ROK and Inter-Korean relations
August 2007
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S.Korean Networks to Pay Millions for N.Korean Footage
Three South Korean terrestrial TV stations agreed in July to pay tens of millions to North Korea annually for footage from North Korea's state-run Korean Central Broadcasting Station. An SBS executive said South Korean TV stations have used TV pictures aired by KCBS for free, but in July, the Korean Foundation for South-North Economic and Cultural Cooperation, as a proxy of the North Korean TV station, concluded negotiations with three TV stations whereby SBS will pay about W20 million every year to KCBS through the foundation. MBC will pay slightly more than that, and KBS will pay about W30 million.
The foundation, chaired by United New Democratic Party member Im Jong-seok, was established in 2004. It held talks with the three terrestrial networks for a year and a half. In the talks, the three argued it was unreasonable for South Korean TV stations to pay for North Korean footage in programs that aim at promoting mutual understanding, and they generally rejected the idea of unilaterally paying North Korea when the North does not pay South Korean broadcasters for footage. [KR_summit07]
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Sea Border Hot Issue at Koreas Summit
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: August 29, 2007
Filed at 3:38 a.m. ET
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- Half a dozen South Korean sailors died in a gunbattle with North Korea five years ago defending what Seoul's top minister on relations with Pyongyang now suggests could be changed: the sea border between the Koreas.
Unification Minister Lee Jae-joung's suggestion earlier this month left the country badly divided ahead of a rare summit with the North -- stoking conservatives' anger that is already simmering over allegations that simply holding the meeting itself is yet another capitulation to North Korean leader Kim Jong Il by the liberal government.
At issue is how to view the disputed western sea border and how to react if Kim raises it at his October talks with President Roh Moo-hyun in Pyongyang, as many analysts predict.
[NLL]
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The Inter-Korean Summit: One Good Turn Deserves Another
By Leon V. Sigal
August 28th, 2007
Leon V. Sigal, Director of the Northeast Asia Cooperative Security Project in New York and author of Disarming Strangers: Nuclear Diplomacy with North Korea, writes that "for South Koreans to make the most of this second summit meeting, they must begin by appreciating its real significance as an opportunity to advance reconciliation with North Korea, which is the only way to end its nuclear ambitions and bring about much-needed change in the North.
[KR_Summit07]
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NLL 'not Up for Discussion at Inter-Korean Summit'
The government has decided to leave discussion of the Northern Limit Line, the de facto maritime border with North Korea in the West Sea, off the agenda when President Roh Moo-hyun meets North Korean leader Kim Jong-il in October. If North Korea, which wants the NLL redrawn, raises the issue as expected, the government will propose that the two sides' defense ministers discuss it as part of talks on easing tensions in other border areas like the Demilitarized Zone.
[NLL] [Role of ROK military]
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For Now, the Northern Limit Line Is Non-Negotiable
A second inter-Korean summit meeting has been announced, seven years after the first, but there are more concerns than hopes for the meeting. Because the date was determined before the agenda, views vary on what Roh Moo-hyun and Kim Jong-il will discuss in Pyongyang late this month. Concerns are that the South could end up helping the North's South-Korea strategy by striking some abrupt deals.
[NLL]
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[Column] Recasting the Northern Limit Line
Seo Ju-seok,
Research Committee Member, Korea Institute for Defense Analysis
Former presidential security adviser
There is growing controversy about the Unification Minister's recent comments about and the character of the Northern Limit Line. The minister said it is a "security concept" and not a "territorial one," and he is being dealt a scolding by members of the National Assembly and the media for both allegedly expressing his readiness to give up the NLL at the upcoming inter-Korean summit and his willingness to talk about redrawing the maritime line of demarcation.
[NLL]
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[Column]Lee Myung-bak's North Korean policy initiatives
Nam Seong-uk
Professor of Korea University and concurrently Economic Adviser to Lee Myung-bak
The North Korean policies of Lee Myung-bak, the main opposition Grand National Party's presidential nominee, date back to the Korean War and have since been influenced by events either directly or indirectly related to his involvement in North Korean affairs.
During the war, Lee lost both his sister and brother. In 1987, while he was serving as the president of Hyundai Engineering and Construction, approximately 60 employees were killed in the bombing of KAL Flight 858, which was carried out by North Korean agents Kim Sung Il and Kim Hyun-hee. Since then, Lee has made the reunification of the Korean peninsula the biggest task in his life. After Lee met Mikhail Gorbachev in Moscow, with former Hyundai chairman, the late Chung Ju-young, to develop Siberia in 1992, he began to envision a set of policies for the North.[ Lee Myung-bak]
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New Liberal Party Starts Nomination Race
Nine contenders of the liberal United New Democratic Party (UNDP) raise joined hands before a party debate held in Seoul, Monday. From left are Sohn Hak-kyu, former Gyeonggi governor; Rep. Rhyu Si-min; Kim Dookwan, former minister of government administration and home affairs; Rep. Chun Jung-bae; Rep. Han Myeong-sook; Rep. Shin Ki-nam; Chung Dong-young, former unification minister; Choo Mi-ae, former lawmaker; and Rep. Lee Hae-chan. / Yonhap
By Kang Hyun-kyung
Staff Reporter
The nomination race of the liberal party started Monday with all nine candidates promoting themselves as the right choice to beat Lee Myung-bak, the presidential candidate of the opposition Grand National Party (GNP).
Out of the nine United New Democratic Party (UNDP) members, four will be eliminated early next month, to make the race more efficient and appealing to voters.
The common denominator of all the candidates is that they are strong advocates of engaging North Korea.
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Peace Dam Still Waits for the Flood That Never Came
Hwacheon Journal
By CHOE SANG-HUN
Published: August 28, 2007
HWACHEON, South Korea - In 1986, as South Korea was busy preparing for its largest ever international event, the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, North Korean soldiers broke ground on a gigantic dam just above the Demilitarized Zone.
As South Koreans wondered what their unpredictable Communist neighbors were up to, the military dictator of South Korea, Chun Doo-hwan, offered his own terrifying possibility: a killer flood.
In response to the so-called water-bomb scare, South Korean television networks broadcast artists' conceptions of monstrous walls of water unleashed from the North Korean dam, wiping out most of Seoul, 120 miles downstream, with the impact of a nuclear explosion during the Olympics.
So South Korea built a dam of its own. Even schoolchildren joined the fund-raising campaign to construct a protective bulwark against the threat.
Today, the "Peace Dam" - begun in 1987, abandoned halfway through as a misguided cold war scheme, then revived and completed in 2005 - stands here, a 410-foot-high, 1,970-foot-wide rock and concrete hulk.
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What are Lee Myung-bak's true colors?
Kim Jong-cheol, Editorial Writer, The Hankyoreh
After Lee Myung-bak won the Grand National Party's presidential primary, I went back and read two books he has written, Sinhwaneun Eopda ("There is No Glorious Myth," 1995) and Jeolmang irajiman Naneun Huimangi Boinda ("They Say Its Desperation But I See Hope," 2002), and read them carefully. The first thing he said when the GNP chose him as its candidate was that he was going to "change the party's 'color' and the way it functions," so I was curious about what kind of color he could possibly be talking about. If figured I could get closer to what is in his head in the books he has written.
He appears to be considerably "open" about his initial thinking on North Korea. "Economic cooperation with North Korea is not about helping it unilaterally," he writes in Glorious Myth. "It is economic cooperation, not aid. It is about North and South developing together." Here you are made to feel you are looking at the roots of the sunshine policy.
In Desperation, he suggests building a joint performance venue for young people in the DMZ. "What better vision could there be for Korean reconciliation than for the generations that were not hurt by war to be able to share in a culture that allows them to feel true love for the Korean people?" He also proposes building a thermal power plant within the DMZ and having North and South share the power it produces. Even just calling for this is original and a profoundly new direction.
Since the start of his campaign, however, Lee has been diametrically different. Gone is the rational thinking about labor and business. All you see is an attitude of pro-big business or "growth first" and a focus on development as the first priority. About business, he makes all sorts of sweet promises, including one that says he will lower their taxes and relax regulations. At the same time he says he is going to "get rid of political unions, hard-line unions and illegal strikes."(from a campaign speech given in Ulsan on July 31)
He calls the sunshine policy a complete failure because of Pyongyang's test of a nuclear device. When it comes to the upcoming inter-Korean summit, he says, "negotiating, when the North has a nuclear program, recognizes that nuclear program." He says he is "worried that president Roh Moo-hyun might not define a clear agenda and come back from Pyongyang having agreed to all sorts of things." This is out of step with his own pragmatism.
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DJ Urges Roh to Come Clean on 2003 Probe
By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
Former President Kim Dae-jung urged President Roh Moo-hyun to apologize for having approved a probe into allegations his 2000 inter-Korean summit was bought, lawmakers from the pro-governing camp said Thursday.
Kim also called on Roh to apologize for his desertion from the now-defunct Millennium Democratic Party (MDP) in 2003 after winning the 2002 presidential election on the party's ticket.
Roh and his followers bolted from then ruling MDP in 2003 and established the Uri Party, which has been ``transformed'' into a new political party, the United New Democratic Party (UNDP).
The former president's rare criticism of the incumbent head of state came as the pro-governing camp are struggling to join forces and field a presidential nominee to compete with opposition candidate Lee Myung-bak of the main opposition Grand National Party in the Dec. 19 election.
Political analysts say Kim's latest remarks are construed as an expression of his long-sustained discontent over Roh's defection and the summit scandal. But Kim, in fact, aims to help facilitate the regrouping of the split pro-governing camp by calling on Roh and his supporters to first extend an olive branch to antagonists in the governing camp for unity, they said.
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South Korea's expatriate population tops 1 million
South Korea's expatriate population, including foreigners staying here illegally and for short-term periods, reached 1,000,254 as of Friday, breaking the 1 million mark for the first time, the Justice Ministry said.
The over-1 million expatriate population, which accounts for about 2 percent of South Korea's population of 49.13 million, represents the nation's rapid transformation into a multiracial and multicultural society, ministry officials said.
Compared with a decade ago, today's over-1 million expatriates is a rise of 158 percent.
But the number of illegal foreigners is estimated to have reached 220,000, raising the acute need for comprehensive government countermeasures, they said.
