THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary October 26, 2000 PRESS BRIEFING BY JAKE SIEWERT The James S. Brady Press Briefing Room 1:45 P.M. EDT Q: For years the leader of North Korea has been characterized by U.S. officials as unpredictable, erratic, strange, rogue. All of a sudden now, after Secretary Albright goes there and there have been all these reports that maybe he's not so bad after all, that he's not a madman. What's the U.S. take? MR. SIEWERT: I have never called anyone a madman from this podium. I think we made some substantial progress in the discussions that Secretary Albright had there. I don't want to get into a personal characterization of another foreign leader here, but we did some good work there. The Secretary is due back in Washington today. I expect she will have a chance to talk to the President in the next couple of days. She had a brief conversation with him when she was in Seoul, but we want to hear a more detailed report from her. She'll be back later today. We want to hear how President Kim Dae Jung assessed that situation and want to continue to work with the South Koreans in fostering the President's sunshine policy. But we'll focus on the issues and what we can get done there on the substance. Her meetings in Pyongyang were substantive and positive and we're looking forward to a fuller briefing on that. As you know, the missile program was discussed at some length, along with issues of terrorism, human rights and the need for steps to reduce tensions on the Peninsula. Those are all important issues and ones we're going to assess before we make any decision about when the President goes there. Q: How long will that take, do you think? MR. SIEWERT: An indefinite period of time, but shorter than a month. END 2:17 P.M. EDT