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Former president Kim Dae-jung on Tuesday said it was "intolerable" that North Korean leader Kim Jong-il told a visiting Chinese delegation that he has nuclear weapons, as reported in the foreign press. Kim Dae-jung was speaking in a special interview with the Chosun Ilbo at his office on the fifth floor of the Kim Dae-jung Library in Seoul's Donggyo-dong on Tuesday to mark the paper's 85th anniversary.
Talking to the Chosun Ilbo's Kang Chun-suk, Kim expressed concern that things were going amiss in the disarmament talks and
said relevant nations weren't resolving the issue even there was a way to solve the problem.
The former president said there had been no progress toward North Korean nuclear disarmament in the four years that U.S. president George W. Bush has been in office. He said six-party talks on the issue must go beyond a talking club and engage in active give and take. "In the end, it is North Korea and the U.S. that need to solve the nuclear issue, and there is no other way but for the two to hold direct talks within the framework of the six-party talks," he said.
"The U.S. needs to put its cards on the table and engage in simultaneous give-and-take with the North" in which Pyongyang would give up its nuclear programs in return for security guarantees from Washington.
Kim reiterated he was ready to visit the North to mediate in the matter should he be invited by Kim Jong-il. "If I were to meet Kim, I would discuss not only the nuclear issue but also the fate of the entire Korean people," said. But he added no invitation had been forthcoming.
Kim Dae-jung also urged extra care in South Korea's attempt to shed light on its recent past. "If the history issue is resolved well, it could become medicine, but if the nation fails to deal with it properly, it could become poison," he warned. He said the difference depended on whether the inquiry was carried out fairly or whether it was used to hurt one side or benefit another. No individuals or governments that might be targeted by historical investigations were completely bad and all history had two sides, he said.
About former president Park Chung-hee, on whom much of the attention is focusing, Kim said Park contributed by giving a people mired in despair after the Korean War a "can-do" confidence. But Kim admitted Park had been unwise to restrict freedoms in order to build up the economy. Kim said he therefore wrestled with his decision to support a Park Chung-hee memorial hall project, but he thought he was the right man to decide whether to support the construction.
Kim said the relationship between the current government and the media was fated to be tense. "There must be both: cooperation and criticism," he said.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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