By nationality, Chinese people accounted for 44 percent, or 441,334, of the total, followed by Americans (117,938, or 12 percent), Vietnamese (64,464, or 6 percent), Filipinos (50,264, or 5 percent) and Thais (42,792, or 4 percent), according to ministry figures.
The five most populous communities accounted for 70 percent of the total expatriate population.
Expatriates with long-term stay permits numbered 724,967, including 404,051 industrial trainees, 104,749 marriage-based immigrants and 47,479 students. SEOUL, Aug. 24 (Yonhap News) [China SK]
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Anger up over sea line dispute
August 24, 2007 The Defense Ministry wants the Unification Ministry to stop discussing the sea border in the Yellow Sea that has stood between the two Koreas for over half a century.
"In light of the upcoming inter-Korean summit, it is not desirable that the Defense Ministry and Unification Ministry should show signs of friction," said Kim Hyung-gi, the Defense Ministry's spokesman, yesterday. "The debate [on the sea border] should stop."
There has been tension between the two ministries ever since Unification Minister Lee Jae-joung's recent comment that the Northern Limit Line, the border drawn at the end of the Korean War to separate the two countries in the Yellow Sea, is not considered "territory."
[NLL] [Role ROK military]
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Why not Postpone Summit Further?
At a meeting with Cardinal Stephen Kim Sou-hwan on Tuesday, Grand National Party presidential candidate Lee Myung-bak said he was concerned that President Roh Moo-hyun might seal a raft of agreements with North Korea during the October summit which the next president will end up being stuck with. Lee was voicing his concerns over comments Roh made in June that if he and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il sign and seal an agreement, then the next president can't do anything about it. The GNP also demanded that since the summit has been postponed already, the Roh administration should pass
[KR_summit07] [GNP]
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Why Lee Myung-bak might be opposed to the summit
Upcoming presidential election looms large for GNP's recently elected nominee
Lee Myung-bak, the recently-elected presidential candidate of the main opposition Grand National Party (GNP), has continued to criticize the planned second inter-Korean summit. Lee's initial stance on the matter was different from that of his party, and he was quoted as saying, "As the South and North have decided to hold the summit, it should be carried out properly." Lee has since taken a seemingly prudent attitude, even after the announcement that the summit was postponed to early October.
Rep. Park Hyung-jun, Lee's spokesman, said, "Lee still hopes to see the successful opening of the second summit. However, he has expressed concern in connection with its postponement."
Park does not, however, want Lee's remarks to be interpreted to mean that Lee opposes the summit, as Lee has apparently made such remarks in the past to warn and pressure President Roh.
"It makes a big difference that the summit will be held in October, after Lee was selected as the presidential candidate, instead of holding the summit during the party's primary race," said Professor Nam Seong-uk at Korea University. "As the summit looks like it will be put off for political reasons outside of the North's flood disaster, it is natural that he is worried about the matter," added Nam. [KR_summit07]
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Opposition presidential candidate stresses continued aid to N. Korea
Lee Myung-bak, the new presidential candidate for South Korea's opposition Grand National Party (GNP), said Wednesday his country should continue to provide humanitarian aid to North Korea but stressed caution in economic cooperation.
South Korea has been providing North Korea with food aid since the mid-1990s and began operating a joint industrial complex in the North Korean border city of Kaesong following a first-ever inter-Korean summit in 2000. Seoul is set to deliver 50,000 tons of rice this week to its impoverished neighbor by land as part of its promised support [Aid weapon]
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Families of eight wrongfully executed political prisoners awarded compensation
Court ruling grants 63.7 billion won to families, the largest amount ever paid in case involving political dissidents
A court ruled that the government pay compensation in the amount of 63.7 billion won (US$67.4 million) to 46 members of the families of eight men who were once accused of being members of the Inhyeok-dang (People's Revolutionary Party, or the PRP). The men, who were found innocent at a retrial held in January, were executed in 1975 for what the government cited as anti-governmental activities and cooperation with North Korea.
The eight men were arrested on charges of treason and violating the National Security Law in 1974, when anti-government student protests spread across the nation. Student activists and opposition leaders demanded an end to the military dictatorship and the repeal of the Yushin Constitution, in force from 1972-1979, which had been revised to allow then-President Park Chung-hee, the father of current opposition leader Park Geun-hye, to stay in power indefinitely.
[Human rights]
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Personal Message of Sympathy to Leader Kim Jong Il from President Roh Moo Hyun
Pyongyang, August 21 (KCNA) -- General Secretary Kim Jong Il received a personal message of sympathy from President of south Korea Roh Moo Hyun on August 20 in connection with the flood which hit areas of the north side.
The personal message expressed deep sympathy with the fact that unprecedented torrential rain hit areas of the north side, claiming human and material losses, and hoped that they would recover from the flood damage as early as possible.
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Lee Links NK Aid to Denuclearization
By Kang Hyun-kyung
Staff Reporter
Former Seoul Mayor Lee Myung-bak won the presidential candidacy of the conservative Grand National Party (GNP) Monday mostly through his focused marketing of his image as an expert on bread-and-butter issues. [Aid weapon]
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Former Seoul Mayor Is Picked as Presidential Candidate
By NORIMITSU ONISHI
Published: August 21, 2007
SEOUL, South Korea, Aug. 20 South Koreas main opposition party chose a former mayor of Seoul, Lee Myung-bak, as its presidential candidate on Monday, making him the clear front-runner to succeed President Roh Moo-hyun in the election scheduled for Dec. 19.
Polls show that Mr. Lees party, the conservative Grand National Party, enjoys a huge lead over candidates allied with the deeply unpopular Mr. Roh, who is limited by the Constitution to a single five-year term. Mr. Rohs approval ratings have plummeted because of voter anger over his handling of the economy and other bread-and-butter issues like soaring real estate prices.
After an often bitter primary campaign filled with personal attacks, Mr. Lee narrowly beat Park Geun-hye, the daughter of one of the countrys former military ruler, Park Chung-hee, in the vote by party delegates and randomly chosen voters on Monday.
Instead of talking about peace on the peninsula, as the more left-leaning Mr. Roh often does, Mr. Lee emphasized that the North would have to abandon its nuclear program and open up to the world.
After North Korea gives up its nuclear weapons, we can work with North Korea to develop economically the way China has, Mr. Lee said. In doing this, we will cooperate with the international community.
Kim Sung-han, a senior analyst at the government-financed Institute for Foreign Affairs and National Security here, said Mr. Lee would adopt a businesslike approach to the North.
After these conditions are met, hes ready to teach them how to make money how to start a market economy, he said
[SK NK policy] [GNP]
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Seoul's Impetuous Summit Initiative
by Bruce Klingner
Heritage Foundation
August 8, 2007
WebMemo #1584
Seoul's agreement to hold an inter-Korean summit is premature because North Korea has made insufficient progress in its denuclearization to justify any reward. South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun's attempt to secure his legacy and influence coming presidential elections risks undermining multinational efforts to denuclearize North Korea and could strain Seoul's relationship with Washington, in the long term undermining the U.S.-South Korean military deterrent to the North's lingering threat. A North-South summit could boost South Korean public approval for unilateral aid to Pyongyang, weaken support for the conservative opposition party in December's presidential election in South Korea, and reduce domestic support for the presence of U.S. troops. The Bush Administration should counsel Seoul that unilateral, uncoordinated diplomacy benefits Pyongyang and increases suspicion of Roh's motives
[KR_Summit07] [Friction]
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Lee Myung-bak Wins GNP Presidential Nomination
Lee Myung-bak, former Seoul mayor and one-time Hyundai CEO, celebrates in Seoul after the main opposition Grand National Party (GNP) on Monday officially named him as its presidential candidate./ REUTERS
Lee Myung-bak narrowly defeated rival Park Geun-hye on Monday to win the Grand National Party's nomination for the 2007 presidential race. But the fact that Lee defeated Park by a mere 2,452 votes or 1.5 percentage points may serve as an obstacle in uniting the two bitterly divided rival camps within the GNP, who have been at each other's throats for the best part of a year.
Lee secured the nomination by winning 81,084 votes or 49.56 percent of a total 163,617 votes. They consisted of 130,893 direct ballots gathered from the party's electoral college and 32,724 surveyed in an opinion poll. Park won 78,632 votes.
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Who is Lee Myung-bak?
A profile of the man of myth and his bid to lead the nation
A boy from a poor family in the southern part of South Korea is gearing up for the start of a new "myth" after winning the presidential nomination of the nation's most influential political party.
Lee Myung-bak, who grew up in the South Korean southern city of Pohang, is known as a "man of myth" due to his rise from poverty to become the top executive of Hyundai Engineering and Construction Co., which was at center of South Korea's economic transformation. During his tenure as a Seoul mayor between 2002 and 2006, Lee also created what many call the "myth of the Cheonggyecheon," a project that transformed a main elevated highway in Seoul into a public park.
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Five priorities for the upcoming inter-Korean summit
Column]
Kim Seong-bae, Senior Researcher, Institute for National Security Strategy
The inter-Korean summit scheduled for August 28 has been postponed 35 days, to October 2. It is being postponed because of the storm damage North Korea has suffered and there is all sorts of conjecture and there are many conspiracy theories, but they do not seem very convincing. North Korea has no reason to expose its own weaknesses and lose face.
There is a lot of analysis as to whether the postponement is a good thing or not, but in the end it is still unfortunate. The situation is not one in which one can be a hundred percent optimistic about productive six-party talks in early September, and one would have hoped that coming away from the summit with a firm commitment on denuclearization by North Korea's National Defence Commission chairman Kim Jong-il would have provided the talks with considerable momentum.
[In denial] [KR_Summit07]
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GNP Neglected Over S-N Summit
By Kim Yon-se
Staff Reporter
Cheong Wa Dae Monday rejected the demand by the Grand National Party (GNP) that an inter-Korean summit be held after the Dec. 19 presidential election or hand over the summit to the next administration. [KR_Summit07]
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Delayed Exercises Causes Dilemma for Military
Updated Aug.20,2007 07:32 KST
"We're in a dilemma because we can't carry out the military exercises that we have already postponed once..." Military officers seem to be embarrassed as the second inter-Korean summit originally scheduled for late August has been suddenly delayed until October. Joint military exercises with the U.S. known as Ulchi Focus Lens (UFL), and the Hwarang Exercise, a field exercise for the South Korean army, were originally scheduled to begin Monday. The exercises were then downscaled and rescheduled to create a proper atmosphere for the summit. But with the sudden announcement that the summit has been postponed, the military is at a loss as to what to do next.
