Smooth Sailing at the Summit

President Kim Dae-jung and President Vladimir Putin of Russia held talks at the Blue House Tuesday and shared the view that the 1992 Joint Declaration on the Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and the 1994 Geneva Agreed Framework should be faithfully implemented in order to stave off the dangers of nuclear weapons on the peninsula.

The two heads of state adopted a seven-point joint statement after the summit meeting and agreed to develop Korean-Russian relations into a "constructive and mutually beneficial partnership."

They also pledged to work toward resolving the problems of developing, trading and placing missiles on the Korean peninsula through continued dialogue with regional powers.

Messrs. Kim and Putin regarded the summit meeting last year between the leaders of North and South Korea and its follow-up measures as highly significant in providing the basis for reconciliation and cooperation on the Korean peninsula.

They also emphasized that the role of Koreans themselves is more important than anything else in bringing peace to the peninsula.

The two presidents decided to begin constructing an industrial zone at Nakhodka in Russia's easternmost Primorsky region at an earliest possible date and agreed to cooperate on developing an oil field at Irkutsk in Siberia. Mr. Putin also guaranteed the safe operation of Korean vessels on the Russian seas.

South Korea and Russia will continue to cooperate on linking the railroad connecting North and South Korea with the Trans-Siberian Railway and will set up a special committee on transportation cooperation in expectation of enhanced movement of goods in Northeast Asia.

The joint statement also called for preventing the spread of weapons of mass destruction and dismantling them eventually. It also called on the world to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, which limits the testing of nuclear weapons.

While the statement did not directly mention the National Missile Defense that the United States has proposed, a Foreign Ministry official said, "The statement reflects the Russian opposition to the National Missile Defense by including the past accords on nuclear weapons."

He added that the repeated references to strengthening the role of the United Nations also reflects the Russian desire to counter U.S. hegemony through international institutions.

by Kim Jin-kook