North Korea understands that relations with South Korea will not improve unless Pyongyang strives to strengthen ties with Japan and the United States, an envoy of South Korean President Kim Dae Jung told Foreign Minister Yohei Kono on Monday.
Hwang Won Tak said that North Korean leader Kim Jong Il well understood Kim Dae Jung's words to this effect at the landmark inter-Korean summit last week in Pyongyang.
Hwang, senior secretary for diplomacy and security for Kim, was here to brief Japan in detail about the inter-Korean summit and to confirm Pyongyang's willingness to work toward normalizing diplomatic relations with Japan. Hwang is scheduled to meet with Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori today.