DATE=8/25/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=HALL - N. KOREA (L-ONLY) (CQ)
NUMBER=2-253109
BYLINE=STEVE HERMAN
DATELINE=TOKYO
INTERNET=YES
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:


// Re-issuing to correct first sentence of intro: Rep. 
Hall is making his fifth trip to North Korea, sted 
sixth as originally sent  //

INTRO: A member of the U-S Congress is on the eve of 
an unprecedented fifth trip to North Korea. 
Representative Tony Hall has admonished Tokyo for its 
refusal to provide humanitarian aid
to Pyongyang. Steve Herman reports from the Japanese 
capital, the Congressman, who is a member of the 
Democratic Party Task Force on Hunger, made a stop in 
Japan en route to Pyongyang.

TEXT: U-S Representative Tony Hall's mission to North 
Korea is billed as primarily humanitarian, but he says 
he is going with a strong message to Pyongyang's 
leadership about the implications of a new missile 
launch.  The North is reportedly preparing to test 
launch a long-range missile, a move which has raised 
security concerns in some countries in Asia and in the 
United States.

Ohio's Representative Hall is one of the few elected 
officials in the world who has been repeatedly allowed 
into reclusive North Korea. He has painted a somber 
picture of a nation
with insufficient food or medicine.  He says on this 
trip he expects to meet with North Korea's Vice 
Foreign Minister, as he has in the past.
 
Speaking at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan, 
Mr. Hall gave a preview of his stern message for 
Pyongyang.

               //HALL ACT //

"If they fire a missile over Japan, we're going to 
respond, too. And you know that's one of
the messages, the very strong messages I intend to 
give North Korea. 

                    //END ACT// 

But Representative Hall also told reporters the threat 
of a possible missile test by North Korea should not 
deter Japan from aiding that nation's starving people.

                  /// HALL ACT ///

Humanitarian aid should never be stopped, matter of 
fact, Japan hasn't even started.

                    //END ACT //


Representative Hall says Japan has a tremendous 
surplus of food which will cost millions of dollars to 
store - food that he says could be utilized to feed 
innocent civilians in North Korea who face a life and 
death struggle. 

The Congressman was asked why the Stalinist government 
in North Korea continues to focus its resources on its 
military instead of trying to solve its dire domestic 
problems. Mr. Hall responded that he believes it is 
very hard for North Korea to admit that its people are 
dying and it cannot take care of them. (Signed)

NEB/SH/FC/PLM 



25-Aug-1999 10:34 AM EDT (25-Aug-1999 1434 UTC)
NNNN

Source: Voice of America
.