N. Korea Official Promotes Thaw : Diplomacy: Emissary on national tour says in L.A. that two former enemies could establish diplomatic relations.

The days of “enmity” and “confrontation” between North Korea and the United States are ending and a new era of hope and cooperation is beginning, a high-level North Korean official declared in Los Angeles.

If the present trend of dialogue between the two governments and their citizens continues, it will not be long before the United States and Democratic People’s Republic of Korea establish diplomatic relations, Ri Jong Hyok, a member of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il’s inner circle, said in a rare interview Monday with an American newspaper.

Just a year ago, a standoff between the United States and North Korea over Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons program brought them to the brink of a new war on the Korean peninsula. But after former President Jimmy Carter met with the late President Kim Il Sung, North Korea agreed to a freeze in nuclear activity.

Ri, a 58-year-old former diplomat whose unofficial status is comparable to a U.S. cabinet member, is viewed by North Korea watchers as a key player in the Stalinist government’s changing relationship with the United States. His office helped set up Carter’s visit, which contributed to the first cooperative relationship ever between the former enemy nations and resulted in the signing of a pact Oct. 21 in which Pyongyang agreed to stop a suspected nuclear weapons program in exchange for Western assistance in providing $4-billion worth of light-water nuclear reactors and fuel oil.

Ri and his four-member delegation ended a two-week, six-city visit and left Tuesday for Pyongyang. Their trip was sponsored by the Center for American North Korean Understanding, a Christian group based in Virginia Beach, Va., whose goal is to foster understanding between the two countries.

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During their four-day stopover in Los Angeles, the North Koreans met with officials at Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Caltech and William Carey International University in Pasadena and attended Korean churches and several banquets in their honor.

Their presence in Los Angeles, capital of Koreans in the United States, elicited warm hospitality as well as a chilling rebuke.

At a Sunday dinner in Koreatown that drew 150 people, a group of local Koreans angrily denounced the visitors and their government. After the protesters quieted down, the evening’s program proceeded and the audience joined hands by singing together two favorite Korean songs that transcend ideology: “Our Wish Is Unification” and “Springtime in Our Hometown.”

Monday, on the eve of the visitors’ departure, other Koreans were out in force at the Sheraton Universal to connect with delegation members. Most were local Korean business owners searching for ways to make money by making contact with North Korea or Christians looking for a new arena to evangelize.

In his room on the 14th floor, with a sweeping view of Hollywood below, Ri appeared relaxed and dapper in a three-piece navy pin-stripe suit.

During a wide-ranging interview in Korean, Ri answered questions about everything from his impression of America to why Kim Jong Il has not yet assumed the title of president to his vision of unifying North and South Korea. The only time he appeared to hedge was in response to the question of why North Korean officials do not permit Korean American visitors to travel freely to their hometowns when they go to North Korea.

Ri reported receiving warm hospitality from Americans during his group’s visit, which also covered New York; Washington, D.C.; Virginia Beach, Va.; Atlanta and Chicago.

“Americans are pragmatists,” he said. He cited as an example the willingness to use a rock band for a church service to attract young people.

“That could never happen in Europe,” said Ri, who spent 20 years as a diplomat in European capitals before assuming his present post as vice chairman of the Korea Asian-Pacific Peace Committee. Established last year, the agency handles political, economic and cultural relations with Pacific Rim countries with which it has no diplomatic relations, a category that includes the United States.

A dimension of America that he found surprising was ignorance about his country. “When I asked a college student to locate the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea on the map, he could not,” Ri said.

Furthermore, what information Americans have about North Korea is negative, he said.

“We are viewed as a war-loving, America-hating people,” Ri said. “That is not true.”

He theorized that the view comes from American reporters based in Asia who rely heavily on the South Korean news media, which he said has treated North Korea unfairly. Until recently, North Korea was closed to American journalists.

Asked why Kim Jong Il has not become the head of the government or the Communist Party seven months after his father’s death, Ri replied, “Here again, American news media are trying to make something out of nothing because they always look for a negative angle.”

Even when the elder Kim was alive, the son managed much of the nation’s business, he said. Titles are “mere forms, which we do not consider important,” he said.

Furthermore, he said, Kim Jong Il is still observing a mourning period, which can last as long as three years in the traditional Korean culture. Kim Il Sung died July 8.

Commenting on U.S. foreign policy, Ri expressed the hope that “conservatives” will not obstruct the Clinton Administration. In January, the United States eased trade restrictions on North Korea, a decision that drew severe criticism from Republicans.

Ri said America has a responsibility to help improve relations that would lead to an eventual unification with South Korea because of its role in splitting the Korean peninsula after World War II.

“Germany was divided because it lost the war. But Koreans didn’t fight anybody. We were under Japan. Why didn’t America and the Soviet Union divide Japan instead of Korea?”

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Ri said his vision of a unified Korea would come in stages. As a first step, both sides would accept the existing governments’ political, economic and social structures. Additionally, they would create a third “federal government” to handle issues on which both sides can agree. For instance, he said, the federal government could help organize a joint Olympic team.

Recalling an ideologically induced confrontation in Koreatown Sunday night, Ri said the explosive anger was merely a manifestation of the frustration of a people who want to be made whole.

While singing the songs Sunday in Koreatown with Korean Americans, Ri said, he felt more keenly than ever the sorrow of 75 million ethnic Koreans worldwide and their unquenched wish to unite.