S. Korea’s Kim Asks U.S. to Ease Up on North

Kim Dae Jung, South Korea’s dissident-turned-head-of-state, urged the United States on Tuesday to work with him “to encourage moderate elements” in North Korea.

“We have nothing to fear from North Korea,” Kim said at a news conference with President Clinton conducted as part of the Asian leader’s first official visit here. “Our intent is to persuade North Korea, to make it feel safe in opening up, so that it can resuscitate itself [and] follow the model set by China and Vietnam.”

Clinton applauded Kim for reaching out to the isolated Communist nation and promised to help spur it toward greater freedoms. He did not commit to lifting long-standing sanctions against the North but did repeat a promise to ease those penalties if North Korea takes steps to improve its record on human rights and nuclear nonproliferation.

Before Kim--who spent 40 years, seven of them in jail, as an opponent of South Korea’s rulers--was elected his nation’s president in December, it would have been unthinkable for a South Korean leader to press Washington to ease up on North Korea.

Although Kim’s determination to engage North Korea is not new for him, it represents a shift from his predecessors’ chilly shoulder for the North and hints at how the situation on the Korean peninsula could change under South Korea’s new leadership.

The United States has a keen interest in ending the cold war between the two Koreas, which still have not signed a formal peace treaty even though the Korean War, which cost the lives of more than 54,000 Americans, ended 45 years ago.

Even now, about 40,000 U.S. troops are based in Korea, many of them in the Demilitarized Zone, a dusty wasteland that divides the Communist North from the democratic South.

While pitching his warmer approach toward his northern neighbors, Kim made it clear there is a limit to his embrace of North Korean leaders--who have almost no contact with most of the rest of the world.

“It’s difficult to say that you can trust a Communist, but we feel the need to negotiate, and once you’ve reached an agreement, to hold them to that agreement,” said Kim, who among other things has lifted restrictions in his country against the private sector’s doing business with North Korea.

But while thawing the long-frozen relations between the two Koreas was the hottest topic of the talks between the two leaders, the visit was perhaps most significant because of its powerful symbolism about the progress of democracy in South Korea.

“Kim came here in involuntary exile in 1982 and lived here [for three years] as a guy who had been kicked out by his government. For him to come back as president and go to the White House is a very big moment for him,” said Don Oberdorfer, author of the recent book “The Two Koreas,” who has known Kim for 25 years.

Over the years, the U.S. twice played a role in saving Kim’s life. The first time was in 1973, when Kim was kidnapped and the U.S. ambassador warned the South Korean regime that serious consequences would result if he was not returned alive. The second was in 1980, when he was sentenced to death and first President Carter, then President Reagan arranged for his exile to the United States.

On Tuesday, Clinton gave Kim the “A” treatment for a visiting dignitary--a welcoming ceremony with a 21-gun salute, accommodations at Blair House, a full-blown news conference and an elaborate state dinner.

Behind the diplomatic courtesies is a calculated political mission, analysts said. Clinton is rewarding Kim for a strategy of vigilant pro-market reforms in hopes that other Asian leaders with troubled economies will follow his example.

Clinton heaped on the praise both for Kim’s lifelong struggle for democracy in his homeland and for the courage he has shown enacting painful policies endorsed by the International Monetary Fund to combat the fiscal crisis that has shaken three decades of remarkable economic growth in South Korea.

At a welcoming ceremony on the sunny White House lawn, Clinton compared Kim to other fighters for democracy who went on to lead their nations--South Africa’s Nelson Mandela, the Czech Republic’s Vaclav Havel and Poland’s Lech Walesa.

“Mr. President, your leadership will guide Korea’s economic recovery, but so will your example. If one man can triumph over such great adversity, then surely the Korean people can surmount their current challenges,” Clinton said.

At the news conference--notable for its lack of questions about domestic scandals troubling the White House--Clinton referred to South Korea’s economic troubles as a “bump in the road” and committed to helping guide the country back onto the economic track that made it the world’s 11th-largest economy.

He announced several initiatives, including sending a trade mission to encourage U.S. investment in South Korea and resuming Seoul’s access to the Overseas Private Investment Corp. after a seven-year suspension because of concerns about labor rights in Korea. OPIC is an independent government agency that helps U.S. companies invest in emerging markets.

Han Duck Soo, a South Korean trade official traveling with Kim, returned the White House embrace.

“This is very encouraging for the Korean people and the president,” he said, “and will provide a boost as Korea continues its economic reforms.”