The warm welcome given by the reclusive North Korean leader, Mr Kim Jong-il, to the US Secretary of State, Ms Madeleine Albright, yesterday appears to have enhanced the prospects of a historic visit to Pyongyang next month by President Clinton.
Wearing a Peruvian-style black hat, Ms Albright descended from her aircraft in the North Korean capital yesterday with no plans to meet Mr Kim until today. She began to go through a programme which included a visit to a model kindergarten, where she gyrated and waved her arms in an impromptu dance with the children.
But Mr Kim tore up the US Secretary of State's schedule. Wearing his habitual Mao-style uniform and a big smile, he appeared in the afternoon at her guest house to invite her to immediate talks, which went on for two hours across a massive polished table, and resumed after a break of 10 minutes.
The meeting was yet another milestone on the road to ending North Korea's isolation, following the visit by President Kim Dae-jung of South Korea to Pyong yang in August. Ms Al bright is the first US official to visit the Democratic People's Republic of Korea since it was founded half a century ago, and the first US diplomat Mr Kim has encountered.
In the opinion of observers in the region Ms Albright's visit, prepared in only 10 days, is part of a rush job to enable President Clinton to make a historic visit to Pyongyang before his Presidency ends in January.
Such a visit could happen as soon as mid-November. Mr Clinton will visit Brunei from November 15th to 16th for an APEC (Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation) summit, and is expected to travel to Vietnam immediately afterwards. This would allow him to stop off in Pyongyang either on the outward or return journey. The prize for Mr Clinton would be a last major foreign policy success in the form of an agreement by North Korea to end its long-range missile programme and speed up its union with South Korea. Mr Kim, playing a weak diplomatic hand astutely, could get in return help with missile launches, increased food aid, an end to US sanctions and diplomatic recognition by Washington.
The haste of the White House operation has attracted some criticism, especially as Ms Albright has not obtained any concessions from Pyongyang and has interjected herself ahead of a return visit by Mr Kim to Seoul, breaking the assumed sequence of events.
Ms Albright replied that Washington was taking a "very measured" approach to rapprochement with North Korea, adding: "We are not going to go faster than it makes sense in terms of US interests."
"I am really very happy," said Mr Kim as he met Ms Albright. Later he showed he meant it by suddenly deciding to take over as host of a dinner arranged for Ms Albright by Vice-Marshal Jo Myong-rok, vice-chairman of the National Defence Commission and the highest-ranking North Korean ever to go to Washington.
Mr Kim thanked the US Secretary of State for arranging the meeting between Mr Clinton and Vice-Marshal Jo, at which he said "there was no dispute between our countries. Everything went smoothly". Ms Albright said she hoped co-operation between North Korea and the international community would expand to the benefit of all the North Korean people.