South to Propose An Early Summit

With the indications last week that President George W. Bush is likely to take a remarkably less enthusiastic approach toward North Korea than Bill Clinton did, Seoul is expected to urge Pyongyang this week to schedule its leader's planned visit to the South as soon as possible, officials said Sunday.

"Unification Minister Park Jae-kyu plans to make a six-point proposal in his keynote speech at Wednesday's session of Cabinet-level talks with North Korean officials, including [the suggestion] that the North Korean leader make a return visit as soon as possible for peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula," said a senior government official.

The four-day Cabinet-level talks, the fifth in a series, are to open in Seoul Tuesday.

Explaining that the talks will serve as a main channel to discuss inter-Korean relations, the official added, "We also plan to stress the necessity of implementing the 1992 South-North Basic Agreement."

That landmark accord, which was to take effect in 1993, has never been implemented due to the continuing tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

Unlike the Clinton administration, which came close last year to sealing an agreement with the North to curb Pyongyang's missile development and exports, Mr. Bush let it be known that he is skeptical of the North Korean leader and that he has no plans to immediately resume contacts with North Korea.

Worried that the U.S. stance could serve as an obstacle in inter-Korean relations, the South Korean government hopes that Kim Jong-il will make the planned return visit in May or June. As part of their efforts to work toward reconciliation, Seoul and Pyongyang have agreed that Mr. Kim would visit Seoul "at an appropriate time."

Some South Korean government officials, however, privately expressed concern that the North's response to the proposal for an early inter-Korean summit is likely to be discontent with the Bush administration's expressed "skepticism" about its leader and insistence on "verification." The South Korean government, therefore, is expected to explain to the North that the most appropriate way to respond to the Bush administration's hard-line policy is to further "improve inter-Korean relations."

"To this end, we will also call for a prompt reopening of the inter-Korean defense ministers' talks that were never resumed after the first one last September," another official said.

by Lee Young-jong