‘Positive’ Signs From N. Korea Cited

In marked contrast with recent grim U.S. reports, South Korean President Kim Dae Jung, citing what he said were “positive” signals coming out of North Korea, sounded an upbeat note Friday about the possibility of a rapprochement with his nation’s rogue neighbor.

Interviewed at the South Korean presidential complex as he nears the end of his first year as president, Kim also said his efforts to reform the colossal Korean business groups known as chaebols have proved as difficult as his 40-year struggle as an opposition leader.

The reform moves have come amid the country’s efforts to return to growth after a humiliating $57-billion bailout by the International Monetary Fund in December 1997.

Kim’s moderate stance on North Korea differs sharply from mounting U.S. concern about a potential crisis on the Korean peninsula.

“North Korea is showing positive signs as well as negative signs,” he said, and the good side must be “seriously considered” along with the bad. “If you look at the attitude of North Korea, we cannot unilaterally say they are not cooperating with us, but you can’t say for sure they are coming with an attitude of dialogue.”

Last week, CIA Director George J. Tenet warned U.S. senators that he could “hardly overstate my concern about North Korea,” noting that its perilous economic state could drive it toward “risky brinkmanship with the U.S.”

Other high-profile conflicts, such as in Iraq and Kosovo, at least offer some glimmers of hope, Tenet said.

U.S. military officials, meanwhile, reportedly have warned of a possible “emergency” on the Korean peninsula this spring.

South Korean opposition floor leader Lee Bu Young of the Grand National Party said in an interview this week that he too fears North Korea’s ability to “wage a war to level the peninsula.”

North Korea is “the hungry man with a violent character who carries a hatchet and a pistol,” Lee said, alluding to widespread famine in the North. “The hungry man fed and full would naturally want to sleep and rest.”

Though North Korea has long been considered a threat--the border between North and South is the world’s most fortified and includes 37,000 U.S. troops--the secretive Communist nation has provoked particular concern in recent months.

In violation of a 1994 agreement, it is believed to be building an underground nuclear weapons arsenal and has demanded payment before it will submit to outside inspections. In addition, two North Korean spy submarines have been apprehended in the past several months.

Also, late last summer, the North launched a missile, allegedly carrying a satellite, toward Japan, demonstrating a potential capability to launch nuclear weapons.

But Kim suggested that North Korea has been unfairly criticized for its missile production.

“As a sovereign nation, North Korea has never promised that it won’t develop missiles, and they have no obligation to anyone not to,” Kim said. “The U.S. is very concerned, and Japan is reacting hysterically.”

Among the positive overtures from North Korea cited by Kim were:

* “Aggressive participation” in so-called four-party talks with China, the U.S. and the South.

* A “narrowing of opinion differences” regarding inspections of the suspected nuclear facility (the North reportedly has agreed to accept food rather than money in return for access).

* Resumption after a seven-year hiatus of talks between high-level North Korean military officials and United Nations officials.

* Introduction of fledgling capitalist principles, such as profits and the private, rather than solely state, sale of agricultural products.

* An increasing number of students sent overseas to study under World Bank and U.N. sponsorship, from 10 two years ago to 110 last year.

* Permission for South Koreans to visit Mt. Kumgang, revered for its beauty, for the first time since the Korean War, with a complex at the site planned by a South Korean company.

Perhaps most significant, North Korea sent a letter this month to South Korea proposing that the two governments conduct a direct dialogue--the first such overture from the North.

“Now we have continuing contact with them for the first time,” Kim said.

Kim has proposed a “package deal” that would promise North Korea security, economic assistance and “its rightful place in the world community” in return for assurances that it will not develop nuclear weapons or invade the South.

Kim, who has instituted a policy to promote dialogue with the North, said the U.S. and Japan are considering the idea of such an omnibus deal. If each issue were dealt with separately, agreement could take years, he said.

In any case, Kim said, there is “no alternative” to a policy of promoting dialogue, and “all the countries in the world,” including the U.S., Japan, Russia and China, agree.

Addressing the chaebol reform issue that was among his chief campaign promises, Kim said his government is winning the battle despite the difficulty.

Of the 30 large chaebols, he said, 11 have been dismantled or have gone out of business. He said progress has been made in promoting corporate openness and shareholder rights, as well as in improving financial reporting and concentrating on core businesses.

“I had been fighting a difficult battle for 40 years as an opposition leader, but dealing with the chaebol issue was no less difficult,” he said. “Fortunately, we have solved the larger framework and we addressed more details this year, and I’m hopeful this will progress.”

His greatest disappointment since taking office last February, Kim said, has been the lack of cooperation from the opposition Grand National Party, which dominates parliament. Kim’s nomination of a prime minister and several other efforts were stalled for months as a result, he said.

Still, Kim remains popular with the public, though his ratings are not nearly as high as when he took office. A recent survey by News+ magazine and Hangil Research showed him with a 55% approval rating, up from a low of about 41% in September but quite a comedown from the 84.8% approval he received initially.

Han Bong Ja, who works at a restaurant in Seoul that serves a Korean specialty--oxtail soup--did not vote for Kim but is glad he is in office.

“He’s very determined and strong-willed about reform,” she said. “He’s restructuring the unbeatable chaebol and increasing the social net for the unemployed. But I’d like to see better political harmony with the opposition.”