In today’s Report:
2. US Secretary of State Calls for KEDO Support
3. US Secretary of State to Visit Southeast Asia
4. ROK Food Aid to DPRK
5. ROK Approves DPRK Business Venture
6. New PRC Missile Threat
2. Defectors Describe DPRK War Rumors
3. ROK Foreign Minister Speaks in UN
4. Poland Ex-President’s Views on DPRK
2. DPRK Chemical Weapon Threat
3. Japan-Russia Relations
4. ROK Vice Prime Minister Interviewed
5. Japan-US Defense Relations
I. United States
1. US Secretary of State on Four-Party Talks
US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright (“ALBRIGHT PRESS CONFERENCE AT STATE DEPT. MAY 23,” USIA Transcript, 5/23/97) replied to a question as to whether the US intends to introduce any “new ideas” to “kick-start” the proposed four-party Korean peace talks. Albright stated, “Well, first of all, I think that while maybe our proposal per se has not changed, I do think that in the last months there has been some positive reaction to them — that in the talks that took place in New York there had been agreement in principle to have these talks and now there has been a delay in finding the time. I would say that we are very much on the right track and that it is a matter of seeing what the conditions are to make sure that those talks do, in fact, take place.” Referring to her upcoming meeting with ROK Foreign Minister Yoo Chong-ha, Albright continued, “Obviously, we are going to be talking about this. This is an issue of concern both to the South Koreans and to us because, ultimately, what both countries are looking for is stability in the Korean Peninsula. So we are just going to be, I think, discussing specifically how one can take advantage of the agreement in principle to have the talks.”
2. US Secretary of State Calls for KEDO Support
AP-Dow Jones News Service (“ALBRIGHT ASKS CONGRESS TO PAY 1997 DUES TO KEDO,” Washington, 5/23/97) reported that