A Battle For Peace.(North and South Korea)

For all the talk of a new cold war between the United States and China, the chilliest place in Asia may still be the Korea Peninsula. Last year prospects for a thaw looked bright: South Korean President Kim Dae Jung's "sunshine policy" had led to a summit with his northern counterpart and promises that Kim Jong Il might travel to Seoul along a new railroad being built to connect the two countries. But ever since the Bush administration evinced only lukewarm enthusiasm for Kim's policies last month, Koreans are increasingly wondering whether that's all their president's ideas amount to--promises. Emboldened opposition parties have attacked Kim for bolstering rather than changing North Korea's totalitarian system, while average people lament Pyongyang's apparent unwillingness to reciprocate Seoul's good will. "We have seen enough symbolism, handshakes and wine toasts. Now we are looking for concrete evidence of change, and I don't think we've seen it," says Paik Jin Hyun, a politics professor at Seoul National University.

Some opposition politicians are already treating 76-year-old Kim, who must step down in early 2003, as a lame duck. So far, the criticisms (and a plunge in popularity ratings from 83 percent last June to 46 percent in February) haven't shaken the president's faith in the correctness of his policies. But even his political allies acknowledge that the sunshine policy is losing steam and, in the words of one, "will be hard to sustain unless North Korea does something drastic."

Many expect that Kim, who won the Nobel Peace Prize last year for his efforts, will be the one to make the dramatic move in order to preserve his legacy as the man who brought the two Koreas together. "His vision drives him," says a Western diplomat in Seoul. "He's living in the pages of history." Last week Kim welcomed NEWSWEEK's Chairman and Editor-in-Chief Richard M. Smith to the Blue House in Seoul to discuss his predicament. Excerpts:

SMITH: Is there a fundamental difference of opinion between yourself and the Bush administration about the nature of the regime in North Korea?

KIM: I don't think there is any difference in opinion as far as our appreciation of the positive developments between South and North Korea. The U.S. administration wonders whether we can trust Chairman Kim and demands reciprocity and verification for agreements made with him. My response to those doubts is that we should continue to engage North Korea in dialogue not because we trust the North, but because we see in their current situation room for us to induce them to follow the road of positive change.

One concern of the Bush administration is that in its view, the relationship with North Korea has so far been a lopsided one. In return for halting somewhat aggressive actions, the North has always received some kind of payment. The second concern is that with your time in office coming into its last year and a half, you might be so eager to announce a major step forward in relations with the North that you might not push hard for reciprocity and verification.

To address your second question, I am not eager for achievements at this point. I believe I already have made my mark in terms of South- North relations. The sheer fact that I opened serious dialogue between the two Koreas after 50 years of confrontation is already a great achievement.