Stranger in a Very Strange Land

By Massimo Calabresi/Pyongyang

Against the backdrop of a giant airbrushed mural of waves crashing against striated rocks, the U.S. Secretary of State smiled as North Korean protocol officers bustled her unceremoniously from one spot to another in the western building of the One Hundred Flowers Blooming Guest House. Then the attendants joined senior U.S. aides and other North Korean officials on the periphery, leaving America's most powerful woman standing all alone in the center of the room, shifting uneasily on her feet.

You could hardly blame her. Madeleine Albright was about to become the first American official to meet Kim Jong Il, a figure as mysterious as his country, which has been closed to the West for 55 years. Crazy rumors swirled about the man known as the Great Leader. He infused himself with the blood of virgins to stay young, claimed some ghoulish types; he kidnapped Western models for his harem, said others. But the reality is what is really scary--and why Albright and Bill Clinton, who may head there next month, are trying to make friends fast. U.S. intelligence believes Kim has enough fissile material for nuclear bombs. He is developing long-range missiles and is presenting an increasing threat to the 36,000 U.S. troops stationed south of the demilitarized zone. And though North-South relations in Korea have warmed in the past year, there are still worries in Washington. Is Kim's new softness for real? Albright was eager to see him: she wanted to feel for herself.

His entrance was preceded by half a dozen men in dark suits, armed not with weapons but with antique Panaflex movie cameras and handheld spot lamps. As the massive wooden doors opened, Kim walked in to the noise of the Panaflex shutters clattering like enormous insects. A short man--slightly topping Albright's 5 ft. 3 in.--with a potbelly, he wore well-shined shoes that formed triangles below his trademark khaki trousers and zip-front jacket. His skin looked pallid and his eyes slightly puffy, but he smiled as he strode toward Albright. She grinned back and said, "I'm very glad to be here; it's a beautiful city"--the first part of which, at least, was true.

While they hobnobbed, the journalists set about losing their official minders to get an unfettered glimpse of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, which is mired in food, energy and medical shortages. Outside a subway entrance a young man squatted beside a steaming pot, gingerly pouring boiling water over the limp corpse of an unskinned dog. In a downtown hospital, all the lights were out except for those in the foyer that illuminated the colorful portrait of Kim Jong Il and his father Kim Il Sung. The D.P.R.K. lost an estimated half a million people to famine in the mid-'90s, and even now, because of this year's spring drought and fall typhoons, many in the countryside must supplement their diet with "wild foods," meaning berries, mushrooms and even grasses, according to the World Food Program.

You wouldn't know the country's dire straits from the show Kim put on, though. During their first meeting the Great Leader invited Albright to a "gymanistics event" downtown. As she and Kim entered the 150,000-seat May Day stadium, a sellout crowd of blue-suited Korean Workers' Party members let out a sonorous, sustained roar as if at the flip of a switch. Fireworks exploded overhead, and the Great Leader waved. More than 100,000 performers acted out scenes of socialist glory with translated names like If the Party Decides, So We Do and The General and People Are a Single Mind. On the field, thousands of performers simulated the action of waves and fire and a billowing flag through coordinated movements of their shawls.

A State Department spokesman said Albright had known beforehand that the performance would celebrate the party's anniversary but could not refuse Kim's invitation. "We want to continue the process of improving relations," he said, adding that Albright delivered a letter from President Clinton detailing what would be necessary for relations to keep thawing. Critics fear that the U.S. is cozying up to Kim too quickly without getting enough in return. And the Administration hardly mentions the old evil image of Kim it used as recently as this spring to justify the creation of an antiballistic-missile system. Albright says her talks made "important progress," but she provides no indication of headway beyond continuing bilateral meetings. For now the fact that the talks took place is just as important as anything that was said.