Experts Laud Sunshine, But Summit Is Iffy

There was support in Cheju over the weekend for President Kim's sunshine policy toward the north, but many participants seemed to treat the possibility of a second inter-Korean summit as a theoretical issue. President Kim Dae-jung made another appeal for a second inter-Korean summit.

Many of the participants at the Cheju Peace Forum, held Saturday and Sunday to mark the first anniversary of last year's Pyongyang summit, criticized the U.S. administration's rhetoric about the North as counterproductive.

William Perry, a former U.S. defense secretary, emphasized that the nuclear crisis in 1994 was resolved through diplomatic agreement, not war, and that dialogue also nearly solved the missile crisis in 2000. He predicted that dialogue would ultimately win out in Washington's debate on North Korean policy.

Donald Gregg, a former U.S. ambassador to Korea, cautioned against demands for strict reciprocity and too much pressure on the North. He called for confidence-building measures and then new initiatives. Terusuke Terada, the Japanese ambassador in Seoul, also said normalization of relations with the North would come through dialogue, not by isolating the Pyongyang regime.

Evans Revere, acting U.S. ambassador in Seoul, repeated that the United States firmly supports the Kim Dae-jung administration's North Korean policies and said there would be no preconditions to resuming dialogue with the North.

President Kim said in his keynote address, "Chairman Kim Jong-il's return visit must be realized for peace and cooperation to take root on the Korean Peninsula," but most participants simply noted that they hoped or expected the visit to take place this year. "The doors for the summit talks are still open, and there have been recent movements toward a resumption of dialogue," said Mr. Terada.

by Ahn Sung-kyoo