Sunshine at Its Zenith

Abstract

Lim Dong Won, now unification minister, back from talks with William Perry, said on August 29, 1999, that the United States was ready to “relax economic punishment” and expand relations with North Korea if the North abandoned plans to test-fire Taepodong-2 on August 31, first anniversary of the firing of the first long-range Taepodong on August 31, 1998. Lim hoped the North and the United States would come to terms in talks between Charles Kartman and Kim Kye Gwan in Berlin. American, Japanese, and South Korean alarm increased as Taepodong-2 was rolled onto the launch pad at Musudan-ri under the watchful eyes of spy satellites. The result was vindication for Sunshine when the North agreed on September 12 not to launch the dreaded missile. Kim Dae Jung, President Clinton, and Japan’s Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi got the word in Auckland during the annual session of APEC, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation group. “We agreed to make further efforts to solve apprehensions,” said Kim Kye Gwan.¹