No 'price' for inter-Korean summit: Lee

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 recent news report that South Korea may send fertilizer to
the impoverished communist neighbor ahead of the possible meeting.
Lee reiterated he is willing to meet the North's leader Kim Jong-il 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."
A newspaper here, reported earlier in the day that South Korea 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.
Lee's liberal predecessors -- Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun -- came under harsh
criticism from conservatives in South Korea for reportedly delivering cash and
materials to the North as part of efforts to organize inter-Korean summits in
2000 and 2007.
Speculation has run rampant over the possibility of a third summit between the
two Koreas since the South Korean president said in an interview with British
broadcaster BBC last week that he is prepared to meet his northern counterpart
this year.
Lee's aides later said that his comments were a repeat of his basic stance and
that no concrete preparations are currently under way.
Lee earlier said that a summit with Kim, if held, should be used to discuss the
nuclear crisis and the issue of South Korean abductees and prisoners of war still
in the North.
lcd@yna.co.kr
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