North Korean satellites are quite small and primitive. But the very fact of having them successfully launched gives the government legitimacy with its people. One of the ideas under consideration for financing the satellite launches, which North Korea cannot afford, would be to create a consortium that would include the United States and some of its allies.

As it moves ahead on the satellite launch idea as a way of solving the missile crisis between the United States and North Korea, the administration will have to consult with Congress as well as with its allies.

The officials accompanying Dr. Albright, who included the State Department's most senior missile expert, Robert Einhorn, did not divulge what kind of verification mechanisms they were seeking to ensure that the government stop its missile program.

One of Dr. Albright's goals on this trip was to plan for a possible visit here by President Clinton, but she declined to be drawn out on whether Mr. Clinton would come. Instead, she said she would report to Mr. Clinton on the results and it was up to him to make the decision.

Another goal was to assess the North Korean leader who, in his six years in office, has remained virtually unknown as a personality or a policy maker. His father, Kim Il Sung, founded the Communist Party here and ruled the country with an iron hand until his death in 1994.

Dr. Albright said that after negotiating with Mr. Kim and socializing with him at two dinners and at the performance in honor of the 55th anniversary of the North Korean Communist Party, she found him a ''very good listener, a good interlocutor.'' And she added, ''He strikes me as very decisive and very practical.''

During the talks with Mr. Kim in a government guest house here, Dr. Albright said, the two officials discussed North Korea's human rights record.