The Hwarang Exercise is a large-scale drill aimed at preparing for an invasion of North Korean special forces into rear areas of South Korea. It requires careful preparation because it involves tens of thousands of active duty and reserve troops. Call-up papers have already been delivered to the reserves. The Korea Special Warfare Command and front-line units have been preparing for the exercise for several months. On Aug. 13, just a week before they were set to begin, military authorities said the exercises would be rescheduled in light of the recently announced summit. Then, less than a week later, it was announced that the summit would be delayed. [Joint US military] [Role of ROK military] [KR_summit07]
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Lee Myung-bak wins GNP nomination
Land speculation scandals aside, Lee is the clear winner in the primary by slight margin
Though surrounded by doubt and speculation about possible financial misdeeds, Lee Myung-bak was nominated as the main opposition Grand National Party's presidential candidate at the party's convention, held at the Olympic Gymnastics Stadium on August 20. The two main opposition candidates, Lee and his rival Park Geun-hye, fought in non-stop battle to the finish as the polls closed yesterday evening, with each launching accusations in a bid to discredit the other.
According to party sources, Lee defeated his archrival Park Geun-hye by a mere 1 percent margin. The voting, which was supervised by National Election Commission, took place on August 19 at 238 polling stations across the nation.
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Plan for a substantial, successful summit
[Editorial]
The inter-Korean summit that had only recently been set for the end of this month has been postponed until October at the request of North Korea, citing the urgent need to work on flood recovery. The damage from the storms that began on August 7 is said to be more serious than initially reported. A considerable amount of the North's farmland as well as transport, energy and communications infrastructure are under water and hundreds of thousands of people have been affected. They say Pyongyang had been partly flooded, too, and was in no condition to welcome guests. One agency estimates that the North lost 450,000 tons worth of grain. That presents a situation more than a little serious considering that the North was already expected to be 500,000 tons short of food without it. In other words, the whole of the Northern society is facing a difficult disaster. [KR_summit07]
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Intrigue rises on summit delay
August 20, 2007 Following the announcement over the weekend that the inter-Korean summit has been postponed until Oct. 2 to 4, the debate started over the impact of the new timing.
Despite the Blue House's explanation yesterday that Pyongyang was "forced to put off" President Roh Moo-hyun's visit because North Korea has the "urgent task of recovering from heavy flood damage," experts pointed to the fact that a number of major political events are on the horizon that may affect the summit.
For the South, postponing the summit is not a great loss. With the presidential election in December and the liberal bloc primary scheduled for early October, the Roh administration will have its hands full. A summit nearer to the poll date may also give the liberals a boost.
The political opposition said they were suspicious about the move to delay the summit.
"North Korea asked to delay the summit under the pretext of flood damage," said Na Kyung-won, the Grand National Party spokeswoman. "But its real intentions are dubious. It seems that the postponement could be a political gambit designed to tip the presidential election in favor of the Roh-friendly camp." [KR_summit07]
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Report on Postponement of Pyongyang Visit by President Roh Moo Hyun
Pyongyang, August 18 (KCNA) -- The north side sent a telephone message Saturday to the south side in connection with the postponement of the Pyongyang visit by President Roh Moo Hyun slated to take place late in August due to the flood which hit areas of the north side recently, causing huge damage.
In the message the north side referred to the fact that torrential rain hit most of its areas every day, causing great damage, and this made it top priority to recover from the flood damage and make the living of the people in the afflicted areas return to normal and, accordingly, proposed to the south side that President Roh Moo Hyun's Pyongyang visit take place early in October by unavoidably postponing it at least one month in connection with the above said flood that struck those areas all of a sudden.
The south side expressed profound sympathy with the flood damage that struck areas of the north side and expressed understanding of the above-said proposal and consented to it.
Roh Moo Hyun will visit Pyongyang from Oct. 2 to 4, 2007 under the agreement reached between both sides. [KR_summit07]
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GNP Demands Summit Be Held After Election
This picture released from Korean Central News Agency shows North Korea's ministry officials removing mud covering a road by the Daedong River in Pyongyang, Saturday, after torrential rains fell on the region. Almost 300 people are dead or missing in the floods while some 300,000 people are homeless and 11 percent of the grain harvest, equivalent to 450,000 tons, was lost. / AFP-Yonhap
By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
The main opposition Grand National Party (GNP) demanded Sunday that a second inter-Korean summit be delayed until after December's presidential election to minimize the summit's political impact on the Dec. 19 poll.
The demand came a day after the Aug. 28-30 summit was postponed to Oct. 2-4 because of severe flooding believed to have left 300,000 people homeless in North Korea. [KR_summit07]
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President Roh prefers more face-to-face meetings with Kim Jong-il in summit
Inter-Korean economic development projects will also be at forefront of agenda
With the inter-Korean summit less than two weeks away, South and North Korea are busy making the schedule, which will include a generous amount of time for face-to-face dialogues between the two leaders, a South Korean senior government official said. The agenda for the second summit in history will focus on building inter-Korean economic cooperation, aimed at the eventual development of an inter-Korean economic community.
South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il will meet from August 28-30 in Pyongyang, the first such meeting since the first historic summit which took place in 2000.
"Our position is that it's desirable for the two leaders to have more meetings to discuss all of the items on the agenda. So, we are arranging the schedule so that the two leaders can spend more time during the summit," the official said on August 17.
The official indicated that the two leaders may spend more time in face-to-face dialogues, compared to the first summit in 2000. At the time of that meeting, then-South Korean President Kim Dae-jung and North Korea's Kim spent a total of 11 hours in face-to-face meetings, which took place in vehicles, at the summit itself and via lunches and dinners. [KR_summit07]
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Inter-Korea summit postponed to Oct. 2-4
North asked the reschedule due to severe flood damage
North Korea on Saturday asked South Korea to postpone the inter-Korean summit slated for Aug. 28-30 in Pyongyang until early October, citing severe flood damage sustained by the North, presidential spokesman Cheon Ho-seon said.
In response, South Korea accepted the North's request and proposed holding the summit on Oct. 2-4 in the North Korean capital, Cheon said.
In a prompt reply, the North announced its agreement to the South's proposal, he said.
"North Korea sent a telephone message to the chief of the National Intelligence Service, Kim Man-bok, this morning, saying that it is forced to put off President Roh Moo-hyun's visit to Pyongyang from late August until early October, due to its urgent task to recover from heavy flood damage," said Cheon in a media briefing.
"Instead, the North left the decision on the specific date for the rescheduled summit up to the South. The presidential office Cheong Wa Dae held an emergency meeting Saturday afternoon and proposed rescheduling the summit to Oct. 2-4," Cheon said. [KR_summit07]
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Koreas Postpone Summit Due to Floods in NK
By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
South and North Korea have agreed to reschedule the second inter-Korean summit to Oct. 2-4, Cheong Wa Dae said Saturday. The leaders of the two Koreas were scheduled to hold summit talks from Aug. 28-30.
Pyongyang asked Seoul to postpone the summit until early October, citing severe flood damage, and the Seoul government accepted the request, presidential spokesman Cheon Ho-seon said. Cheong Wa Dae proposed the summit be held Oct. 2-4 and the North accepted the offer, he said.
North Korea is appealing for international aid after at least 200,000 people were displaced and vast swaths of farmland were submerged by the worst flooding since the 1970s. [KR_summit07]
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All Bets for the Presidential Election Are Off
by Kang Chun-suk
Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye are dueling in a danger zone. Any expression of slight displeasure is immediately followed by abuse. And this hasn't just started because the day of judgment is only three days away: they have been doing it from the beginning. People are so fed up with their mudslinging that they hate to even look at them. The comments posted on websites by their devoted supporters put their camps on the level of the notorious Roh Moo-hyun support group Nosamo, or worse. The Grand National Party inwardly felt the lack of fanatic supporters like Nosamo and secretly envied them. The major opposition party has finally fulfilled its wish by forming a "Leesamo" and "Parksamo", both groups as frenzied as each other.
The Roh government has dragged the country down where it is now, to the level of Nosamo activists. The specter of Nosamo driving these groups is invidious. Many are appalled, especially among the undecided voters who are temperamentally sympathetic to the GNP. The opposition party cannot dream of winning the presidential election unless it wins the hearts or these people. But they will have second thoughts as they watch the mudslinging between the two hopefuls.
In these circumstances, the GNP primary clearly shows that the Lee Myung-bak scandal must be cleared up completely. Park Geun-hye will find it difficult to expand her approval ratings beyond her fixed support base. Throughout the primary, Lee has been afflicted by allegations , and Park has been troubled by stagnating approval ratings. The GNP must nevertheless nominate one of them as its presidential candidate on Sunday. The broad ruling camp is busy working out strategies behind the scenes to whip up nationalist support though an inter-Korean summit and the dramatic selection of a single presidential candidate. And so the fateful day of Dec. 19 approaches.
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The Second Summit's High Expectations
by Victor Cha
I was attending a conference of academic and policy experts on Asia when suddenly my blackberry started to buzz with a combination of email, text, and phone messages. As I excused myself from the meeting to retrieve these missives, my suspicion was that something had happened related to the DPRK. When I returned to the meeting to convey the news, the group of well-seasoned Asia experts responded with a mixture of laughter and cynicism. One asked, "Do two lame ducks make one summit?" There is no denying a meeting of the two Korean leaders is an event that garners world attention and captures the imagination of Koreans everywhere. The image of the two leaders embracing against the backdrop of cheering throngs, and spouting words of peace and unity cause all Koreans to stand tall. But here is the problem: This was enough for the world when the first summit happened. A picture and a few words about peace are definitely not enough the second time around. [KR_summit07]
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Unification Minister in West Sea Battle Gaffe
Unification Minister Lee Jae-joung on Thursday provoked an outcry by saying the West Sea Battle of 2002 "should prompt South Korea to reflect how it can ensure national security." Twenty-four South Korean soldiers were killed or injured in the battle, which took place when North Korean soldiers crossed the Northern Limit Line, the de-facto maritime border between the two Koreas, and launched an attack on June 29, 2002 coinciding with the semifinals of the 2002 World Cup.
