DATE=5/4/01

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=KOREA-WEAPONS (L)

NUMBER=2-275654

BYLINE=JIM RANDLE

DATELINE=SEOUL

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: South Korean President Kim Dae-Jung says North Korea's decision to put off ballistic missile tests for two years may improve the tense relations between Pyongyang and Washington. But, as V-O-A's Jim Randle reports from Seoul, North Korea apparently plans to continue supplying missile-building know-how to anyone who can pay for it.

TEXT: South Korean President Kim Dae-jung welcomed North Korea's promise to put off missile testing until 2003. He spoke through a translator at a news conference in the South Korean capital.

/// KIM TRANSLATOR ACT ///

(It) is a result that has been quite unexpected, a very good result, and this hopefully will have a positive repercussions for North Korea U-S dialogue as well.

/// END ACT ///

Thursday, North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il told a visiting European Union delegation he would continue his missile-testing moratorium. North Korea worried its neighbors and the United States in 1998 when it test-fired a missile across Japan and far out into the Pacific.

The news was welcome as North Korea had recently threatened to resume ballistic missile tests. Relations between Pyongyang and Washington soured after the new Bush administration put contacts with North Korea on hold while officials reviewed U-S policy toward Korea.

On Friday, South Korean President Kim urged President Bush to complete the review process promptly and try to help the reconciliation process between North and South Korea.

But European Union foreign policy and security chief Javier Solana says that reconciliation process is heading for what he calls "a bumpy road." At a news conference in Seoul, Mr. Solana said North Korea's leader told him he plans to export missile technology to other countries, ignoring strong objections from Washington and other capitals.

/// SOLANA ACT ///

He claims that missile technology is part of trade, and that if he finds people who want to buy it he will sell it. .... You keep in mind this is an answer that we can not take.

/// END ACT ///

Mr. Solana was part of a European Union delegation that paid an unprecedented visit to reclusive North Korea this week. Delegation head Goran Persson, the Prime Minister of Sweden, said the dialogue with North Korea's leader was important. But, he said, it will be even more important for North Korea's actions to match its positive rhetoric. (Signed).

NEB/JR/GPT/PFH