Prologue:
When I lived in Korea, from 1930 to 1940, Korea was under Japanese rule. Their control was so complete that, for the first ten years of my life, I never saw a Korean flag.
Then, in 1940, upon arrival in America, I saw the Korean flag for the first time in my life. Maybe because I was young, maybe because I was impressionable, I felt tremendous excitement and pride at the sight of my flag and all that it stood for. I still carry that wonderful feeling.
That feeling, however, did not last very long because of the cruelty and the uncertainty of world events. At the end of World War II, Korea was divided - by our allies.
For the first time, since being divided up, Korea has a chance for reunification. I will go to great lengths to deter those who would divert from this effort; thus this article.


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In the Chicago Tribune there appeared an article, on October 11, 2000, that noted that President William Clinton had met with the No. 2 official of North Korea, the First Vice Chairman of North Korea’s National Defense Commission Jo, Myong-rok, and discussed ways to ease tension between the two Koreas.
In the same newspaper, on October 12, 2000, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright disclosed that she would visit PyongYang soon to meet with the North Korean Leader Kim, Jong-il, stating that she looks forward to discussing serious issues and matters of national concern.
First Vice Chairman Jo, after meeting with President Clinton and Secretary Albright said that, "Leader Kim has made the decision to remove confrontation and distrust from our bilateral relationship."
Are we to believe this rhetoric? Are we that gullible? And yes, he did say bilateral; BILATERAL RELATIONSHIP between the United States and North Korea.
President Clinton conveniently has forgotten that, in 1999, with his former Secretary of Defense Dr. William Perry serving as our senior official, conducted an independent study of our inchoate North Korea Policy.
The Perry Report, issued on October 12, 1999, stated flatly that "(1) no U. S. policy can succeed unless it is coordinated with Republic of Korea policy, and (2) the United States’ policy must deal with North Korea as it is, not as we might wish it to be."
In either of the two articles, relative to the exchange of visits, there were no mentions of any coordination, by the United States, with the Republic of Korea. If there were contacts with South Korea, why doesn’t the Clinton administration just say so? Do they think that consulting with an ally is a sign of weakness? Are they so insecure that they want people to think that they alone run the show? No wonder our foreign policy, and our relationship with the rest of the world, is in such shambles.
In the October 23, 2000 issues of the Chicago Sun-Times, it was reported that Secretary Albright landed in PyongYang, North Korea. It was also reported that the Secretary presented a letter to Leader Kim in regard to further development in bilateral relations between the United States and North Korea.
Her mission, in addition to assessing North Korea’s sincerity and true intentions of its outreaches to America, is to prepare the way for a Clinton visit, perhaps as early as next month.

At the conclusion of her trip, Secretary Albright stated that, on her way back to America, she would stop by in Seoul to brief the South Korean and the Japanese officials on her meetings with North Korea. Briefing South Korea, as an afterthought, is not my idea of coordination between partners.
Georgie Anne Geyer, a syndicated columnist based in Washington, D. C., recently wrote that "The United States is giving away the shop and getting nothing in return; it’s another of the Clinton administration’s witless legacy exercises."
For years, without success, the Clinton administration has been trying to bring North Korea out of its isolation. It is only because of initiatives by the South Korean President Kim, Dae-jung that a break through is now possible. And now, at this crucial juncture, President Clinton wants to go at it alone.
What is troublesome is that, since the talks between the United States and North Korea started, the North has not been attending meetings it was supposed to attend with the South to further their earlier plans for the unification of the two Koreas. Ms. Geyer goes on to say, "This is the pattern: whenever the U. S. supplants the South, North Korea diverts its attention from having to deal with the South and focuses on getting its bigger prize."
Don’t President Clinton and Secretary Albright understand that this unilateral relationship, between the United States and North Korea, weakens South Korea’s hand in dealing with North Korea, thereby crippling the best chance we have had in a long time to defuse the half century old turmoil? Do they even care?
An article in the Sun-Times, dated October 24, 2000, reminds us that President Clinton’s Camp David summit is followed by continuing violent clashes between Israelis and Palestinians, and that Clinton’s Irish peace process is looking distinctly shaky. "In short, both peace processes, sponsored by Clinton, are foundering almost simultaneously."

Having observed President Clinton these past 8 years, his maneuverings have become obvious. He sets up enormous expectations, takes the credit, and when failures and frustrations set in, he blames others and somehow escapes accountability.
We can "forgive President Clinton’s ignorance; after all, what does he know about world affairs? But Secretary Albright, because of her education and her personal past, should know better and should be held accountable if she were to recommend that President Clinton visits North Korea.
It seems to me that President Clinton, desperately in need to show something positive in his conduct of our country’s foreign policy, wants to meet the North Koreans, while ignoring his own policy to coordinate with South Korea matters that are of utmost importance to Korea, Asia and all the free world.
What I am most concerned about is that, in his vexatious attempts at self-aggrandization, President Clinton may undo what many people, including the decades of efforts by the Nobel Peace Award winner South Korean President Kim, Dae-jung, have strived for so valiantly and for so long, thereby derailing another opportunity for world-wide peace.

All things considered, President Clinton, please, don’t go to North Korea.


Joseph Yi came to America in 1940, at the age of 10, and has lived basically in the Chicago Metropolitan Area. Although Mr. Yi’s professional life was in the mainstream society, he has actively participated in the voluntary social services for the Chicago Korean community.