2nd LD) Lee calls for strong stand against N. Korea, one-step disarmament deal

(ATTN: ADDS Lee's comments on 'grand bargain,' N. Korea-U.S. talks in paras 10-14 )
SEOUL, Sept. 26 (Yonhap) -- South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said Saturday
the international community should take a strong stand against nuclear-armed
North Korea and not be distracted by the communist nation's marginal conciliatory
gestures in recent weeks.

He stressed that the North should be left with no other choice but to
denuclearize and that it is "unthinkable" for the world to recognize it as a
de-facto nuclear power.
"The North Koreans will not readily give up their nuclear program," he said in an
interview with reporters shortly before heading back home following the Group of
20 economic summit in Pittsburgh.
Lee called for the North to return to six-nation nuclear talks "with sincerity"
and negotiate a set of political and economic incentives including security
guarantees.
"If they are sincere, then we are ready to provide them with whatever is
necessary," he said.
The conservative president reiterated his support for a package deal with the
North to replace step-by-step negotiations, which have led to little progress in
long-standing efforts to remove its nuclear program.
"In the past, from experience, we know that negotiating with North Korea has
always been a process whereby we make one step forward and we take two steps
back, and we go back and forth and back and forth, without achieving much
results," he said.
Lee was referring to the North's practice of reaching deals with the six parties
-- also including South Korea, the U.S., China, Russia and Japan -- and receiving
economic assistance, and then reneging on its obligations.
The North launched a long-range rocket in April and conducted a second nuclear
test the following month despite repeated warnings from the international
community.
In an apparent pursuit of bilateral talks with the U.S., the North gave amnesty
and released in August two American journalists convicted of illegally entering
the country, and also invited Washington's top nuclear envoy Stephen Bosworth to
visit Pyongyang.
The Obama administration has said it is open to a bilateral meeting with North
Korea, but has said it must be aimed at bringing the North back to the six-party
talks.
Lee said the North's intentions behind its mixed behavior remain unclear and
again discussed his "grand bargain" proposal, which he first outlined Monday
during a speech in New York.
"In order for us to really accurately assess North Korea's true intent, that is
the reason I proposed a grand bargain, whereby we will really have to deal with
this in a one-shot deal and to try to bring about a fundamental resolution," he
said.
"If the United States government decides to meet and have face-to-face talks with
the North Koreans that will be a
'pre-meeting' in order to encourage North Korea to resume and come back to the
negotiating tables in the six-party talks framework," he said.
On South Korea's economy, meanwhile, Lee struck an upbeat note.
"We have been doing relatively well, despite all the circumstances. We have been
posting somewhere around minus one percent for this year," he said. "As for
Korea's predictions for economic growth for next year, we expect somewhere in the
neighborhood of plus four percent."
He added it is still early for his country to be complacent, as the world has
yet to fully emerge from the financial crisis that began a year ago.
lcd@yna.co.kr
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