SEOUL, Oct. 25, 00 (CWNews.com/Fides) - There is moderate enthusiasm in South Korea for the visit made by US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright to North Korea this week. The promise made to Albright by North Korean president Kim Jong Il to freeze production of nuclear weapons, is seen by many as a step towards reconciliation with the rest of the world. "But Kim Jong Il has still to win the people's confidence," a Catholic woman in the southern capital said.
Cardinal Stephen Kim also reflected on about prospects for the future of the two Koreas. The 78-year-old cardinal, emeritus archbishop of Seoul, is a great defender of human rights: "We hope this visit will result at least in peaceful coexistence. With regard to reconciliation between the two Koreas, it is early yet. If we increase our cooperation, it will take some years...how many? God alone knows...."
Organizations in Korea fear that Albright's visit and a possible trip to Korea by President Clinton on November 11 may increase American influence in the Korean peninsula, and they are already talking of "new, fierce US imperialism."
Cardinal Kim says, "I think that if North Korea establishes good relations with the United States and Japan, South Korea stands to benefit. Of course the United States pursue their own interests in the peninsula, but it is also true that they can only make suggestions to Pyongyang and Seoul, they cannot make decisions: it is up to the governments of North and South to take the steps necessary to improve cooperation between the two."
When asked if the visit by the American Secretary of State would have a positive effect on the situation of human rights and religious freedom in North Korea, the elderly cardinal said, "I see no chance of immediate improvement. Perhaps in the future, but only gradually. North Korea is changing, but only externally. No changes are seen internally. Power is still in the hands of the only party. From this point of view nothing has changed at all."
CWNews.com/Fides
25. oktober 2000