Gore Lauds S. Korea as Peace Sentinel

Vice President Al Gore met with South Korea’s prime minister Friday amid what U.S. officials described as incremental progress in persuading North Korea to begin peace talks delayed for 44 years.

In his first visit to the Korean peninsula, Gore placed a wreath at a memorial to South Korea’s war dead. He wore white gloves as he placed incense into a kettle that burns constantly at the monument.

Later, at a dinner with Prime Minister Koh Kun, Gore paid tribute to nearly 50 years of U.S.-South Korean ties and said the two nations are “standing watch together here for the causes of peace, security and stability.”

“From the ashes and dust of the Korean War, your people have courageously transformed your nation into one of the rising powers of Asia and the world,” Gore said.

Gore briefed Koh on his five-day visit to China that included talks with President Jiang Zemin and Premier Li Peng.

Before heading home today, Gore was to meet with South Korean President Kim Young Sam and visit American troops stationed in the Demilitarized Zone that separates the two Koreas.

Last April, the United States and South Korea proposed that North Korea and China join four-way peace talks designed to broker a formal peace agreement between North and South Korea.

Forty-four years after the war ended, a cease-fire remains in effect, but the two Koreas have not negotiated a formal peace.

North Korea attended a meeting in New York earlier this month to consider the four-party talks proposal. Another meeting was held this week, and U.S. officials said one positive development was that officials from the North and South briefly spoke directly to each other instead of through intermediaries.

Under the proposal, the United States and China would sit in as mediators while North and South Korea discuss a permanent peace treaty. In his talks in Beijing, Gore urged Chinese leaders to encourage North Korea to embrace the proposal and begin negotiations.