DATE=8/22/1999 TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT TITLE=KOREAN DIPLOMACY / L-O NUMBER=2-252996 BYLINE=HYUN SUNG KHANG DATELINE=SEOUL CONTENT= VOICED AT: INTRO: South Korea's foreign minister has gone to Tokyo, as part of the country's diplomatic drive against the threat of another North Korean missile launch. The South Korean defense minister is also preparing for talks with Chinese officials. As Hyun- Sung Khang reports Seoul, the talks come amid signs reclusive North Korea is prepared to negotiate its missile program, in return for financial and diplomatic gains. TEXT: South Korean Foreign Affairs Minister Hong Soon-Young is scheduled to hold meetings with his Japanese counterpart and Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi. They are expected to discuss a coordinated approach to any missile launch by North Korea. The visit is part of a concerted campaign to discourage North Korea from any missile launch and to work out a joint response, should it proceed. Monday, the South Korean defense minister will visit China, in a bid to gain Beijing's cooperation in ensuring regional stability. China is one of the last remaining allies of North Korea. Chinese soldiers fought alongside North Korea during the Korean War, against the U-S / led United Nations. The diplomatic initiatives will climax in early September, when South Korean President Kim Dae-Jung meets with President Clinton and the Japanese prime minister, at the meeting of leaders from the Asia- Pacific region in New Zealand. Current talks come amid signals Pyongyang may be prepared to give up its missile program, in return for diplomatic and economic rewards. Last week, North Korea's official Central News Agency said the country is was always prepared to negotiate, if hostile nations are motivated by a desire to alleviate the concerns of the north. South Korea and the United States cautiously welcome the apparent change in Pyongyang's stance. The north had insisted on its "sovereign right" to launch a missile. Washington calls the new stance a "window of opportunity" for improved relations with the north. And -- in what analysts have interpreted as an opening towards Tokyo -- a North Korean official has suggested Red Cross representatives might search for what he called "missing Japanese" in the north. This is a euphemism for Japanese who are alleged to have been kidnapped by North Korea. Japanese police suspect that at least 10 of their countrymen were kidnapped in the 1970's and 1980's -- possibly to be used as trainers in Japanese language and culture for North Korean spies. (signed) Neb / wd / wd 22-Aug-1999 07:01 AM LOC (22-Aug-1999 1101 UTC) NNNN Source: Voice of America .
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