Lee told the parliamentary standing committee on unification the "characteristics and historical background" of the sea border are important, but so are "the purposes South Korea aims to achieve through the establishment of the maritime border." The minister made the remarks in response to Grand National Party Rep. Shim Jae-yup, who had asked why South Korean soldiers risked their lives to protect the sea border if it was "not a territorial concept," as Lee had asserted on Aug. 10. There has been intense speculation that South Korea will discuss redrawing the NLL at the upcoming inter-Korean summit.
[NLL]
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Sea border comments draw fire from brass
August 17, 2007
With an inter-Korean summit less than two weeks away, Unification Minister Lee Jae-joung is stirring controversy in military circles with remarks some interpret as calling for a rethinking of the Northern Limit Line that currently serves as a maritime border between the two Koreas in the Yellow Sea.
Yesterday Lee told a special National Assembly committee on reunification that South Korea should "reconsider" a deadly sea battle with North Korea in 2002 that involved the defense of the line.
"Regarding the Yellow Sea battle, we need to reconsider the way it was conducted," Lee said, prompting worries from some military officers.
"The Northern Limit Line is the same as the military demarcation line," said a senior officer, who declined to be named. "We have to protect it."
By raising the question at this time, the officer said, Lee might weaken the resolve of the military to defend the country's sea border. [NLL] [Role of ROK military]
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'Koreas Can Set Peace Zone'
By Kim Sue-young
Staff Reporter
Rep. Lee Hwa-young of the pro-government Uri Party has refuted suspicions regarding political maneuvering over the inter-Korean summit slated for Aug. 28-30 in Pyongyang.
Politicians here, especially from the main opposition Grand National Party (GNP), have remained suspicious as to the timing of the summit talks because the decision was made out of the blue, just four months before the Dec. 19 presidential election. [KR_summit07]
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Inter-Korean Summit Agenda Up in the Air
Will nationalists or internationalists win out?
[Analysis]
Lee Byong-chul (merrycow) Published 2007-08-15 07:59 (KST)
"The North Korean leader Kim Jong-il finally grasped the truthfulness regarding large-scale economic assistance toward North Korea, which has been often expressed by his counterpart Roh Moo-hyun," said a North Korea expert (on the condition he not be identified), about the summit meeting to be held in Pyongyang on August 28-30.
Yet another analyst pointed out: "President Roh wanted to leave a legacy and to be remembered that he left something," adding, "Ultimately, the summit triumphs all else."
Speculation on the talks occurring within the Roh government regarding policy toward North Korea has been widely voiced. On one side are the internationalists who prefer solid Republic of Korea-U.S. alliances as the most ideal and effective solution. The camp is led by Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Song Min-soon and generally includes Chun Young-woo, a chief negotiator for the six-party talks, Im Seong-nam, a deputy negotiator for the talks, as well as the editors of leading conservative newspaper Joong-ang Ilbo, Kim Dae-jung and Kim Young-hee, the paper's editorial board, and some key figures at the Department of Defense.
On the other side are the nationalists led by Unification Minister Lee Jae-joung. They are certain that denuclearization of the Korean peninsula is best achieved through continued discussion rather than futile engagement. Members of this group prefer inter-Korean discussions to U.S. engagement in Korean affairs. Thus, they argue that talks with North Korea should always proceed one step -- or at least-a-half step -- earlier than Democratic People's Republic of Korea-U.S. talks. Individuals in this camp include most of the staff at the Unification Ministry and many leaders in the liberal media and academic circles. [KR_summit07]
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Roh Plays Down Expectations for Inter-Korean Summit
President Roh Moo-hyun said he does not plan to be "overly ambitious" in the inter-Korean summit at the end of this month. "I would rather not try to set a new historic turning point with this meeting," the president said in his speech for the 62nd anniversary of Korea's liberation from Japanese colonial rule. "But I will do my best so the smooth current of history can turn into a reality. What I think is important above anything else is to promote understanding and build trust between the two sides." He cited the July 4 Joint Declaration in 1972, the Basic Inter-Korean Agreement in 1992, the Joint Denuclearization Declaration, and the June 15 Joint Declaration in 2000. "What is really important is to comply with the agreements that have been reached already rather than making a new declaration," he said. [KR_summit07]
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The Snoops and Kim Dae-jung's Illegitimate Daughter
The National Intelligence Service in 2000 regarded then president Kim Dae-jung's illegitimate daughter as a top priority and concentrated eavesdropping on those involved, it emerged Wednesday. After the first inter-Korean summit on June 15, 2000, Ji Man-won, a military critic and president of the System Future Party, who opposed Kim's Sunshine Policy, also became subject to wiretaps because the president disliked him. The facts emerged from the records of a 2005 prosecution investigation of the NIS's illegal wiretapping activities exclusively obtained by the Chosun Ilbo
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Hopes for the summit, and for President Roh
[Column]
Fr. Moon Kyu-hyun, Executive Chairperson, Solidarity for Peace and Reunification of Korea
The second inter-Korean summit is about to begin. Having participated in the Pyongyang World Festival of Youth and Students and then crossed from the North to the South at Panmunjeom together with Im Su-kyong on August 15, 1989, the summit is all the more moving for me. It had been the first time civilians had passed through Panmunjeom since Korea was divided into North and South, so it turned South Korean society inside out at the time. I had to spend three years and six months in prison for violating the National Security Law.
At long last I got to watch with great emotion the first inter-Korean summit in June 2000 and the announcement of the June 15 Declaration. Now there is a second summit. For me, the ways in which I suffered personally are now an honor and a blessing. How many people have put themselves on the line for the way of peaceful reunification, to reconnect North and South since the division of Kore? It is like the Bridge of Magpies, the bridge made through the self-sacrifice of those many magpies and ravens so that Altair and Vega could meet.
The government seems to think that the building of mutual confidence through economic cooperation is what will be important about the summit. However, that is something that, provided it has the will, could be done by the relevant ministries. Having not come easily, the summit should be an epoch-making event becoming of its name and stature. This summit's significance is that it carries on and strengthens the July 4, 1972, Joint Statement, the Basic Agreement, and the June 15 Declaration (the last of which emerged from the first summit, in 2000). [KR_summit07]
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Inter-Korean Contacts Made for Implementation of North-South Agreement
Kaesong, August 14 (KCNA) -- A preliminary contact and inter-sector working contacts were made in Kaesong Tuesday to discuss working procedural matters for the implementation of the north-south agreement.
At the preliminary contact both sides agreed on the issues concerning the size and formation of a delegation to participate in an event to be held in Pyongyang, procedures concerning its travel and itinerary with a view to successfully implementing the agreement.
Both sides also had inter-sector working contacts including those in the fields of protocol, communications and news coverage, etc. and had an exhaustive exchange of views on the matters brought up for discussion.
At the inter-sector working contacts both sides agreed to continue discussing working procedural matters.
[KR_summit07]
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GNP Slammed for Slandering Upcoming North-South Summit
Pyongyang, August 15 (KCNA) -- A spokesman for the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland issued a statement Wednesday in which he denounced the Grand National Party of south Korea for making desperate efforts to slander the upcoming north-south summit meeting.
The statement said:
No sooner had the inter-Korean agreement on the summit meeting been made public than the GNP let loose a string of vituperation against the dialogue partner, saying that it is a "political gimmick to check the regime change" and "little short of begging from the north". [KR_summit07]
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74 Percent Back Inter-Korean Summit
By Yoon Won-sup
Staff Reporter
A majority of people welcome the second inter-Korean summit slated for Aug. 28-30 in Pyongyang but they do not think it will bring any concrete results, according to a recent survey.
The survey, conducted by The Korea Times and its sister paper the Hankook Ilbo, Monday and Tuesday, showed 73.9 percent of respondents support the summit while 22.6 percent oppose it.
But 60.4 percent said the summit will end up without any tangible outcome because it was hastily arranged, while 29.9 percent saw it as useful for the denuclearization of North Korea and inter-Korean cooperation. [KR_summit07]
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Summit will be long on symbolism
Peter Beck
Koreaphile]
I was off by less than two weeks and 200 kilometers. Six months ago, I began betting lunch with friends in Seoul that there would be an inter-Korean summit on Aug. 15 in Gaeseong. Why was Tuesday's announcement so predictable? Because a summit helps prop up two failed leaders. If the recent past is any indication, President Roh Moo-hyun and Chairman Kim Jong-il's late August rendezvous in Pyongyang is likely to be long on symbolism and short on substance.
Pyongyang's summit goals are clear: To extract as many economic goodies from Seoul as possible and to help Roh's ruling party in the December presidential election. Assuming the Grand National Party's fratricidal warfare comes to an end after the party's nominee is selected, even a "North wind" is unlikely to significantly boost the unpopular and charismatically challenged ruling party presidential candidates. For President Roh, the summit is less about helping his party in the presidential election (he has frequently blasted his party's top candidates) and more about trying to secure a legacy. With the Korea-U.S. free trade agreement in legislative peril, President Roh's only "achievement" is the pork-barrel boondoggle of moving the capital to South Chungcheong Province (shouldn't the capital of a unified Korea be in Gaeseong?).
[KR_summit07]
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Most Koreans Want Aug. 15 to Mark Nation's Foundation
Most Koreans know that Aug. 15 is the day when the country was liberated from Japanese colonial rule in 1945 but not that it is also the day the Republic of Korea was founded in 1948, a poll suggests. But most were in favor of giving more meaning to the date as the nation's Founding Day in the future and were proud of the history of the republic.
The Chosun Ilbo asked Hankook Research to poll 705 adults across the nation on Sunday. A majority of respondents did not know that the republic was founded on Aug. 15 but when told, 81.1 percent agreed to commemorate Founding Day on the date as well. Some 14.2 percent said no.
Asked how proud they are of the republic's history since 1948, some 77.3 percent gave positive responses -- "very proud" (31.3 percent) and "fairly proud" (46 percent). Negative responses came from 21 percent -- "not so proud" (17.7 percent) and "not proud at all" (3.3 percent). Respondents in their 20s expressed the least pride (75.2 percent) and people in their 60s the most (83.1 percent).
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Working-level talks produce basic framework for summit
North and South come to agreement on overland travel, number of delegates and agenda items
Much was accomplished during working-level talks that took place in Gaeseong on August 14, in advance of the upcoming inter-Korean summit. The two Koreas agreed on the basic framework necessary for conducting the second summit, including transportation and the number of South Korean delegates who will be in attendance. At the top of the agenda will be the issues of peace, prosperity and reunification.
