Smiles Are Not Enough

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright has ended her historic trip to North Korea’s dark and cheerless capital with an agreement to continue discussions about the Communist regime’s missile program and with assurances from leader Kim Jong Il that he seeks friendlier ties with the United States. Albright’s carefully balanced assessment of her six hours of talks with Kim was that “we made important progress but much work remains to be done.” So it clearly does.

President Clinton should be in no rush to be the next high-ranking American to travel to Pyongyang. That would give U.S.-North Korea relations a status they don’t yet deserve. Only with tangible and verifiable progress that satisfies the concerns of the United States and its Asian allies should a president consider that step.

North Korea’s charm offensive has already won it diplomatic relations and increased aid from a number of Western countries. But smiles can be turned on and off as easily as the card stunts Albright was shown at a stadium in Pyongyang. What still has to be established is that North Korea is fundamentally changing its 50-year-old policy of hostility to the non-Communist world, especially toward South Korea and the United States. If it is ready to take concrete steps to lower tensions, then relations can be improved and further help provided to restore its shattered economy. The other possibility is that North Korea has simply embarked on a temporary change of diplomatic course in hopes of getting more outside help to alleviate famine and poverty.

Kim Jong Il has done little to follow up on South Korean President Kim Dae Jung’s visit in June. Seoul worries about foot-dragging by the North in arranging further reunification meetings between South and North Korean families and frets over lack of working-level talks in other areas. North Korea continues to keep most of its million-man army stationed close to the armistice line drawn when the Korean War ended in 1953, and it maintains more than 4,000 rockets and artillery pieces within range of Seoul. The best way to signal an interest in easing tensions would be to reduce the level of this formidable forward deployment.

Albright’s trip to North Korea gave U.S. officials and the reporters accompanying them a rare if tightly restrained look at a country that is suffering enormously under the mismanagement and brutalities of the world’s last Stalinist regime. It may just be that desperate economic realities and Pyongyang’s awareness of the vast improvements China has achieved since all but forsaking its ideological dogmas have driven Kim Jong Il to take a new course. That’s something for the United States to explore, without illusions, and for North Korea to demonstrate, without ambiguities.