(EDITORIAL from the Korea Times on Feb. 1)

dailies-editorials (1)



Soliciting summit

An inter-Korean summit has been and is still an effective strategy to make a
breakthrough in the South-North relations and promote national reconciliation and
peace.

In this sense, any South Korean president is usually tempted to meet his
North Korean counterpart. President Lee Myung-bak is no exception. He has already
hinted at the possibility of holding a third inter-Korean summit following the
first one in June 2000 and the second one in October 2007. The presidential
office has reportedly been pushing for a new summit between Lee and North Korean
leader Kim Jong-il.
In an interview with the BBC on Friday, President Lee put forward his willingness
to meet Kim sometime this year to discuss the North's nuclear weapons program.
The interview took place in Davos, Switzerland, where Lee was attending the
two-day World Economic Forum. Lee said he could meet Kim later this year if
conditions were right, but that he did not want to ``place any definitive time"
on a summit. It is desirable for the head of state to seek such a summit to help
ease tensions on the Korean Peninsula and resolve the nuclear standoff with the
North.
However, it is somewhat bewildering that his remarks about the potential summit
came when the North fired a barrage of artillery shells for a third consecutive
day in what it said were military exercises near the West Sea border with the
South. Why did he make such comments despite what Seoul and Washington described
as acts of provocation by the North? A senior presidential official noted Lee has
just reaffirmed his basic position that he is ready to have a meeting with Kim
whenever it is necessary and all conditions for the talks have been met. And some
pundits speculated that the two sides have made some progress in pushing a
Lee-Kim summit.
First, we have to point out that President Lee should have been more careful
about revealing his intentions for the summit. His interview could be seen by
Pyongyang as indicating that Seoul is overlooking the North's artillery firings.
Although it can be understood that Lee is adamant to have talks with his northern
counterpart to solve pending issues, the timing of revealing his intentions could
cause concern among the public, which is still scared about the North's saber
rattling and nuclear blackmailing.
But, this is not to say that Lee must refrain from holding an inter-Korean summit
just because the North has continued to ratchet up hostility toward the South. It
is important for the leaders to hold direct talks to sincerely discuss ways of
alleviating tensions and moving toward reconciliation and cooperation. In this
regard, his readiness to discuss the nuclear problem with Kim is seen as a move
to make a South-North summit more substantial and practical than the two previous
ones.
Lee's two liberal predecessors failed to put the nuclear issue on the summit
agenda as Pyongyang has long tried to deal with the problem with the United
States. The North has still refused to return to the six-nation denuclearization
talks since it walked out of them last year for tougher U.N. sanctions against
its long-range missile launches and its second atomic bomb test. We urge the
North to come back to the six-party process and make good on its commitment to
complete, verifiable and irrevocable denuclearization.
A new inter-Korean summit should be more than a one-time political or media
stunt. Therefore, the Lee administration needs to press ahead with the summit in
a more transparent way. What's more important is that such a top-level meeting
must be organized based on public consensus and understanding of the people in
order to settle peace and boost national reconciliation on the peninsula.
(END)

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