President Roh Moo-hyun will travel to Pyongyang through the reconnected cross-border Gyeongui Line and the number of delegates will be approximately 200, a 20-member increase from the first summit in 2000. The North has accepted almost all of the South's proposals, demonstrating its desire for a successful summit.
Contrary to original expectations, both South and North agreed that the South Korean delegates would travel to Pyongyang using the highway between Gaeseong and the capital city. There are security concerns surrounding the use of the highway because passenger cars are obliged to travel on the road at the speed of around 80km per hour, but both sides chose it as a way to demonstrate the smooth progress of inter-Korean relations.
it is especially exceptional to note that President Roh will use his own official car to travel to Pyongyang, considering the diplomatic custom that dictates that a visiting President use a car provided by the host country. President Roh will continue to use the official car while staying in the North and security service vehicles will accompany President Roh throughout the trip.
Vice Unification Minister Lee Kwan-se, the South's chief delegate, said, "The North first mentioned it," referring to the fact that the North first proposed the idea that Roh would use official South Korean governmental vehicles for travel to and from the summit.
By agreeing to travel to Pyongyang by car, it is possible that Roh and Kim Jong-il will visit the Gaeseong industrial complex on August 30, the last day of the summit, depending on the results of the meeting. The problem of which vehicles will be used by Roh's entourage will be discussed at later date. [KR_summit07]
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Roh says inter-Korean summit adds to success of six-party talks
South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun said Wednesday that his upcoming summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il will enhance the success of six-party talks aimed at denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula. [KR_summit07]
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What Kim Jong-il should decide
Kim Ji-seok, Editorial writer
[Editorial]
"Those with strength, devote their strength, those with knowledge, offer their knowledge and those with money, contribute their money to the foundation of the state. A nation that truly loves the country, the people and democracy must unite strongly to construct a democratic, sovereign and independent state."
People in North Korea tend to quote these words a lot. They switch the phrase about "constructing the state" for "reunification." Originally, they were the words spoken by the young Kim Il-sung on October 14, 1945, when he stood before the citizens of Pyongyang for the first time and gave a speech, titled, "All power to the construction of a new, democratic Korea." [KR_summit07]
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President to Travel to Pyongyang by Road
By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
President Roh Moo-hyun will travel to Pyongyang through a reconnected cross-border road later this month for a second inter-Korean summit, the Ministry of Unification said Tuesday.
Roh will cross the Military Demarcation Line (MDL), a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War that divided the Korean Peninsula, through the Gyeongui road, a four-lane highway alongside the Gyeongui rail line to the North, it said.
The Gyeongui road links Seoul to the North Korean border city of Sinuiju bordering China.
The Seoul government had wanted Roh to travel to Pyongyang using cross-border railways. But the North was reluctant to accept the request. [KR_summit07]
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Roh Criticizes Summit Opponents
By Kim Yon-se
Staff Reporter
President Roh Moo-hyun Tuesday expressed his discontent with negative views by some critics about the second inter-Korean summit slated for Aug. 28-30 in Pyongyang. [KR_summit07]
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GNP Sets '3 Dos, 3 Do-Nots' for Summit
By Kang Hyun-kyung
Staff Reporter
The chief policymaker of the main opposition Grand National Party (GNP) Tuesday urged the government to faithfully follow the principles of ``three dos and three don'ts'' in the inter-Korean summit to take place from Aug. 28 to 30.
Rep. Lee Ju-young emphasized that President Roh Moo-hyun should seek ways of dismantling North Korean nuclear weapons completely, working toward relieving emotional pains of families whose relatives are left in the North, and rebuilding mutual trust in security.
He said Roh should not seek the reunification plans which lack public support, redefine the Northern Limit Line (NLL) and pledge further economic assistance to the North. [KR_summit07]
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The Second Inter-Korean Summit: Four Arguments Against and Why They Could Be Wrong
By Ruediger Frank
August 9th, 2007
Ruediger Frank, Professor of East Asian Political Economy at the University of Vienna, writes,* *The sunshine policy, or how ever one prefers to call it, is a long-term strategy. It needs time and continuous support to bear fruits. Nuclear North Korea is a product of failed confrontation, not of naive engagement. Rather than being disappointed by the lack of spectacular solutions, we should take the time to think about what has already been achieved during a historically brief period of time, show some patience, and give the sun a chance.
[KR_summit07]
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100th Anniversary Conference of the Great Korean Revival 2007
Speech by Rev. Dr. Samuel Kobia
general secretary
World Council of Churches
Seoul, Korea, 9 August 2007
Mr. Moderator, Honourable Ministers and Ecumenical Colleagues,
I am honoured to be invited to speak at this important event the 100th Anniversary Conference of the Great Korean Revival 2007, sponsored by the National Council of Churches in Korea and the Christian Council of Korea.
Today we recognize not only a watershed moment in the history of Korean Christianity, but an equally important crossroads for the church now and in years to come. In many books of church history, the event we commemorate this year is called the Great Pyongyang Revival of 1907, named for the city in which it was centred. Looking toward the future we may wonder: where will the next great Korean revival take place. Will it once again be in Pyongyang?
[Unification] [Religion]
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What Else Should We Hand to North Korea?
There are some serious discussions between the government and the ruling political camp regarding the upcoming inter-Korean summit. Former president Kim Dae-jung told ex-premier Han Myeong-sook that President Roh Moo-hyun needs to bring up the issue of denuclearizing the Korean peninsula when he meets North Korean leader Kim Jong-il but added that the nuclear issue should not "place a burden" on the summit. In other words, he is saying it's okay to bring up the nuclear issue, but it's also okay to back away if discussions don't go so well.
[KR_summit07]
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Is Sea Border With N.Korea Up for Discussion?
With the approach of the second-round inter-Korean summit, South Korean government officials and members of the ruling camp appear to be changing colors over the de-facto sea border with North Korea, which the North wants redrawn. The Northern Limit Line is a virtual border both sides agreed to respect after the Korean War. While in office, former unification minister Lee Jong-seok, the incumbent's immediate predecessor, was against redrawing of the NLL, as was the Defense Ministry.
[NLL] [KR_summit07]
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Why Are Our Leaders Desperate to Visit Pyongyang?
, by Kim Dae-joong
We Koreans tend to get excited about summits, especially inter-Korean summits, as if they were some kind of magic wand. The desire of men in power to embellish and the desire of the press to influence events in the divided country have exaggerated the significance of inter-Korean summits and planted unrealistic expectations among the public. In the reality of an ideologically divided nation, a meeting between leaders of the North and South is of course a momentous event. [KR_summit07]
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N.Korea Delays Preparation Meeting for Summit
North Korea on Sunday postponed the first meeting in Kaesong in preparation for the inter-Korean summit on Monday without a specific reason. Through the direct inter-Korean telephone line at Panmunjeom, Pyongyang said Sunday afternoon it would inform Seoul of the new date on Monday, according to Unification Ministry spokesman Kim Nam-shik. Seoul had made arrangements in the belief that Pyongyang would accept its proposed date. "We don't know exactly why, because the North has not given any explanation," Kim said. "But we understand the North is delaying the meeting simply to rearrange the date, considering that they have asked for lists of the South Korean delegation and reporters necessary for customs clearance." [KR_summit07]
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Creative alternatives for controversial Northern Limit Line
It is imperative for the two Koreas to come up with a "creative alternative" to dealing with the Northern Limit Line (NLL) issue, one of the items on the agenda for the upcoming inter-Korean summit scheduled for later this month.
The solution is to draw a maritime line, as insisted on by North Korea. The issue was not made part of the 1953 Armistice Treaty and the North does not officially recognize the NLL, arguing that it was unilaterally drawn by the United Nations Command shortly after the armistice was signed. The Seoul government has said that the issue could be discussed in military talks, meaning that the solution should come about as part of confidence-building measures.
[NLL] [KR_summit07]
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S. Koreans calmly react to inter-Korean summit
South Korean's perception of N. Korea undergoes big chnages
"I was pleased at the news of the summit between the leaders of South and North Korea, but the media had previously reported they may hold a second meeting. Will there be any meaningful results? Even if not, they should meet again and again," said Hwang Young-woo, 54, a taxi driver in Seoul. Hwang made the remark on Aug. 10, two days after South and North Korea officially announced they would hold a second summit later this month.
"Compared with seven years ago, I was surprised because my neighbors have not had much of a reaction to the second summit," said Kim Eun-hee, 24, a university student. "I hope the two leaders discuss practical issues, such as cultural exchange or divided families," she said.
[SK attitude NK] [KR_summit07]
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GNP's primary race enters into final stage
Lee MB keeps lead over Park GH
"The game is already over," Lee's camp says.
"The drama of reversal is beginning," Park's camp says.
With the main opposition Grand National Party scheduled to hold an Aug. 19 primary for the nomination of its presidential candidate, the two front-runners, former Seoul mayor Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye, daughter of former president Park Chung-hee, are both making very different predictions for the primary. Supporters for Lee say that the former Seoul mayor maintains a comfortable lead over Park, while those for Park say she will win the primary, even with a slim margin.
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Seoul Renews Call for Establishing N-E Asian Bank
By Kim Yoo-chul
Staff Reporter
Seoul has renewed its call for the establishment of a regional bank aimed at financing economic development in North East Asian countries, including North Korea.
The call is significant as Finance and Economy Minister Kwon O-kyu floated the idea for a second time after the two Koreas announced a summit meeting between the leaders of their countries from Aug. 28-30.
[Finance]
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Officials deny claim that North will get secret aid
August 11, 2007 A Grand National lawmaker accused the President Roh Moo-hyun administration of promising $20 billion worth of economic aid to arrange the inter-Korean summit, a claim strongly denied by several government officials.
"The National Intelligence Service chief said there were no backdoor deals this time, but there have always been some deals behind the scenes in the nuclear talks and in the inter-Korean dialogue," Representative Kim Yong-kap told Unification Minister Lee Jae-joung during a routine National Assembly hearing, according to a video clip on the legislature's Internet site. "This time, it may not be a cash handout, but didn't the Roh administration promise at least $20 billion to build railroads, roads and power plants to transport electricity and to open special economic zones?"
