Kim offers new proposals for easing tensions on peninsula

WASHINGTON - Hoping to improve ties with a bitter antagonist, a top North Korean official carried an unprecedented message to President Clinton on Tuesday outlining proposals to expand on progress Pyongyang has made in easing tensions with a longtime U.S. ally, South Korea.

The letter from North Korean leader Kim Jong Il was delivered to Clinton by a senior military aide, Jo Myong Rok, whose visit to the White House represented another milestone in the developing U.S.-North Korean relationship.

The message appeared to be part of a North Korean effort to keep up the momentum generated by the breakthrough summit the leaders of the two Koreas held in June.

White House spokesman Jake Siewert said Kim's letter spelled out a number of ways in which the North Koreans ''might further the exchange of ideas about how to lower tensions in the Korean peninsula.'' Siewert provided no details.

Later, at a State Department dinner in Jo's honor, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright also expressed optimism about future ties.

''What was frozen can thaw and what has been contested ground can, over time, become common ground,'' Albright said in a toast.

She said that to find solutions to differences, ''we must search for them mutually, persistently and in good faith. The United States is fully committed to this quest. Vice Marshall Jo's presence here this week is an important and positive expression of Pyongyang's intentions as well.''

In his toast, Jo also hailed the prospects for ''dramatic changes'' in ties with Washington but said the United States must first ease North Korea's security concerns.

He said his government will ''turn the current bilateral relation of confrontation and hostility to a new relationship of friendship and cooperation and good will'' if and when North Korea ''is given strong and concrete assurances from the United States for the state sovereignty and territorial integrity of North Korea.''

Ambassador Wendy Sherman, the top State Department official for North Korea policy, characterized the 45-minute meeting between Clinton and Jo as ''very positive, direct and warm.''

''They both agreed that the Inter-Korean summit has created an opportunity for this historic meeting here today,'' she said.

Jo is described by U.S. officials as the right hand man to Kim. His official title is first vice chairman of the National Defense Commission, ranking him second in line to Kim, who serves as chairman.

On arrival in Washington on Monday night, Jo said his visit was designed to remove ''deeply rooted and age-old distrust and make an epochal change in advancing the relations between our two countries onto a new stage.''

The friendly comments on both sides contrasted sharply with the relationship's official status: no diplomatic relations between the two and the presence of 37,000 American troops in South Korea to guard against a possible North Korean invasion.

It was not long ago that the north was routinely dismissed here as a self-isolating pariah state. Pyongyang, in turn, customarily resorted to the most strident invective to describe the United States.

Jo took the somewhat unusual step of showing up for his White House meeting in full dress military uniform after wearing a business suit to an earlier meeting with Albright.

Sherman said Jo's appearance at the White House in his uniform demonstrated that ''all segments'' of North Korean society, including the military, support an improvement of relations with Washington.

At the State Department, spokesman Richard Boucher said the next step in the process of accommodation could be an Albright visit to Pyongyang.

For the United States, the most serious issue is North Korea's development of an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching the United States and its export of missiles to Iran and Syria.

Pyongyang, in turn, resents that the State Department includes North Korea on its list of countries that sponsor international terrorism. North Korea affirmed last week that it opposes all forms of terrorism and believes that all U.N. member states must refrain from such activity. The vow came in a communique signed with the United States.

U.S. officials said the commitment helped bring North Korea closer to removal from the terrorism list but that the North still must take additional measures.

Sherman said Clinton and Jo did not negotiate these issues during their meeting. More substantive talks with Jo are planned for Wednesday at the State Department and the Pentagon.

After Jo left the White House, he was driven past several Washington monuments and then, back in civilian clothes, ventured across the Potomac River to visit George Washington's mansion at Mount Vernon.

Jo was animated and smiling, asking questions as tour guide Peg Pokusa told him history of the house. A woman in 18th century dress with a blue shawl was in the downstairs rooms as Jo visited.

He posed for pictures in front of the house with the guide and the 13 people in his party.

North Korea has always been a divisive issue on Capitol Hill, with Republicans questioning the administration's approach.

The chairman of the House International Relations Committee, Benjamin Gilman, R-N.Y. reflected that wariness in a brief statement.

''I sincerely hope that after six years of engagement and nearly a billion dollars in American aid that this high level visit results in some real progress toward reducing military tensions on the Korean peninsula, limiting the North Korean missile program and proliferation, instituting economic reforms to address the food shortages and advancing human rights in North Korea,'' he said.

Republican sources said Gilman was not invited to a State Department meeting Tuesday evening with Jo.

Democratic sources said a number of Republicans were invited but only one, Sen. Craig Thomas of Wyoming, who heads a subcommittee on Asian affairs, decided to attend.

Craig also was the only Republican among eight lawmakers who were on a guest list, estimated at 200 people, for the State Department dinner.

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