Also attending the closed-door seminar sponsored by the National Committee on American Foreign Policy at the Korea Society was Wendy Sherman, a former U.S. envoy to North Korea, who accompanied Albright in her Pyongyang visit. She had been Kim Kye-gwan's negotiation partner during the Clinton administration. Jack Prichard, the U.S. special envoy to North Korea in the Clinton years and during the initial period of the Bush administration, was also present. In the past six years, all of them have taken the lead in criticizing the Bush administration's hard line on the North.

North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan shakes hands with Dr. George Schwab, president of the National Committee on American Foreign Policy, in New York on Monday./AP-Yonhap

Donald Zagonia, a professor at Hunter College in New York who takes charge of the NCAFP's Northeast Asia project, attended the seminar too. He maintains close relations with Pyongyang to the extent of hosting annual seminars where he invites the North Korean Foreign Ministry's U.S. chief Li Gun. Evans Revere, the president of the Korea Society, resigned last year as principal assistant deputy secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs after advocating reconciliation with North Korea. He was a member of the dove-ish Colin Powell group in the State Department.

What Kim Kye-gwan said at the four-hour-long seminar was not disclosed, but the atmosphere was “friendly,” according to Revere. Also present were former secretary of state Henry Kissinger and Don Oberdorfer, a professor at Johns Hopkins University. Kissinger is said to have advised President George W. Bush to plumb for dialogue with North Korea.

On Sunday, Kim had breakfast with Charles Kartman, former director of the now defunct Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization, and Joel Wit, a former State Department consultant on North Korea, at his hotel. On Sunday evening, he had a dinner with Kartman and Prichard at a Korean restaurant.

From left: former secretaries of state Henry Kissinger and Madeleine Albright, and Donald Zagoria, who takes charge of the Northeast Asia project at the National Committee on American Foreign Policy./AP-Yonhap

On Tuesday, the U.S. and North Korea ended the first session of a working group on the normalization of bilateral diplomatic ties. After the talks, Kim told reporters he discussed normalization as well as several other issues with his counterpart Christopher Hill. Kim called the atmosphere of the talks “constructive and serious.” He declined to elaborate on the meeting but appeared upbeat.

Hill told reporters there was “a sense of optimism on both sides that we will get through this 60-day period and we will achieve all of our objectives that are set out in the Feb. 13 agreement” reached in the six-nation nuclear talks in Beijing. Under the accord, North Korea will be provided with a first shipment of heavy fuel oil if it takes initial action to shut down its nuclear facilities.

The assistant secretary of state said the two sides agreed on the need to settle the issue of North Korea’s suspected uranium-based nuclear program and will hold expert consultations on the issue. Hill added he and Kim shared the view that in making the Korean Peninsula nuclear free, North Korea will have to give a full explanation of its uranium enrichment program and extra technical consultations will be helpful. Washington and Pyongyang will hold the second round of working group talks in Beijing before the next round of the six-party nuclear talks, which begin on March 19, Hill said. The two talked for altogether eight hours on Monday and Tuesday.

(englishnews@chosun.com )