Albright trip to N. Korea can open door

¡°The visit to North Korea by U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright might mark the end of the Cold War.¡±

Many foreign correspondents, including Germany's DPA, have summed up Albright's visit to North Korea as marking the end of the Cold War era. Following the June inter-Korean Summit on the last Cold War front, bringing the winds of peace blowing across the two states, Albright's visit does indeed signify a new dynamic in U.S. and North Korea relationship, ending 50 years of hostility between the two states.

However, to close the chapter of the Cold War between North Korea and the United States, there still are some obstacles that must be resolved. The 50 years of hostility have left behind a myriad of issues in a tangled heap.

A major issue of contention that remains is missile development. Just as many suspect the shelved U.S. National Missile Defense proposal was intended to protect from the North's missiles, the question of having North Korea cancel its program might prove a great obstacle for the United States.

A source in U.S. intelligence predicted that North Korea and Iran would be able to develop missiles that could reach continental United States by 2005 and 2010 respectively. Many in the U.S. press have voiced their opinions that Albright's planned visit, as well as the future visit by President Bill Clinton, were induced in large part by the missile development issue.

However, as North Korea has requested monetary compensation and transfer of satellite technology, the talks concerning the halt of the missile program might not be easy.

Albright also will likely bring up issues of the North's removal from the list of terrorist nations, the establishment of North-U.S. communication liaison offices, and the launch of diplomatic interchange. However, the JAL hijacking and the expulsion of the Red Army might prove to be formidable obstacles. The issue of nuclear arms has also been a deep concern for the United States.

Rather than seeking outright early resolutions to these issues, as the improvement relationship builds momentum, gaps need to be narrowed. As such there have been calls for a comprehensive package of agreements.

Many experts on North Korean have voiced a scenario of Albright presenting and preparing for the comprehensive package, which would then be signed and sealed during Clinton's visit with the North's leader Kim Jong-Il.

Such a scenario goes well with the unhindered style of the North's leader. The statement made by the first vice Chairman of the National Defense Commission Cho Myung-Rok that the U.S. guarantee of the North's territory and system could lead to the North's agreement on major issues supports such scenario.

However, should such an across-the-board agreement between the two states be hammered out, the issues that the South Korean government feels are sensitive, such as the conversion of the armistice between North Korea and United States to a peace treaty, might be left on the sidelines.

As such, Albright's visit to North Korea will have repercussion beyond the two nations and will affect the relationship between South Korea and the United States, which might make the untangling between the two states even more difficult.