DATE=3/30/01

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

NUMBER=2-274343

TITLE=E-U / NORTH KOREA (L-ONLY)

BYLINE=ROGER WILKISON

DATELINE=BRUSSELS

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

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INTRO: The European Commission the executive arm of the European Union says it is taking the first steps toward establishing full-fledged diplomatic relations with North Korea. VOA correspondent Roger Wilkison reports from Brussels that the decision follows a move last week by the 15-nation bloc to involve itself in the peace process on the Korean Peninsula.

TEXT: Always seeking to bolster its diplomatic profile, the E-U announced at its Stockholm summit last Saturday that it would send Swedish Primer Minister Goeran Persson to both Pyongyang and Seoul to express support for South Korean President Kim Dae-jung's policy of reconciliation towards North Korea.

The move came after the Bush Administration backed away from supporting Kim Dae-jung's so-called sunshine policy, which is aimed at promoting peace between the two Koreas.

The Swedish leader, who is currently the chairman of the E-U Council of Governments, is expected to make the trip before the end of May. Mr. Persson told reporters at the time that North Korea assured him that its leader Kim Jong Il wants to continue the reconciliation process and is willing to personally discuss with him such issues as human rights and non-proliferation.

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The aim is to express support for this process started by Kim Dae-jung, a process aiming to come to an end of one of the last remaining conflicts with its origins in the Second World War.

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Only two of the E-U's member states France and Ireland do not have diplomatic relations with North Korea. Britain, Germany and Spain have all set up embassies in Pyongyang since a historic inter-Korean summit last year.

An E-U official says the E-U will have to gain the approval of all 15 member states before it sets up its own embassy in Pyongyang and allows the North Koreans to do the same in Brussels. That, says the official, could come as early as next month.

Asked whether the E-U was wary of U-S objections before making such a move, the official said Washington did not protest when individual E-U countries set up their diplomatic missions in Pyongyang. He says the United States knows the value of being able to convey messages, even tough ones, to Pyongyang through diplomatic channels. And he says the E-U's standards for engaging North Korea are the same as those of the United States: cooperation on non-proliferation, moves toward an open economy, and respect for human rights.

North Korea has gradually opened up to the outside world ever since it was hit by a succession of natural disasters that some analysts say were partly caused by mismanagement of its collective farm system. American and European officials agree that North Korea's main aim in doing so is to obtain foreign aid to rebuild its economy. (Signed)

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