Posted on 04/21/2005 11:39:55 PM PDT by HAL9000
SEOUL, April 22 (Yonhap) -- South Korea is arranging a summit meeting between President Roh Moo-hyun and U.S. President George W. Bush in June to discuss ways to resolve the standoff over North Korea's nuclear weapons program, informed sources here said Friday."Working-level officials from the two countries are working on the summit meeting, and we hope the outline of the negotiations (for the summit) will come out as early as next week," an official said.
"We see a high chance for the summit meeting, although nothing has been fixed yet," the official said.
Cheong Wa Dae spokesman Kim Man-soo would neither confirm nor deny the possibility of such a summit in June, just saying, "Leaders of South Korea and the United States have built deep trust between themselves so they can meet anytime to discuss pending issues."
North Korea last attended the six-party nuclear talks when they were held for the third time last June. Pyongyang boycotted a fourth round set for the following September, citing what it said was the U.S.'s "hostile" attitude.
Reports said the United States set the end of this June as the deadline for its efforts to persuade the North to return to the talks and is determined to bring the case to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) for possible sanctions.
South Korea and two other nations in the six-party talks, China and Russia, which have veto power in the UNSC, oppose any sanctions on the North.
The move comes amid reports that Chinese President Hu Jintao will visit Pyongyang on May 2 in a last-minute effort by China, which has hosted the three rounds of six-way talks, to persuade North Korea to return to dialogue.
The presidential National Security Council (NSC) said Thursday its deputy head Lee Jong-seok will go to Washington next week to discuss "issues of mutual concern".
Diplomatic analysts here expect Lee, one of President Roh's closest aides on national security issues, will play a role in the negotiations for the Roh-Bush summit during his April 26-28 stay in Washington.
Roh last met Bush in Santiago, Chile, on Nov. 20 last year on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, where they reconfirmed their pledge to resolve the North Korean nuclear issue peacefully through the six-party talks.
The summit dispelled concerns that the two allies were at odds over how to deal with the North after Roh's controversial speech a week earlier in Los Angeles urging Washington not to have a hard-line policy on North Korea.
"We cannot definitely say North Korea is developing nuclear weapons to attack somebody or assist terrorists," Roh said in the speech, expressing "understanding" of the North's claim that it is developing nuclear weapons and missiles as a deterrent to protect itself from outside threats.
On whether President Bush expressed his intention to drop options for economic sanctions or use of force at the meeting with Roh, Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon told reporters that "Those words were not used in the summit," hinting that Bush retained those options although he talked about the need to resolve the nuclear issue peacefully.
Few believe the second-term Bush administration, dominated by conservatives, will tolerate an indefinite delay of the six-party talks by North Korea, as U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, without specifics, referred to "other options" while visiting Seoul and Beijing in March.
Aside from the imminent nuclear threat from the North, the Roh-Bush summit will also likely address U.S. concerns over South Korea's aim for a "balancing" role in Northeast Asia, which some reports said could weaken the decades-old South Korea-U.S. alliance with a South Korean tilt toward China, North Korea's staunch ally.
Roh recently put forth the idea of South Korea playing a balancing role to prevent conflicts and clashes in Northeast Asia, creating a flurry of controversy both domestically and abroad.
Despite the pledge by Roh that the balancing role should be based on a strong South Korea-U.S. alliance, critics say the concept will eventually undermine the time-honored three-way alliance between Seoul, Washington and Tokyo.
The balancing role is a sensitive issue for the United States as both South Korea and China share wariness over a possible revival of militarism in Japan, which has been building up its military strength with the support of the United States.
The U.S. considers Japan a deterrent against the very real prospect of China emerging as a regional power in military as well as economic terms and in the arena of international politics.
In March, Roh explained to Rice about the balancing role. An aide to Roh said, "Rice did not respond, but just listened to it." The balancing role idea is also in line with Seoul's pledge to get back full control of its military from the U.S. within a decade.
An agreement signed after the 1950-53 Korean War lets the U.S. assume control of South Korean troops in the event of war, although South Korea recently regained control of its military in peacetime.
In another blow to U.S. security interests, Roh has said his government will deny U.S. troops on the Korean Peninsula leeway to expand their role and become involved in disputes in other Northeast Asian nations without South Korea's consent.
Washington has been pursuing "strategic flexibility" under which U.S. soldiers stationed in the South will be reshaped as "rapid deployment forces" to intervene in military conflicts in Northeast Asia, and possibly any military conflict between China and Taiwan.
Tensions have escalated recently after Beijing legislated an anti-secession law to use force in its efforts to prevent Taiwan from declaring independence from mainland China.
In another possible chasm in South Korea-U.S. relations, South Korea last week officially refused to accept a U.S. proposal to formulate a contingency plan on North Korea in the event of serious internal turmoil in the North.
The NSC said in a statement last Friday that it opposes the plan allowing the U.S. military to gain wartime command of South Korean troops in case of contingency situations in North Korea.
According to the South Korean Constitution, the entire peninsula is designated as the South's territory, so Seoul regards itself as responsible for control of wartime military operations in the North in case of contingencies.
The U.S., however, considers North Korea a "sovereign state," just as Rice said in Seoul in March, which enables U.S. forces to make inroads in the event of emergency situations arising in the reclusive communist state.
Critics and opposition parties say it is premature for the Roh administration to implement the concept of a balancing role, citing South Korea's lack of economic power and dependence on Washington in the defense of the nation as it contends with a nuclear threat from North Korea.
In an apparent recognition of such criticism, Roh said in Istanbul last week that "There is no problem in relations between South Korea and the United States, although the bilateral relations have been changing a little recently compared with the past."
Roh said the South Korea-U.S. alliance "has been reshaped recently and, in the process, South Korea's voice has been heard more loudly. The important thing is coordinating the different views of the order in Asia by South Koreans and Americans."
Roh is nothing but trouble.
Closing down Okinawa too, right? Over 100 years later the U.S. starts pulling back from it's Pacific forts. I wonder how many ticks are left in the U.S. global empire clock.
I am here in Seoul and can tell you that Roh is definitely stirring up the shiite here. We've built their economy, their military and saved their arses for over 50 years and they now think they are capable of doing it themselves. Roh is intentionally putting distance between the countries and is power hungry. I hope GW and Condi tell him that the defense of Korea is all theirs. Several thousand GI's here would be quite pleased.
Roh is worse than trouble. He is activly siding with the ChiComs.
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