Albright eyes meeting with North Korean minister

July 17, 2000
Web posted at: 10:00 a.m. HKT (0200 GMT)

By CNN State Department Producer Elise Labott

THURMONT, Maryland (CNN) -- U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright hopes to meet with North Korea's foreign minister later this month in Thailand, a senior U.S. State Department official said Sunday.

Albright, who is currently taking part in the Camp David summit between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian Chairman Yasser Arafat , wants to meet with North Korean Foreign Minister Paek Nam-Sun when she is in Bangkok later this month. She is scheduled to attend the foreign ministers' meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

Paek is expected to be in Thailand to make a case for North Korean membership in the ASEAN group.

"We are hoping to set up a meeting," the U.S. official said.

MESSAGE BOARD North and South Korea

Last month, Albright embarked on a fact-finding mission to Asia, seeking details on North Korean President Kim Jong Il's summit with South Korean President Kim Dae-jung and his recent trip to Beijing. In Seoul, she had hinted at a possible meeting with Paek.

"I meet with a lot of people," she had said. "Stay tuned."

The State Department official said such a meeting "has been in discussion for some time," but that nothing was final.

Albright said she would use a meeting with North Korean officials to address U.S. concerns over their missile program and to extend a freeze of North Korea's nuclear weapons program.

Such a meeting would come at a time of improved relations between the U.S. and North Korea -- one of the most isolated countries in the world.

Washington has demanded North Korea halt the development and export of missiles, which U.S. officials maintain pose a security threat, before it formalizes diplomatic relations with the Communist nation.

North Korea has consistently sought economic aid as a condition for renewed dialogue. Last month, the United States announced the lifting of various sanctions as well as a new food aid package.

But the United States still harbors concerns about North Korea as a foe and potential threat. Albright said in June that American troops, stationed in South Korea for 50 years, would remain indefinitely to maintain stability on the Korean peninsula.

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