Kim Jong Il Pledges Missile Test Moratorium

PYONGYANG, North Korea — North Korean leader Kim Jong Il pledged to keep a moratorium on missile tests until 2003, but he said there would be no inter-Korean summit as long as the U.S. is reviewing its policy toward the North, a European delegation said Thursday.

The promise to adhere to the moratorium was significant progress in a process that has stalled amid U.S.-North Korean tension.

Earlier this year, North Korea threatened to end the moratorium on long-range missile tests. Pyongyang halted the tests in September 1999, a year after testing a rocket that flew over Japan into the Pacific Ocean.

North Korea also agreed to send officials to Europe this summer to discuss opening talks about its widely criticized human rights record, European envoys said.