Obama supports inter-Korean summit for N. Korea`s denuclearization: official

By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, Nov. 9 (Yonhap) -- The United States fully supports South Korea's
effort to seek an inter-Korean summit and pursue a comprehensive, rather than
incremental, solution to the North Korean nuclear issue, a senior Obama
administration official said Monday.
"That is an issue for President Lee (Myung-bak) to decide and we will support his
decision," the official, asking anonymity, said on a possible inter-Korean
summit. "President Lee and his government will speak for themselves with respect
to the prospect of a North-South summit. One of the many points of commonality
between our positions is that we seek a dialogue that will contribute to a
peaceful resolution of the North Korean nuclear problem."
The official made the remarks at a background briefing to reporters ahead of U.S.
President Barack Obama's nine-day trip to South Korea and three other Asian
countries, Japan, Singapore and China, which begins Thursday.
South Korean President Lee has said that he will not meet with North Korean
leader Kim Jong-il unless the North agrees to discuss its denuclearization, which
Pyongyang has said is the topic to be dealt with the U.S.
Former South Korean Presidents Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun had summit meetings
with Kim in 2000 and 2007, respectively, but they failed to address the nuclear
issue amid criticism that they merely provided economic aid to the North to
finance its nuclear weapons programs.
A North Korean delegation, composed of senior officials in charge of inter-Korean
relations, paid a visit to Lee in August when they attended a funeral for the
late President Kim. Speculation arose then that they proposed an inter-Korean
summit.
A senior Pentagon official reinforced such speculation last month when he said,
"Now suddenly we reached charm face with North Korea, with Kim Jong-il inviting
Lee Myung-bak of the Republic of Korea to visit Pyongyang, with (Premier) Wen
Jiabao from China going to visit Pyongyang," although the White House later
dismissed the comment as a "misunderstanding."
South Korean media reports have also said that a close aide to Lee met with North
Korea's Kim Yan-gon, who is in charge of inter-Korean relations, in Singapore
last month to prepare for a possible summit, which the South Korean presidential
office neither confirmed nor denied.
Turning to the so-called grand bargain -- Lee's recent proposal for the
denuclearization of North Korea through a comprehensive deal rather than a
piecemeal approach -- the administration official said, "I know that President
Obama fully supports and has a high opinion of the approach President Lee has
taken."
"On the essence of the concept of a grand bargain, I am told there are numerous
ways that this can be translated into English," he said. "The old approach of
trying in small increments is to give a little bit to North Korea and hope that
will lead to some kind of progress. That approach has had a serious flaw.
Instead, what is necessary is for there to be a more comprehensive resolution of
the North Korean nuclear problem."
The official dismissed media allegations that Obama and Lee differ on the grand
bargain.
"The level of coordination between Seoul and Washington on the issue of North
Korea has been superb, in our judgment," he said. "We and the South Korean
government have made it a point to share ideas and to explore options with each
other before we made significant decisions about our own policies."
The aim of the grand bargain is to demand North Korea "completely, irreversibly,
verifiably eliminate its nuclear program entirely and comply with both its own
commitment and the September 2005 statement and relevant U.N. Security Council
resolutions," he said.
"If North Korea is prepared to do those things, my understanding of the grand
bargain concept is that there should be a definitive, comprehensive set of
measures on economic assistance and other political areas that would move North
Korea out of the darkness into the community of Northeast Asia, and that is an
approach we completely agree with," he said.
South Korea's U.S. ambassador, Han Duck-soo, recently dismissed concerns that the
grand bargain concept has created a rift with the U.S. in their joint approach to
the North Korean nuclear issue, saying, "There is no different opinion between
South Korea and the U.S. on the grand bargain, and we will continue consulting
the U.S. and other related countries on details."
The grand bargain envisions a package deal in which members of the six-nation
talks on ending the North's nuclear programs provide Pyongyang with security
guarantees, massive economic aid and other incentives in return for a complete
deal that does not necessitate further negotiations.
The idea comes from the loopholes in the two six-party deals signed by the
Koreas, the U.S., China, Japan and Russia in previous years that outlined phased
denuclearization for the North rather than a one-shot agreement.
"The Sept. 19, 2007, agreement is nothing more than a declaration on North
Korea's nuclear dismantlement that lacks a road map for its implementation," a
senior South Korean official said recently. "The Feb. 13, 2005, agreement, which
is about North Korea's nuclear reactor and reprocessing facilities at Yongbyon,
does not address North Korea's existing nuclear arsenal."
The joint goal of South Korea, the U.S. and other parties to the six-way talks is
to "first bring the North Koreans back to the six-party talks and press them hard
for a package deal or a grand bargain, however it is named," the South Korean
official said.
hdh@yna.co.kr
(END)