on business contacts with Pyongyang.

Extending a new olive branch to North Korea, the Clinton Administration indicated Monday it is prepared to support the development of economic ties between the Pyongyang regime and the rest of Asia.

Secretary of State Warren Christopher gave U.S. backing to a new initiative by South Korean President Kim Young Sam, who said in a speech Monday that he will lift the ban on South Korean business contacts with North Korea. The South Korean president also said he will give the green light for Pyongyang to develop economic ties with the rest of Asia.

“As a long-term goal, it is entirely appropriate,” Christopher told reporters aboard his plane on the first leg of an 11-day trip to Asia. He said the United States hopes to bring North Korea “into the company of civilized nations and to show them the opportunities . . . that go with better relations.”

Suggesting that North Korea may eventually get membership in regionwide organizations marks a new step for the Administration, which had agreed in the past only to exchange diplomatic liaison offices with the Pyongyang regime. North Korea is not now a member of any of the regional organizations set up for East Asian nations.

*

Until very recently, the United States had been denouncing North Korea as a terrorist state and criticizing it for selling dangerous missiles around the world.

Christopher acknowledged Monday that the United States has many outstanding problems with North Korea, including those related to terrorism and weapons proliferation. “Reaping full benefits (of participating in regional organizations) depends on their change in stance, not only on nuclear issues but on other issues as well,” he cautioned.

The secretary’s remarks were part of a new effort by the Administration to manage the aftereffects of the nuclear agreement it signed with North Korea last month. Christopher is scheduled to visit Seoul today and Wednesday to confer with South Korean leaders. Under the deal reached in Geneva, North Korea must freeze its nuclear program in exchange for diplomatic and economic concessions from the United States and its allies.

The Administration is now trying to make sure that North Korea implements the first part of the multistaged agreement. For that purpose, holding out the lure of future economic links between North Korea and the rest of Asia is important. Pyongyang desperately needs foreign investment to help its ailing economy.

Christopher’s new overture comes at a time when North Korea is in the midst of trying to settle on its future leadership and policies in the wake of the death of its leader and founder, Kim Il Sung.

His son Kim Jong Il is being called North Korea’s new “supreme leader,” but he has not been given the titles yet of president of his country or head of the ruling party. And many Western analysts believe that North Korea has not yet decided whether, or how much, it should change its economic and foreign policies by opening up the long-isolated nation to the outside world.

At the same time, the United States also wants to provide assurances to South Korea that it will not be left behind as the United States steps up its contacts with North Korea. Christopher told reporters that Kim Young Sam’s decision to permit South Korean businesses to have contact with North Korea was “in line with what we have been talking about together.”

He stressed that the United States does not intend to draw down its 37,000 troops in South Korea. Asked whether there might be some reductions if the nuclear agreement with North Korea proceeds smoothly, he replied: “I do not foresee that. Not in the foreseeable future.”

*

Christopher said the United States is prepared, specifically, to consider North Korea’s membership in the fledgling Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) group, the 18-member organization of countries on both sides of the Pacific.

“As this (nuclear) agreement is implemented, as the talks (between North and South Korea) move forward . . . it would be entirely appropriate to consider North Korea’s membership in APEC and the other regional institutions,” he said.

The secretary of state pointed out that APEC in 1993 imposed a three-year moratorium on new members, so that the reality of North Korea joining the group will be at least two years off. The delay will give the United States and its allies time to see whether Pyongyang is living up to the nuclear agreement.

Even so, the mere talk of North Korean membership in APEC is significant. Vietnam is not yet a member, and a number of other countries in the neighborhood of East Asia--including Russia, India and Pakistan--are all standing in line, eager to be invited in, in hopes of sharing in at least some part of East Asia’s prosperity.