Heritage Foundation head talks on N. Korea"Don`t be excited over the N.K. missile program suspension"

"The improvement of relations with North Korea should be based on mutual confidence. And South Korea and the United States need to take steps for rapprochement with the North, keeping pace with Pyongyang's taking concrete measures for confidence building."

Dr. Edwin J. Feulner, president of the Heritage Foundation, the think tank representing U.S. conservatives, noting that U.S. President Bill Clinton is in hurry to make a visit to North Korea with the expectation of adding a diplomatic achievement before his retirement from office, said that his Pyongyang visit would not come long after North Korean Defense Commission Chairman Kim Jong-Il's visit to Seoul.

Speaking at a seminar on Korea and Northeast Asia, and Half Century after the Korean War, Feulner cautioned that the United States and South Korea should not be excited by Kim Jong-Il's remarks on the suspension of the missile development program made at a private meeting, and asserted that the two nations must put diplomatic pressure on Pyongyang to translate Kim's statement into a written document.

He emphasized that it is important for Korea, the United States and Japan to set the pace for the rapprochement with the North. He disclosed that he met with U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright before her trip to North Korea and asked her to hold a tripartite meeting with the Korean and Japanese foreign ministers.

With regard to the U.S. presidential election, the Heritage Foundation president said that the presidential race would be the most competitive since the contest between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon in 1960, adding that there is no guessing the winner of the election.

Asked about the merits and demerits of the two presidential rivals, Feulner replied that Republican candidate George W. Bush has much enterprising managerial experience and capability of political negotiations, while Democratic candidate Al Gore has much Washington experience and amicable relations with many world leaders. The two candidates have major differences in views on political and economic problems, but that the two have almost no differences in the diplomatic and security matters.

Referring to criticism that President Kim Dae-Jung has made too many concessions to Pyongyang, he said that as far as he knows, Kim is not the sort of man who would sacrifice national interests for the sake of individual accomplishment, disclosing that he has maintained personal friendship with the Korean president for the past 20 years. But he added that Kim seems to be obliged to neglect reform programs, since he was preoccupied with the North Korean question.

Chung Mi-Kyung mickey@donga.com