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so. The meeting was held in the National Assembly building, a huge and
imposing structure that appeared to be quite empty. After a short tour of
the facility, of which the North Koreans seemed quite proud, we entered a
large conference room to meet Kim Yong Nam.
Within Pyongyang’s small diplomatic community, Kim had a reputation
for extended tirades and for his skill in leaving Western visitors with the
worst possible impression of his country. After a two-hour meeting, our
delegation was convinced that this reputation was well deserved.
The foreign minister began by speculating that the presence of this
American delegation in Pyongyang might indicate a partial U.S. reevalua-
tion of its Korean policy, which historically discouraged its citizens from
visiting the DPRK. He called for increased contacts but then immediately
began to complain that there had been no change in U.S. policies, which
refused to recognize realities, blocked peaceful reunification, and slandered
North Korea.
Kim said that his country had long sought to establish closer contact and
better relations with the United States and listed several examples. In ,
he recalled, the DPRK National Assembly wrote to the U.S. Congress in this
regard. A year later North Korea proposed the idea of three-way talks be-
tween North and South Korea and the United States. Although the politi-
cal counselors of the United States and North Korean embassies in Beijing
meet regularly and other avenues of communication were available, Kim
noted, the United States had yet to respond to the North Korean proposals.
He charged that the United States was “timid, narrow-minded, and indeci-
sive”—later he added “small-hearted” and “feeble-minded.” I could see
General Stilwell’s facial muscles tighten in reaction to this name calling, but
he maintained his calm and composure.
To grasp North Korean reality, Kim said, it was necessary to understand
the nature of the DPRK, the issue of reunification, and the Korean policies
of both the United States and Japan. He emphasized his country’s total in-
dependence, its unflagging devotion to Juche as the very soul of North Ko-
rea, and its rejection of all other foreign philosophies. North Korea, Kim
insisted, was the equal of all other states, including the great powers; there
could never be dominant and subordinate states.
Following this lecture on the superiority of the Juche idea, Kim turned to
the subject of reunification. Reunification, he continued, was important
because it would remove a potential cause of war and reunite a divided
nation. Under the North Korean confederation plan, a unified Korea could
initially incorporate the two competing systems, but eventually these sys-