(2nd LD) No 'price' for inter-Korean summit: Lee

(ATTN: ADDS Unification Minister's comments, RAISES background)
By Lee Chi-dong
SEOUL, Feb. 2 (Yonhap) -- President Lee Myung-bak stressed Tuesday that his
government will never pay a "price" to the North in return for an inter-Korean
summit, countering a news report that South Korea may send fertilizer to the
impoverished communist neighbor ahead of the possible meeting.

Talk of a possible summit between Lee and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il has
intensified after Lee said in an interview with British broadcaster BBC last week
that he is prepared to meet with the North's Kim this year for peace on the
peninsula and a resolution to the nuclear crisis.
Though Lee has said he is open to a summit with the North at any time, it was the
first time that Lee has mentioned the timing of a possible summit. That prompted
speculation that the sides might be working to set up a meeting.
On Tuesday, a South Korean daily reported that Seoul may resume shipments of
fertilizer to the North prior to a summit. "Chances are high that food can be
channeled into the (North Korean) military but there will be no such problem with
fertilizer aid," the newspaper quoted an unidentified government official as
saying.
The comments were in reference to alleged practices by the North of allowing the
military to receive the lion's share of international food aid over the general
population.
But Lee said there won't be any payoff to the North for just agreeing to a
summit, saying that he would meet with the North's leader anytime, but "only
under firm principles."
"(Such a summit) can't be realized unless those principles are met," he said at a
Cabinet meeting, according to his spokesman Park Sun-kyoo. "The leaders of South
and North Korea should meet under the principles that there will be no price for
a summit."
Presidential aides said his comments were a repeat of his basic stance and that
no concrete preparations are currently under way. Unification Minister Hyun
In-taek also said that no specific decision has been made regarding an
inter-Korean summit and that such a meeting will not occur unless progress in
denuclearization is guaranteed.
Lee's two immediate predecessors -- Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun -- held summit
meetings with the North in 2000 and 2007, but they came under harsh criticism
from conservatives in South Korea for reportedly delivering huge amounts of cash
and materials to the North as part of efforts to organize inter-Korean summits.
Lee has said that a summit with Kim, if held, should be used to discuss the
North's nuclear program and the issue of South Korean abductees and prisoners of
war still in the North.
The two sides held a high-level preliminary meeting in Singapore last year,
followed by several working-level contacts, but failed to narrow differences,
according to sources in Seoul. North Korea has claimed the nuclear standoff is a
matter to be discussed with the U.S., not South Korea.
South Korean officials agree that this year, the third of Lee's five-year term,
is right for such an inter-Korean summit but they say that whether a meeting
takes place depends on the North's attitude. This year marks the 60th anniversary
of the outbreak of the Korean War that ended in a cease-fire in 1953.
"I wouldn't say that there is no move at all for an inter-Korean summit," a
senior presidential secretary said. "But as you well know, it is difficult to
predict the outcome of discussions with North Korea."
He said the Lee Myung-bak administration will push for dialogue with the North in
a transparent manner, unlike in the past, and will release related information to
the media if there is tangible progress.
The U.S., meanwhile, expressed support for another summit between the two Koreas
if such a meeting would help resolve the nuclear crisis.
"We have had our own discussions with North Korean officials," State Department
spokesman Philip Crowley said. "We understand our partners in the six-party
process likewise have had conversations, and we encourage dialogue."
(END)

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