(29 Oct 2000) English/Nat
Madeleine Albright made history on Sunday when she arrived in Pyongyang for high level talks with North Korean leader, Kim Jong-Il.
She's the first U-S Secretary of State ever to visit the country.
In the past, relations between the U-S and North Korea have been grim at best.
But Albright hopes her two-day visit will be the start of better relations which will in turn help to diffuse the tension in Northeast Asia for the first time in decades.
North Korea's Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, Kim Gye Guan was the first to greet Albright, and, after shaking hands with the rest of the welcome party, she made her way to a waiting limousine, stopping briefly to accept some flowers from an 8-year-old boy.
The motorcade then made its way to the centre of Pyongyang.
Shortly after arriving in Pyongyang, Albright visited the palace where the remains of Kim Il Sung - the man who founded the communist nation - are on display.
Albright then met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il.
If her talks with the North Korean leader go well, Clinton will follow her to Pyongyang as part of an Asia trip next month, administration officials said.
Albright's main concern is North Korea's missile development program and its export of missiles to Iran and Syria.
She will discuss these with Kim although officials say no agreements are expected.
The U-S Secretary of State also visited a school on Monday, which also serves as a distribution point for the U-N World Food Program.
There she watched children perform traditional dances.
In a speech Albright noted that the U-S has contributed one-point-five (m) million tons of food to to the program over the years.
After two days in Pyongyang, Albright is scheduled to fly across the Demilitarized Zone to Seoul to brief senior officials from Japan and South Korea both of which continue to be nervous about North Korea's military.
As a deterrent, the United States maintains 37,000 troops in South Korea.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"I have often spoken about the importance of the World Food Programme, but it is so important to see it in person because your work is vital. Because these children and their brothers and sisters around the country should be able to grow up without fear of emergency shortages and famine and international donors should be assured that the supplies they send are used for the purposes that they intended."
SUPER CAPTION: US Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright
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22 июл 2015
