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By choosing Senator Joseph Lieberman for a running mate, Presidential Candidate Al Gore adds a Senator with strong convictions on national missile defense (NMD) and considerable expertise on arms-control to the Democratic Presidential ticket.
Ihe Pentagon's assessment of the program to develop a National Missile Defense (NMD) system has been delayed by "several weeks", and is now expected in early September.
In the highest level talks since 1953, U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright met North Korea’s Foreign Minister Paek Nam-sun in Bangkok. The meeting took place during the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) Regional Forum, which North Korea was attending for the first time. Secretary Albright said the meeting was a "symbolically historic step away from the sterility and hostility of the past." The 70-minute discussion – which lasted twice as long as had been scheduled –was "a useful and substantive exchange of views," according to one State Department official. Secretary Albright said she had addressed all issues of American concern, including North Korea’s missile program and had asked about Pyongyang's reported willingness to end this program in exchange for space launch services. The Secretary received no clarification on this point.
The Republican Party will adopt its official platform at this week's Convention in Philadelphia. The draft platform basically mirrors the position of candidate George W. Bush and will likely be approved with little modification. Two weeks from now, the Democratic Party will complete their own platform for adoption by the Party convention in Los Angeles.
During the years of isolation from the West, China’s posture rhetorically favored nuclear weapons proliferation, particularly in the Third World, as a rallying point for anti-imperialism. Through the 1970s, China’s policy was not to oppose nuclear proliferation, which it still saw as limiting U.S. and Soviet power.
Iran had its first successful test of the Shahab-3 ballistic missile on July 15. The first test missile in July 1998 exploded shortly after launch. The missile is based on the North Korean NoDong-1, with a range of 1200-1300 kilometers with a one-ton payload. Some cite Iran as a ballistic missile threat justifying deployment of an American national missile defense system. However, Iran remains primarily a regional concern.