Lee flatly denied the claim. "That is groundless," he said. "The Roh administration has never been involved in any backdoor dealings. We did not promise $20 billion." [KR_summit07]
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Mini-Marshall Plan for NK Draws Skepticism
By Lee Hyo-sik
Staff Reporter
President Roh Moo-hyun is expected to unveil a mini-Marshall plan for North Korea during his scheduled meeting with Kim Jong-il late this month but the commitment will go nowhere if his successor rejects the plan and fails to secure the funds to finance the large-scale economic project, many bankers and analysts here said. [KR_summit07]
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Seoul, Washington Differ Over Summit Agenda
By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
With preparations for the second-ever inter-Korean summit underway in Seoul, South Korea and the United States have shown a different point of view on the focus of the landmark talks in Pyongyang from Aug. 28-30.
No agenda has been fixed yet. But Seoul officials hinted that the meeting between President Roh Moo-hyun and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il will mainly address large-scale cross-border economic projects, centered on the South's investment in the North, beyond business projects pursued after the 2000 summit.
Washington, however, is concerned that such big-budget programs from the South will detract from the six-party talks aimed at ending the North's nuclear ambitions by giving the Stalinist state ``immunity'' to possible economic sanctions from the international community.
[Friction] [Sanctions] [KR_summit07]
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'Kim Jong-il May Make Return Visit to Jeju in Oct.'
By Kim Sue-young
Staff Reporter
Rep. Rhee Q-taek of the conservative Grand National Party (GNP) said Friday that North Korean leader Kim Jong-il may visit Jeju Island in late October to reciprocate President Roh Moo-hyun's visit to Pyongyang for a summit from Aug. 28-30.
Rhee, 65, claimed that the third inter-Korean summit could affect the December presidential election in the South.
The government, however, denied the rumor the four-term lawmaker made. [KR_summit07]
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Seoul Wants Overland Trip to Pyongyang for Roh
The governemnt wants President Roh Moo-hyun and his entourage to travel overland to Pyongyang for the second inter-Korean summit later this month. Unification Minister Lee Jae-joung on Thursday said Seoul will ask North Korea to agree. Lee was chairing the first meeting of a government taskforce preparing the planned summit. He suggested that preparatory talks for the summit should be held in the North Korean border city of Kaesong on Aug. 13 [KR_summit07]
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Issues the Inter-Korean Summit Shouldn't Touch
Preparations for the inter-Korean summit have begun, but some unnerving stories circulate about the summit. They involve rumors that President Roh Moo-hyun and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il may redraw the Northern Limit Line, the de-facto sea border between the two Koreas, discuss scrapping the National Security Law and halting joint military exercises with U.S. troops. North Korea has been insisting on all three of them, and there are concerns that Roh may give in to all three of those demands amid suspicions that North Korea took the initiative in realizing the summit.
[NLL] [National Security Law] [Joint US military] [KR_summit07]
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Aid Promises to N.Korea Pour From Gov't, Ruling Camp
Members of the government and ruling camp have been proposing a flood of expensive aid for North Korea since a second inter-Korean summit was announced on Wednesday. Projects include a third special economic zone and development support for the North Korean port of Nampo and other infrastructure. A Unification Ministry official is suggesting a new project for aiding North Korea, and the Ministry of Finance and Economy decided Thursday to set up a taskforce on inter-Korean economic cooperation headed by Deputy Finance Minister Lim Young-rok. Finance and Economy Minister Kwon O-kyu told a press briefing that the money for economic cooperation will first come from the Inter-Korean Cooperation Fund. [KR_summit07]
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Seoul considers comprehensive economic package for Pyongyang
Along with Wednesday's announcement of the second-ever summit between President Roh Moo-hyun and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il later this month, the government said that the summit would aim for a "new Korean peninsular plan" that will make progress in inter-Korean economic cooperation projects in terms of quality and quantity. In fact, the government seemed as though it wanted to make it clear that it considers inter-Korean economic cooperation as its top priority in the upcoming summit. Before the Aug. 28-30 meeting, the government is expected to draw up a set agenda on inter-Korean economic cooperation, based on pending economic issues. [KR_summit07]
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Everyone has requests for summit agenda
GNP's wish list focuses on denuclearization, DLP's on peace and reconciliation
The South Korean political world has made many requests for the agenda of the second South-North summit. The main opposition Grand National Party (GNP) has placed an emphasis on resolving the nuclear issue and other military concerns, while the opposition Democratic Labor Party (DLP) has put reunification and reconciliation at the forefront of its list of requests. [KR_summit07]
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Put differences aside for successful summit
Some people in some quarters are trying to minimize the significance and value of the inter-Korean summit taking place at the end of this month. This surely is because they are more worried about how the event might affect the presidential election than they are about having a successful summit. This is an attitude that judges the issues before the nation along partisan lines and must not negatively influence the summit.
In politics, it is only the Grand National Party that is having a sensitive reaction [KR_summit07]
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No agenda agreed yet for 2-Korea meeting
August 10, 2007
Unification Minister Lee Jae-joung presides over the first meeting at the Office of the South-North Dialogue in Seoul to prepare for the inter-Korean summit meeting slated for Aug. 28 to 30 in Pyongyang. By Park Jong-keun
As South and North Korea scheduled working-level talks to prepare for the inter-Korean summit, attention focused on the agenda to be discussed between President Roh Moo-hyun and North Korean strongman Kim Jong-il. Experts and Roh aides said more economic projects in the North will likely be agreed on at the summit, while Seoul wants to include other thorny issues, such as a plan to rid Pyongyang of its nuclear arms program. [KR_summit07]
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Summit embraced in poll, but there is division over the details
August 10, 2007
Most Koreans welcome the second inter-Korean summit, but their opinion is more divided over other issues, including whether it will influence December's presidential election, according to a poll taken by the JoongAng Ilbo just after Wednesday's announcement. [KR_summit07]
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Roh Seeks Overland Trip to Pyongyang
By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
South Korea will ask North Korea to allow President Roh Moo-hyun to travel to Pyongyang by land, possibly using a reconnected railway across the border, for an inter-Korean summit, the unification minister said Thursday.
Presidential spokesman Cheon Ho-seon also did not rule out the possibility of Roh traveling to Pyongyang by train for the summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il from Aug. 28-30. [KR_summit07]
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Tong Kim (1) - What Do Koreas Expect From Summit?
By Tong Kim
Korea Times Columnist
The news of a second summit meeting between the North and the South scheduled toward the end of this month has triggered a flood of comments pouring in from apprehensive conservatives and boosted liberals.
A quick poll shows that a great majority of the people welcome the meeting, although they are not as excited, nor do they have as great expectations as they were and did at the time of the first inter-Korean summit in 2000.
Even the hard line conservatives cannot afford to take a political position opposing the meeting itself. [KR_summit07]
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GNP Wary of 'Summit Effect' on Election
By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
The main opposition Grand National Party (GNP) is struggling to seek ways to cope with possible negative influence on the party in December's presidential election.
The conservative party, which advocates a tougher policy line toward the North, has set up a task force dealing with issues related to the Aug. 28-30 summit, party officials said.
The party, at the same time, criticized the ulterior motive of holding the summit ``in an inappropriate time and place,'' accusing President Roh Moo-hyun of using the summit to give his preferred candidate a boost in the polls. [KR_summit07]
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The Road to Pyongyang
Center of gravity in North Korea policy is in Seoul, not Washington
[Analysis]
Timothy Savage (yamanin)
Published 2007-08-10 13:37 (KST)
Wednesday's announcement that a second inter-Korean summit would be held from Aug. 28-30 in Pyongyang set off the predictable wailing and gnashing of teeth among Washington insiders. Typical was the response of Bruce Klingner of the conservative Heritage Foundation, who wrote that the summit "risks undermining multinational efforts to denuclearize North Korea and could strain Seoul's relationship with Washington, in the long term undermining the U.S.-South Korean military deterrent to the North's lingering threat."
This reaction reflects how out of date the U.S. understanding of the situation on the Korean Peninsula really is. In this view, North Korea is simply a threat to be contained or rolled back, while South Korea is a junior ally that can be whipped into line through threats of abandonment. [KR_summit07]
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Intelligence Chief Arranged Inter-Korean Summit
President Roh Moo-hyun is to visit Pyongyang for a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il on Aug. 28-30, Seoul and Pyongyang announced simultaneously on Wednesday morning. A South Korean government official said the two will likely have their first tete-a-tete on Aug. 29.
In a press conference at Cheong Wa Dae on Wednesday, National Intelligence Service chief Kim Man-bok revealed that he visited North Korea as a special presidential envoy twice -- on Aug. 2-3 and Aug. 4-5 -- to co-sign the summit agreement with Kim Yang-gon, the director of the United Front Department of North Korea's Workers' Party. According to the government, the spymaster delivered a personal letter from Roh to Kim Jong-il during his second visit.
Seoul first proposed a meeting between the two intelligence chiefs in early July, and Pyongyang accepted on July 29, the government said. [KR_summit07]
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Big Powers Welcome Inter-Korean Summit
Big powers in talks on North Korea's nuclear program have broadly welcomed the announcement that the two Koreas are to hold their second summit late this month. The U.S. was positive but stressed the summit should focus on denuclearization. Japan was the most guarded in welcoming the news, while China promptly expressed support.
[Media] [KR_summit07]
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Few South Koreans Expect Results From Summit
A majority of Koreans support an inter-Korean summit in principle, but few expect this one to produce tangible results in resolving the North Korean nuclear problem, a flash poll suggests. Gallup Korea on Wednesday surveyed 814 adults at the request of the Chosun Ilbo immediately after the two Koreas announced they will hold another summit in Pyongyang on Aug. 28-30. Some 75.6 percent of respondents supported a second inter-Korean summit, while 20.1 percent opposed it. Asked about the timing, 49.1 percent said it was appropriate to hold the summit now and 42.8 percent that it would be better under the next government. [KR_summit07]
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Why Kim Jong-il is Meeting a Lame-Duck President
The North and South Korean governments announced jointly that their leaders will hold a summit in Pyongyang on Aug. 28. The summit was widely expected. It is a well-known fact that South Korean officials, from the former prime minister to a close aide of the president and even lawmakers on his side, traveled to Pyongyang and China, begging North Korea to agree to a summit. Recently, there were even forecasts that the summit would take place in August.
Given the Roh Moo-hyun administration's obsession with a summit with North Korea, it may have been a foregone conclusion that a visit to Seoul by North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, as promised during the 2000 inter-Korean summit, would never happen. President Roh said he would pave the way for regular summits between North and South Korea. But as long as every South Korean leader goes cap-in-hand to Pyongyang to seek an audience with the North Korean leader, the value of regular summits will diminish.
