N. Korean Leader Pledges to Scrap Missile Launches

Kim Jong Il of North Korea promised Tuesday that his nation will not launch another longer-range ballistic missile, according to U.S. officials visiting here with Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.

Kim’s pledge appears to extend a temporary moratorium and open the way for a long-term deal that would involve the United States helping his nation launch a satellite for nonmilitary uses, probably with the help of a third country, in exchange for North Korea abandoning ballistic missile development and export.

Albright announced that the U.S.-North Korean dialogue will move into a more detailed phase, with an agreement that will bring American missile experts here next week to work on specifics for a permanent arrangement.

“We made important progress, but much work remains to be done,” Albright told a news conference Tuesday.

In typically mercurial style, Kim gave Albright the first indication that North Korea has changed its position on missiles during a spectacular show Monday night featuring 100,000 singers, dancers, musicians, gymnasts and other performers. At one point, a wall of constantly changing placards depicted a ballistic missile taking flight.

Kim turned to Albright, who was his guest of honor at the extravaganza, and quipped, “This was the first satellite launch and this will be the last,” the secretary told the news conference.

The picture and comment referred to the testing of a Taepodong missile across Japanese airspace in 1998, which sparked concern about North Korea’s military capability that extended well beyond Asia. The launch led to widespread support in the U.S. government for a national defense system that would take years to construct and cost tens of billions of dollars. North Korea insisted that the missile was simply carrying a satellite, which explained Kim’s reference Monday night.

In light of the comment, Albright on Tuesday pursued what is now being referred to as “the quip” in further talks and gained North Korea’s pledge to not test-launch missiles and to move toward formal limitations.

“He’s accepting the fact of serious restraint on all long-range missile programs,” both development and export, said a senior U.S. official involved in the negotiations. “We’re now exploring ways of accomplishing that.”

North Korea is one of only six countries, in addition to the five major nuclear powers, known to have a longer-range ballistic missile capability. It also provides missile technology to two others, Iran and Pakistan.

U.S. officials are still unclear why one of the world’s poorest countries is so intent on having a satellite in space, beyond its prestige value, especially since it could not be used for military purposes.

Kim’s pledge marks a major policy about-face for the communist regime. Just last year, a task force from the independent Council on Foreign Relations concluded that North Korea was unlikely to respond positively to U.S. proposals to swap aid for changes that might weaken its military clout.

Two days of intensive talks where described by Albright in general as “serious and constructive” and covered everything from the terms of opening diplomatic relations to missile restraint and security issues such as terrorism.

The two long-standing opponents concluded no formal agreements, but on all issues they moved “from ideas and possibilities” to talking about “details and specifics,” according to the senior U.S. official in the delegation.

Albright described the North Korean leader, son of the country’s founding father, Kim Il Sung, as a “very good listener, a good interlocutor. He strikes me as decisive and practical, and we had serious discussions.”

In a reflection of the new mood between the two countries, she told Kim at their farewell dinner to pick up the phone any time to talk. He responded, “Please give me your e-mail address.”

On other issues, Albright also raised North Korea’s poor human rights record, one of the reasons it is a pariah. “It’s something, as they emerge into the world, we expect them to meet international standards,” the senior U.S. official said.

On establishing relations with Washington, Kim told Albright that he is interested in having “across-the-board” improvement in informal and formal relations, the secretary said.

Although she again mentioned hopes that terms could be worked out for President Clinton to visit North Korea, Albright would say only that she’ll report on her two days of talks to the president.

The Clinton administration is hoping that enough progress is made on one of the main issues between the two countries to provide substance for a presidential visit, possibly as early as next month.

But Albright also took pains to rebut criticism that the administration is rushing into this diplomatic initiative and ignoring North Korea’s brutal history and ongoing domestic policies.

Referring to the tightly synchronized extravaganza, which had involved 10 months of preparation and was originally prepared for the 55th anniversary of North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party, Albright said somewhat defensively that she had been a student of communist affairs all her life and knew “perfectly well how these performances are put together.” While describing it as “spectacular and amazing,” she added, “These glasses I have on are not rose-colored.”

Albright will travel to Seoul today for talks with South Korean and Japanese officials about her visit to North Korea.