US, allies seek "further gains" from North Korea

OCTOBER 25: US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said on Wednesday that the United States, South Korea and Japan must stand firm in it...

OCTOBER 25: US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said on Wednesday that the United States, South Korea and Japan must stand firm in its dealings with North Korea to secure more concessions. Speaking after talks with the foreign ministers of South Korea and Japan, Lee Joung-Binn and Yohei Kono, Albright told a press conference: "Our unity is crucial until we make further gains."

No details were given of the talks, but Albright was to brief Washington’s main Asian allies on details of her two days of talks this week in Pyongyang with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il and other top officials. Albright said in Pyongyang that Kim Jong-Il had hinted the Stalinist country would curb its long-range missile launches.

A stadium extravaganza on Monday had featured an image of North Korea’s Taepodong missile and Kim Jong-Il "immediately turned to me and quipped that this was the first satellite launch and would be the last," Albright said.

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Part of the gala, which featured 1,00,000 performers, included a display of the August 1998 missile launch over Japan which North Korea insists was only a satellite launch. The South Korean foreign minister told the press conference: "We actively support the results of Albright’s visit to North Korea, expecting it to make important progress in US-North Korea relations and also South-North relations and Japan-North Korea normalisation talks."

Japan is due to start new normalisation talks with North Korea in Beijing on October 30 but has lagged behind other nations so far. Kono, however, also stressed the need for close consultations between the three. "For the universal values of freedom, democracy and basic human rights in North Korea, we need to keep up our cooperation," he said. "We are convinced that the progress in US-North Korea relations will have a positive impact for Japan’s normalisation talks," the Japanese foreign minister told the press conference.

Albright also briefly met South Korea’s President Kim Dae-Jung after her arrival from Pyongyang on Wednesday morning. She was to hold a separate meeting with Kono later.