It is highly desirable for the leaders of North and South Korea to meet and talk. There are hopes that the summit could have more impact than any other meeting to help North Korea dismantle its nuclear program. At present, the six-country nuclear talks face the crucial stage of reporting North Korea's fissile materials and disabling its nuclear facilities.
But until now, North Korea has strictly excluded South Korea from discussion of its nuclear program. North Korea has been saying that issue is something it wants to discuss with the United States. For North Korea, its nuclear program is its main bargaining chip in getting the U.S. to open diplomatic channels and normalize relations.
[Dilemma] [KR_summit07]
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Timing of Inter-Korean Summit Raises Eyebrows
Why is the second inter-Korean summit set for Aug. 28-30?
Kim Man-bok, the director of the National Intelligence Service, said the North suggested the summit be held in Pyongyang "in late August." It is not clear which side, Seoul or Pyongyang, proposed the date, but it is likely that the North proposed it considering that Pyongyang usually holds talks over four days, mostly starting on a Tuesday.
Some people have drawn attention to the fact that the summit will coincide with joint South Korean-U.S. military exercises known as the Ulchi Focus Lens. In other words, the South Korean commander-in-chief is set to meet the leader of the enemy forces during a military exercise that treats North Korea as a hypothetical enemy, and some fear this would compromise the basic meaning of the drills. Another delicate point is that Aug. 29, the day when the two leaders will likely have their first discussion, is the anniversary of the day that Japan formally declared the annexation of Korea in 1910.
[Joint Korea] [Joint US military] [KR_summit07]
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Korean leaders plan talks to cement peace
By Song Jung-a in Seoul
Published: August 9 2007 03:00 | Last updated: August 9 2007 03:00
The North and South Korean leaders will meet in Pyong-yang this month in a move aimed at easing tension and fostering permanent peace on the divided peninsula.
The August 28-30 summit between President Roh Moo-hyun of South Korea and the North's leader Kim Jong-il will be only the second between the two countries.
Kim Woo-sang, a professor of political science at Yonsei University in Seoul, said the summit was likely to yield little - with Mr Roh's popularity low and his presidential term due to end in -February.
"There is no agenda set yet and the timing and the venue are all improper," said Prof Kim. "Pyongyang seems to want to secure as much economic support as possible from the South through the summit before a regime change in Seoul." [KR_summit07]
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Summit sunshine
Published: August 9 2007 03:00 | Last updated: August 9 2007 03:00
A South Korean president in search of plaudits could do worse than travel to Pyongyang. That was the lesson learnt by Kim Dae-jung, the former head of state who scooped up a Nobel peace prize after going to a "sunshine summit" in the North Korean capital in 2000.
Now comes Roh Moo-hyun, Mr Kim's successor, who is preparing to make his own trip north for a summit later this month. His party is languishing in the polls ahead of a presidential race in December and an electoral fillip is just what he is looking for. But since statecraft and popularity are far from the same, he should approach his meeting with Kim Jong-il, North Korea's "Dear Leader", with the utmost caution. [KR_summit07]
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How will historic inter-Korean summit impact the presidential election?
Peace and economic concerns likely to emerge as major election issues in the December race
Will the second South-North summit significantly influence the presidential election slated for the end of the year?
The announcement of the historic summit was made as the nation's main political parties gear up for their party primaries, with the summit scheduled to fall shortly after the main opposition Grand National Party primary and shortly before the pan-ruling camp holds its primary.
It is highly likely that the agenda discussed at the summit will emerge as one of the most important issues in the presidential election. In many respects, the second summit and the presidential election are inseparably related to each other. Political experts think that the upcoming summit will serve to buoy the pan-ruling camp and decrease the popularity of the GNP. [KR_summit07]
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Expectations are high for a robust Inter-Korean summit
Atmosphere of openness and two leaders' negotiating styles could lead to breakthrough
As South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun and his North Korean counterpart Kim Jong-il will meet in Pyongyang late this month, observers are now turning their attention on how the two leaders will carry out the second-ever summit talks. Considering the two are of about the same age and have relatively active personalities, they are expected to carry out a robust round of talks. [KR_summit07]
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What can be expected of the upcoming North-South summit?
An inter-Korean summit, the second of its kind and the first in seven years and two months, will be held in Pyongyang at the end of August. Former U.S. State Department advisor Robert Manning called the inter-Korean summit that was held June 13-15, 2000, "three days that shook Asia." One hopes the upcoming, second summit will be three days that bring fundamental change to the Cold War regime on the Korean peninsula. [KR_summit07]
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Roh and Kim spring summit surprise
Secret talks preceded agreement, GNP calls plan an election trick
August 09, 2007
At the end of this month President Roh Moo-hyun and North Korea's Kim Jong-il will be able to shake hands in person during the second inter-Korean summit scheduled for Aug. 28 to 30. [JoongAng Ilbo]
In unveiling long-rumored plans for a second inter-Korean summit to bring "peace and prosperity" to the peninsula, the Blue House yesterday positioned itself at the center of the political stage, giving President Roh Moo-hyun a chance to finish his term with a dramatic thaw in relations with North Korea.
Secret negotiations preceded the surprise announcement yesterday morning that Roh and Kim Jong-il will meet in Pyongyang from Aug. 28 to 30, just the second meeting of its kind.
While the nation ? and the world ? welcomed the news, political opponents accused Roh of using Pyongyang to influence the December election. [KR_summit07]
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South Korea's Roh May Take Rail Or Road to North
By REUTERS
Published: August 9, 2007
Filed at 1:21 a.m. ET
SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea's president may use a newly built rail link with North Korea or lead one of the biggest convoys of civilian vehicles from Seoul to Pyongyang for a summit this month, a South Korean official said on Thursday.
North and South Korea announced on Wednesday that President Roh Moo-hyun will meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-il from Aug 28-30 for only the second summit of the two countries in more than 50 years.
"We plan to request that the president and delegates travel by land," Unification Minister Lee Jae-joung told reporters. "I believe the North will be able to accept our request." [KR_summit07]
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North Korea Groping for Timesaving Tactics
[Analysis] Inter-Korean matters have been dwarfed by the hostage crisis
Lee Byong-chul (merrycow)
Published 2007-08-09 04:55 (KST)
This article is only lightly edited.
In inter-Korean relations, it's frequently said that good news and bad news often coexist. Pyongyang's refusal to participate in an annual inter-Korean event to mark Liberation Day on Aug. 15 in Busan, the second largest city in South Korea, was surely bad news. It will likely now become extremely difficult to establish the so-called institutionalization of inter-Korean dialogue that began to work in a full manner following the South-North summit meeting of 2000.
Firstly, North Korea was politically quick to strike an ideological chord again by claiming that it does not want lawmakers from the conservative Grand National Party to take the main seats and deliver speeches at the ceremony. Apparently, the North did not hide its uneasiness over the highly possible victory of the GNP in the December presidential election. The GNP's recent change of policies toward North Korea -- despite the political backlash from traditional conservatives -- did not seem to satisfy the North at all. [KR_summit07]
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S. Koreans Divided Over North-South Summit
Some Criticize Agreement for Historic Meeting in Pyongyang as an Election-Driven Ploy
By Joohee Cho
Special to The Washington Post
Thursday, August 9, 2007; Page A10
SEOUL, Aug. 9 -- South Korean negotiators prepared Wednesday for the first North-South summit in seven years, while opposition groups in Seoul criticized the surprise meeting as a ploy to shore up President Roh Moo Hyun's sagging popularity [KR_summit07]
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Two Koreas to Hold Second Summit in Pyongyang
President Roh Moo-hyun and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il have agreed to hold the second inter-Korean summit in Pyongyang between Aug. 28 to 30, the governments of two Koreas announced on Wednesday.
"The second inter-Korean summit will serve as a stepping stone for the establishment of a peace framework on the Korean Peninsula through frank discussions on the issue by the two leaders," presidential chief secretary for security affairs Baek Jong-chun said in a press conference at 10 a.m. "At the summit, the two leaders will also discuss new initiatives to raise inter-Korean economic ties and exchanges in terms of both quality and quantity." [KR_summit07]
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Two Koreas agree to hold summit on Aug. 29
President Roh Moo-hyun will visit Pyongyang Aug. 28-30 to hold a summit meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, presidential office Cheong Wa Dae(Blue House) announced in a statement Wednesday. [KR_summit07]
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Inter-Korean summit to lead to improved relations
The upcoming summit between President Roh Moo-hyun and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il will help improve relations but will not end all problems facing the two Koreas, including the dispute over the North's nuclear ambitions, observers here said Wednesday. [KR_summit07]
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Meeting the challenges of the Sunshine Policy
By Park Hyeong-joong, Senior Researcher, Korea Institution of National Unification(KINU)
This year it looks like Korea's "Sunshine Policy" is overcoming its isolation and getting another chance both internationally and in Korea. Meanwhile, the United States' policy on North Korea has changed, and the main opposition Grand National Party is working to change its official position. Therefore, the position being proposed might as well be called a "conservative Sunshine Policy." This is good news to Sunshine's supporters. But there is something we need to bear in mind - it is a very changed world. [KR_summit07]
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Leaders of North and South Korea to hold second-ever summit
Two leaders will meet in Pyongyang Aug. 28-30
August 08, 2007 North and South Korea announced Wednesday that their leaders will hold their second-ever summit this month, reprising the historic 2000 meeting that launched unprecedented reconciliation between the two longtime foes.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun will meet Aug. 28-30 in Pyongyang, North Korea's capital, South Korean presidential security adviser Baek Jong-chun told reporters [KR_summit07]
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North-South Agreement on Visit of President Roh Moo Hyun to Pyongyang Released
Pyongyang, August 8 (KCNA) -- The following north-south agreement on the visit of President Roh Moo Hyun to Pyongyang was released:
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The North-South Agreement on the Visit of President Roh Moo Hyun to Pyongyang
President Roh Moo Hyun will visit Pyongyang from August 28 to 30 under an agreement between Kim Jong Il, chairman of the National Defence Commission of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, and Roh Moo Hyun, president of the Republic of Korea.
The meeting between the top leaders of the north and the south will be of weighty significance in opening a new phase of peace on the Korean Peninsula, co-prosperity of the nation and national reunification by expanding and developing the inter-Korean relations onto a higher stage in accordance with the historic June 15 North-South Joint Declaration and in the spirit of "By our nation itself".
