No 'price' for inter-Korean summit: Lee

(ATTN: UPDATES with presidential spokesman's press briefing in paras 6-7; CHANGES lead)
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, apparently mindful of criticism over a former administration's alleged
huge payment of cash to the impoverished neighbor for holding the historic summit
between the two sides in 2000.
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.
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 principle that there will be no price for a
summit."
In a press briefing later, the spokesman explained, "President Lee was
reaffirming his position that an inter-Korean summit should be arranged on a
grand premise that there will be no payoff just for holding a summit."
Park presented a secret money transaction behind the 2000 summit as a bad precedent.
Lee's liberal predecessor Kim Dae-jung, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, came under
harsh attack from local conservatives after his administration was found
belatedly to have paid millions of dollars to the North in an apparent bid to
organize his summit with Kim in Pyongyang in 2000.
The spokesman said, however, South Korea keeps the door open for humanitarian aid
unassociated with such a summit reward.
Presidential aides said 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.
The two Koreas reportedly held a high-level preliminary meeting in Singapore last
year, followed by several working-level contacts, but failed to narrow
differences over agenda items, 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 its feasibility 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."
lcd@yna.co.kr
(END)