Albright, Paek hold historic meeting in Thai capital

By Meidyatama Suryodiningrat

BANGKOK (JP): North Korean Foreign Minister Paek Nam Sun and United States Secretary of State Madeleine Albright held a historic meeting here on Friday marking the highest level official meeting between the two states since the end of the Korean War.

Albright acknowledged that the 70 minute meeting was symbolically historic, but substantively modest.

According to the U.S. Secretary of State, it allowed her to get better acquainted with her North Korean counterpart.

During the meeting Albright also reaffirmed Washington's interest in resuming normal ties with Pyongyang.

"I said we were encouraged by his government's recent efforts to expand diplomatic contacts with other nations, and by its moratorium on long-range missile launches," Albright told the journalists after the meeting.

The two foreign ministers were in Bangkok as part of a series of meetings sponsored by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

On Thursday, North Korea was inducted into the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) which signified an important step in reducing the international isolation of that country.

On Friday and Saturday, ASEAN convenes what are termed as Post Ministerial Conferences (PMC) in which it holds discussions with its 10 dialog partners, including the United States.

Among the most anticipated results of the Albright-Paek Nam Sun meeting had been to see whether any discussion was held on North Korea's missile program.

Albright admitted that the meeting did not produce any details on the matter, however such concerns were expressed.

"I was direct in stating that American concerns about all aspects of the missile threat, nuclear weapons-related activities and the importance of achieving the goals of the agreed framework," she said.

Washington has been extremely concerned over North Korea's missile program particularly since it withdrew from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in 1993.

The region was jolted in 1998 when Pyongyang fired a test rocket which some believe could be a precursor to the development of an intercontinental ballistic missile. To a degree this has prompted Washington to pursue its Theater Missile Defense (TMD) program.

Korean Foreign Minister Paek was not available for comment after the meeting, but had earlier said that it was the American side who had invited him to attend the meeting.

North Korea issued a statement saying that the two sides had "serious deliberations on the ways to normalize and expand" relations and agreed that recent developments had led to a "positive atmosphere."

Paek was asked before the talks about news reports that North Korea would dispatch a high-level delegation to Washington to discuss improving ties.

The Americans have been seeking such an encounter, Paek told reporters, "but the atmosphere is not ripe yet."

Before such a meeting takes place, North Korea has said that it wants the U.S. to end economic sanctions and remove it from the list of countries sponsoring terrorism.

While the meeting was of major significance, there seemed to be no rush to progress to the next step of diplomatic relations.

Albright said that the United States fully supports the intensified inter-Korean dialog now underway. However, on the whole, the relationship with the United States will proceed on a "step-by-step basis".

"I remain realistic in my expectations," she remarked.