Both sides agreed to hold a contact for making arrangements for the summit meeting in Kaesong as early as possible.
August 5, 2007
Kim Yang Gon @@@@@@Kim Man Bok
Director @@@@@@@@@@Director
United Front Department National Intelligence Service
north side south side
True to the intention of @True to the intention of
the superior authority @the superior authority [KR_summit07]
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Koreas to Hold Summit Aug. 28-30 in Pyongyang
President Roh Moo-hyun will hold a summit meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il in Pyongyang Aug. 28-30, the presidential office in Seoul said in a statement Wednesday.
"The two Koreas have agreed to hold a summit in Pyongyang Aug. 28-30. For the summit, Roh will remain in the North Korean capital for three days," said the statement. [KR_summit07]
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Leaders of 2 Koreas Will Meet in the North
By NORIMITSU ONISHI
Published: August 8, 2007
TOKYO, Wednesday, Aug. 8 - The two Koreas announced Wednesday morning that they would hold a summit meeting later this month, the first since a groundbreaking meeting in 2000 began an ongoing reconciliation process on the Korean peninsula.
President Roh Moo-hyun of South Korea will meet the North's leader, Kim Jong-il, during a three-day meeting Aug. 28 to Aug. 30 in Pyongyang, North Korea's capital, the two Korean governments said in coordinated announcements.
The North said the meeting will carry "weighty significance in opening a new phase of peace," according to the government's Korean Central News Agency. The South, using similar language, added that the meeting would "provide momentum to settle the North Korean nuclear problem."
Neither side released details about the agenda, and it was not clear how much can realistically be accomplished because the deeply unpopular Mr. Roh has only a few months left in office.
The meeting, which had been rumored for months, was immediately criticized by South Korea's political opposition as a ploy to influence the presidential election in December. The trip by Mr. Roh is widely expected to boost the popularity of liberal presidential candidates who share his engagement policy toward the North [KR_summit07]
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Two Koreas to hold summit
By Jack KimReuters
Wednesday, August 8, 2007; 12:26 AM
SEOUL (Reuters) - The leaders of North and South Korea will meet this month in the North Korean capital Pyongyang in only the second summit between the two countries and their first in seven years, both sides announced on Wednesday.
Analysts immediately questioned the value of the August 28-30 meeting, which follows an agreement among regional powers that has pushed North Korea towards ending its nuclear weapons program in return for massive aid.
[media] [KR_summit07]
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No Breakthrough Likely in Koreas Summit
By BURT HERMAN
The Associated Press
Wednesday, August 8, 2007; 1:46 PM
b
SEOUL, South Korea -- North Korean leader Kim Jong Il will likely put on his best show for South Korea's visiting president, with thousands of enthusiastic supporters called out to line the streets of the capital to herald the second-ever summit between the two Koreas.
But when those cheers die down, the actual results from Kim's meeting with South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun later this month may prove to be more emotional than concrete. [KR_summit07]
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N.Korean Soldiers Fire Across DMZ
North Korean soldiers fired guns at a South Korean guard post in the Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas in Inje, Gangwon Province on Monday afternoon. South Korean soldiers immediately fired 10 rounds of warning shots at the North. The office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said dust and smoke rose 100 m in the air after North Korean soldiers fired unidentified guns from the northern part of the DMZ at 1:30 p.m. Monday. The JCS said the North Koreans made no further unusual movements
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Malaria in N.Korea Affecting Blood Supply in South
Malaria in North Korea is reducing available blood donations in the South. Northern Korea has been designated a limited malaria risk area by the World Health Organization, except Mt.Baekdu on the Chinese border, and the malaria risk zone is growing into North Gyeonggi Province near the DMZ.
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Pyongyang's Boycott
North Should Take Sincere Action for Reconciliation
North Korea has boycotted an annual inter-Korean event scheduled to be held in Busan in the South to mark the Aug. 15 Liberation Day. It is disappointing the North will not send its 100-member delegation, disrupting an event that was expected to help promote reconciliation and cooperation between the two Koreas.
The North has said they it does not want lawmakers from the conservative Grand National Party to have the main seats and deliver speeches during the ceremony, as the party fosters anti-North Korea policies. Earlier it tarnished a June 15 event by opposing the participation of a GNP lawmaker.
It has also cited the need for South Korea and the United States not to go ahead with the annual military exercise Ulji Focus Lens, which it said prevented it from attending the event.
[Joint US military]
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Ex-Generals Slam Conservative Party's NK Engagement Policy
Park Seh-jik, chairman of
Korea Veterans' Association
By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
A group of 11 former military and political leaders Monday called on the main opposition Grand National Party (GNP) to change or withdraw its policy on engagement with North Korea.
The group led by retired Maj. Gen. Park Seh-jik, chairman of the Korea Veterans' Association, visited the GNP headquarters in Seoul to protest the party's softened policy toward the Stalinist regime.
[Role ROK military]
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Two Koreas Exchange Shots Across Border
By REUTERS
Published: August 6, 2007
Filed at 6:41 a.m. ET
Skip to next paragraph
SEOUL (Reuters) - North and South Korea briefly exchanged gunshots on Monday in the first such skirmish on their heavily armed border in just over a year, a military official said.
There were no reports of any casualties.
"A few shots were fired from the North, and a few warning shots were fired (back) from this side," the official with the office of the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff told Reuters.
The shooting came a day before the start of working level talks among regional powers, including the two Koreas, in the South Korean side of the buffer zone that has divided the peninsula for more than half a century.
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N.Korea to Boycott Liberation Day Party
North Korea has told the South it will not join celebrations in the South Korean port city of Busan to commemorate the anniversary of Korea's liberation from Japan's colonial rule. This is the third time North Korea has boycotted joint celebrations of Aug. 15 Liberation Day in recent years. In 2004, the North cited the South's refusal to allow a South Korean delegation to visit Pyongyang to mark the 10th anniversary of the late leader Kim Il-sung's death. In 2006, North Korea skipped the joint celebration due to disastrous flooding.
A Unification Ministry official on Sunday said the South was informed of the decision by fax from the North Korean side of a civic committee charged with implementing the Joint Declaration made during the first inter-Korean summit in 2000. Pyongyang cited opposition to treating lawmakers from the conservative Grand National Party as VIPs at the ceremony and to the annual joint U.S.-South Korean military drills
[US Joint military]
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Korea Signs $500 Mil. Jet Deal With Turkey
Korea has agreed to export 55 of its homegrown XKT-1 light bomber-trainer jets to Turkey by 2013.
The deal is valued at US$500, making it Korea's largest ever aircraft order and the country's second largest defense sale.
Korea Aerospace Industries on Sunday announced that it clinched the deal with the Turkish government, defeating strong rivals including America's T-6 and Brazil's EMB-314.
The XKT-1 is an improved version of the KT-1 basic trainer that can be equipped with a 225-kg bomb or a 70-mm cannon for fighting guerillas or drug traffickers.
[Arms sales] [Proliferation] [Human rights]
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Park Geun-hye - Follow the leader
By Anna Fifield
Published: August 4 2007 03:00 | Last updated: August 4 2007 03:00
My heart sinks when Park Geun-hye's aide tells me he has prepared 24 pages of briefing notes for our lunch, containing responses for every question I might contemplate asking the South Korean presidential candidate.
Official Korea is a formal place, where greeting, eating, drinking and even sitting are governed by hierarchical Confucian traditions. I had tried to explain to Park's people that Lunch with the FT is more of a conversation than an interview, but my pleas for informality did not coincide with Park's highly choreographed aspirations to become leader of Asia's third-largest economy
Park met Kim Jong-il in Pyongyang in 2002, and the strategy of engagement with North Korea is now broadly accepted. "This is the only way we can induce North Korea to open and eventually become a more responsible member of international society," Park says as we receive a soup with rice balls, which comes from the North Korean city of Kaesong.
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Economy Becomes Major Issue Over North Korea
By Kang Hyun-kyung
Staff Reporter
``There is a major shift in key presidential campaign issues _ the economy is replacing North Korea. And the trend will go on in the coming decades,'' said a political scientist.
In an interview with The Korea Times last week, Prof. Hahm Sung-deuk of Korea University questioned if the North Korea card could still be a critical factor that determines the winner of December's presidential election.
According to him, North Korea was one of the major cards that helped presidential aspirants attract the hearts and minds of the voters in previous elections.
But that would not be the case any longer, he asserted.
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Viewers young and old touched by 'May 18'
Story of the 1980 pro-democracy uprising brings feelings of guilt, pain for those who remember
The big-budget domestic film "May 18," which chronicles the historical events of the 1980 pro-democracy uprising in South Korea's southern city of Gwangju, took the top box office spot in five days after its release, besting several Hollywood blockbusters.
The film "May 18" is set againt the historical backdrop of the Gwangju Democratization Movement, which occurred between May 18 and May 27, 1980, events simply called "5.18" or "May 18" in Korea. At the time, the military, led by General Chun Doo-hwan, brutally cracked down on Gwangju citizens rising up against military rule. The government has maintained that civilian casualties numbered about 200, but some historians and groups made up of the families of victims say that over 2,000 were killed that spring. After the uprising was crushed, Chun became president in August the same year.
For the period of Chun Doo-hwan's reign, the incident was portrayed by the media - then strictly government-controlled - as a rebellion inspired by Communist sympathisers. After civil rule was reinstated in 1987, the incident was recognized as an effort to bring democracy to a South Korea ruled by a dictatorial military regime. The government has since issued a formal apology for the incident, and the May 18 National Cemetery was established in Gwangju to honor and preserve the memory
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As the outcry grows, dog meat sales decline
July 31, 2007
The dog days of summer just aren't the same.
"Bok days are not bok days anymore," said Kim Jae-wook, who sells dog meat at the Moran Market in Seongnam, south of Seoul. "We don't see customers. Not even a fly comes by."
"Bok days" literally means the dog days of summer. According to the country's traditional folk calendar, they come three times a year, marking the beginning, middle and end of the steaming hot weather. This year, the dog days are July 15, 25 and Aug. 14.
The tradition, on those days, is to eat dog meat or chicken soup. The idea is that those foods are healthy and fortify the body for the hot weather.
Still, the criticism of the traditional practice gets louder each year as a more Western way of thinking, which sees dogs as pets rather than food, continues to seep into Korean society.
[IM] [Globalisation]
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