South Korean President Kim Dae-Jung plans to visit Washington soon after the inauguration of George W. Bush in a bid to win the incoming US leader's support for his policy of reconciliation with North Korea, a report said Saturday.
Kim told the International Herald Tribune in an interview Friday that he hoped to persuade Bush to continue President Bill Clinton's support for his "sunshine" policy towards the reclusive Stalinist North.
Kim did not express any fears of a sudden shift in US policy but other South Korean officials seem worried that Bush's defense secretary, Donald Rumsfield, may upset the North by pushing ahead with a planned regional theatre defence missile system (TMD), the newspaper said.
TMD is designed to protect Japan and Washington's other Asian allies from any North Korean missile attack but Clinton has left the decision whether to pursue TMD up to his successor.
Rumsfield, a 68-year-old veteran of the Gerald Ford administration, is a strong supporter of national missile defense.
Kim reportedly said the position of North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong-Il had changed since their historic summit last June.
The South Korean leader pointed to Kim Jong-Il's acceptance of the presence of US troops on the peninsula as evidence of Pyongyang's desire to improve relations with Washington, the report said.
Kim also said Seoul would ask Pyongyang to stop producing long-range missiles.
North Korea's missile program is regarded with alarm by US officials, owing to its threat to the United States and allies such as South Korea and Japan.
Washington is also concerned that the impoverished North is hawking missile technology to US adversaries such as Iran and Libya in return for crucial foreign exchange, raising another question to American security.
In a separate interview with the newspaper, South Korean Foreign Minister Lee Joung-Binn acknowledged: "Some are voicing concern over the possibility of changes in close cooperation" between Seoul and Washington. But the minister said he did not expect "any significant shift away from the basic line" followed by the Clinton administration.
Lee said he hoped to visit Washington in February to set up a Kim visit possibly as early as March.
The United States led an international coalition against North Korea in the Korean War of the 1950s and still maintains tens of thousands of troops on the Korean peninsula -- SEOUL (AFP)
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