Koreas showed 'all cards' for summit and ball is in Pyongyang's court: official

(ATTN: UPDATES with comments on peace pact, liaison office, presidential aide's U.S.
trip in last 8 paras)
By Lee Chi-dong
SEOUL, Feb. 4 (Yonhap) -- Both South and North Korea have put "all cards" on the
table when it comes to conditions for another round of summit talks and it is now
Pyongyang's turn to make a strategic decision, a senior South Korean government
official said Thursday.
He said Seoul has lowered the bar to the minimum level and there is no way back
in terms of prerequisites for the possible summit between President Lee Myung-bak
and the North's leader Kim Jong-il.
"That is why we say the ball is in North Korea's court," the official told Yonhap
News Agency, requesting anonymity.
The possibility of an imminent inter-Korean summit has become a hot topic here
since the South Korean leader told the British broadcaster BBC last week that he
is prepared to meet Kim any time, even this year.
Lee's comments spawned media speculation that the two sides may be working to set
up what would be their third summit following two rounds in 2000 and 2007. Lee's
aides, however, claimed that no concrete move for a meeting is currently under
way.
The official admitted that South and North Korea had "intensive discussions" on
the terms of a summit last year but failed to reach a consensus.
"Our position is clear: We are ready to go for an inter-Korean summit but our
three main demands should be met," he said.
The South wants to discuss the North Korean nuclear issue and the fate of South
Korean abductees and prisoners of war still in the reclusive communist neighbor.
Seoul also maintains that there should be no reward for Pyongyang for its simply
agreeing to hold a summit.
"South and North Korea have already shown all cards. There were some differences
on the conditions. The North asked for food aid in advance," the official said.
"We have lowered our demands... Now, it is up to North Korea. I think it is not
impossible for North Korea to accept our demands. If it does, things will go
easier and faster than expected." He did not provide details.
He said what South Korea wants from North Korea regarding the nuclear issue
depends on when the summit will take place.
"If it is held before the resumption of the six-way (nuclear) talks, our
accomplishments will include securing North Korea's promise to return to the
talks," he said. "Anyway, South Korea will put forward the Grand Bargain
proposal."
The South Korean president proposed the Grand Bargain with the North last year
aimed at reaching a single-step package deal on scrapping its nuclear program,
unlike the piecemeal approach initiated by the United States in six-party talks
during the Bush administration.
"What is important is to make North Korea officially acknowledge that South Korea
is a directly related party in terms of this nuclear crisis and it should be
discussed bilaterally (between South and North Korea) as well as multilaterally,"
he said.
The North has claimed that the nuclear standoff is a matter to be discussed with
the U.S., not South Korea.
With regard to the issue of signing a peace treaty on the peninsula, the official
said the North may raise the issue if such a summit is held.
"South Korea is open to discussion of the issue to make it clear that South Korea
should take part in related talks," he said. In their summit in 2007, the leaders
of the two Koreas yielded a rather ambiguous compromise on the issue of replacing
the 1953 armistice at the end of three-year Korean War with a formal peace
treaty.
"The South and the North have also agreed to work together to advance the matter
of having the leaders of the three or four parties directly concerned to convene
on the Peninsula and declare an end to the war," their joint statement read,
without naming the countries.
The official added South Korea's repeated offer of establishing a liaison office
in each other's capital is unlikely to be among formal agenda items if a summit
takes place again.
"But the leaders will be able to have impromptu discussions on the matter," he said.
In his New Year's message last month, the South's president proposed the opening
of a liaison office in each other's capital for standing dialogue. That was a
repeat of his comments in an interview with the Washington Post in 2008 that the
two Koreas need to set up such a high-level communication channel. The North
rejected the proposal at that time through a commentary run in the Rodong Sinmun,
a propaganda newspaper of the powerful Workers' Party.
Meanwhile, South Korea's presidential office, Cheong Wa Dae, said the ongoing
trip by a top presidential aide to Washington is not directly associated with a
possible inter-Korean summit.
"Kim Tae-hyo, secretary for national security strategy, is visiting the U.S. for
regular consultations on general issues of mutual interest between Cheong Wa Dae
and the White House (but they are) not intended to talk about a specific issue,"
Cheong Wa Dae spokesman Park Sun-kyoo told reporters.
lcd@yna.co.kr
(END)