S. Korea: Roh Bent on Last-Minute Inter-Korean Summit(one last shot for his legacy(?))

Chosun Ilbo ^ | 06/15/07

[TigerLikesRooster]

Roh Bent on Last-Minute Inter-Korean Summit

President Roh Moo-hyun has reiterated he would want to meet with Kim Jong-il even when Roh has only two or three months left in office.

"When the nuclear issue is in the process of resolution, the inter-Korean relationship should develop simultaneously,” Roh said in an interview with the government-friendly Hankyoreh Shinmun on Wednesday. “In that sense, if I turn down North Korea's request for a summit on grounds that I have only a few months in office left, the process of resolving the North Korean nuclear problem would be affected and delayed." He added he could go to Pyongyang even with only a few months left. “If I go and reach an agreement, then my successor can’t reject it. Therefore timing is important. I’m going to proceed with that in mind."

Asked about former president Kim Dae-jung's suggestion to hold a summit before Aug. 15 Independence Day, Roh said, "It could have been possible -- at a rational guess -- if the issue of the North Korean funds in Banco Delta Asia hadn’t been delayed." In other words, the problem was North Korea’s delay in implementing its part of a Feb. 13 denuclearization agreement until the issue of its money in the Macau bank is resolved. The agreement, reached by the six nations in talks on the nuclear program, originally set an April 14 deadline for the North.

Roh's statement suggests that, by a similar time lapse now that problem is on the cusp of resolution, an inter-Korean summit could happen around October or November, two or three months after Aug. 15.

Turning to the disintegrating ruling Uri Party, Roh said, "I don't deny the need to seek a rational unity of the ruling camp, if at all possible. But I’m against unjustly disbanding the party without a national convention. If unity is impossible, the Uri Party should remain as it is. The party really has a good cause."

He vowed to support the Uri presidential candidate if it should nominate one, or any candidate a coalition of groups in the ruling camp might produce in case Uri should disband.

Asked about the controversial group calling itself the Government Evaluation Forum, he called it an "organization dedicated to protecting Roh Moo-hyun."

The president renewed criticism of the opposition Grand National Party, accusing it of taking the country “to bankruptcy” in 1997. “It is a regionally oriented party -- neither more nor less than that,” he said. Roh himself has insisted he wants to end regional bias in Korean politics.

[TigerLikesRooster]

May 9, 2007 article

http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200705/200705090011.html

Roh Could Meet Kim Jong-il in July or August

 

Cheong Wa Dae is considering a second inter-Korean summit in the second half of the year, just so long as North Korea implements its initial obligations under a Feb. 13 denuclearization agreement. A government official on Tuesday said the office was “considering an idea where the inter-Korean relationship in general, including a summit, goes one step ahead of six-party talks or talks about a peace framework” for the Korean Peninsula. That would mean a reversal of the earlier position that inter-Korean rapprochement would follow the outcome of the multilateral talks.

The official said the best thing would be if North Korean leader Kim Jong-il comes to South Korea, returning former president Kim Dae-jung’s historic Pyongyang visit in 2002. But he added that “neutral” areas like the North Korean border city of Kaesong or Mt. Kumgang would also make “a good venue.” Pundits speculate that Seoul has in mind a meeting between President Roh Moo-hyun and Kim Jong-il after foreign ministers from the six countries meet and the initial steps under the February agreement are implemented. Some believe that a South Korea-U.S. summit will be held in June and the inter-Korean summit in July or August, followed by a formal declaration of the end of the Korean War in September or October. They also expect a four-way summit among the two Koreas, the U.S. and China.

President Roh Moo-hyun (left) and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il

At a forum hosted by the Korean Council for Unification Education Monday, Unification Minister Lee Jae-joung stressed that settling the nuclear issue “doesn't mean that every problem between the two Koreas has been fixed,” although he added that resolving the North Korean nuclear problem through the six-party framework “is very important. He said inter-Korean affairs “cannot be settled by parties other than the two Koreas.”

Uri Party lawmaker Lee Hwa-young, who recently visited North Korea, was optimistic about the prospects for a summit, saying that it could be held “earlier than expected.”

President Roh, responding to former Uri Party chairman Chung Dong-young’s request to synchronize inter-Korean affairs with development in the six party nuclear talks, said late last month that was exactly what the government is doing, according to Cheong Wa Dae spokesman Chun Ho-seon.

[TigerLikesRooster]

Ping!

[SevenofNine]

That too RICH Tiger ROFL

[AmericanInTokyo]

My bet is Bush, just like Clinton in his last adminstration days, will try to pull off something like this (probably with Condi behind the scenes working it, for his “legacy” donchyaknow...)

[gogogodzilla]

Looks like the servant wants to go back to his master.

Maybe Roh won’t come back... at least, that way, it’d be better for everyone.

[TigerLikesRooster]

Too bad. He may not get it just like Clinton. That is, Chia Head could drop dead before U.S.-NK summit materializes.

God is working in a mysterious way these days.:-)

[AmericanInTokyo]

It is my own personal opinion, but I think the North Korean people truly cried when Kim Il Sung checked out for good (some say, in fact, a heart attack instigated by Junior himself). I saw it on TV and it was defintely mass anguish, I don't think it was staged at all.

However, when Kim Jong il kicks the bucket, I suspect what we will see on Korean Central Broadcasting out of Pyongyang is a lot of forced tears and overacting.

[TigerLikesRooster]

I agree. As far as N. Koreans are concerned, he ruined the country and no "mythical struggle" against imperialists to speak of.

I think that is another reason why Kim Jong-il is obsessed with nukes, in addition to regime survival. He has to make "towering achievement" rivaling his dad's.