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Former president Kim Dae-jung said Tuesday he will ¡°discuss how to reunite a race unjustly divided ¡¦ and the role that we need to play in the formation of a peaceful and ordered world¡± when he meets with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il next month.
But Kim told a meeting of international surgeons in Seoul this was ¡°in every respect a personal visit, and I'm not traveling as an envoy of the government so I don¡¯t carry its agenda."
An aide to the former president, Choi Kyung-hwan, said later these were "standard remarks that fit the theme of the talk," and stressed, "The former president was not saying that he intends to discuss a concrete plan for reunification." Unification Minister Lee Jong-seok and other government officials have said Kim will not talk about any official ideas for a ¡°confederation¡± or reunification.
Kim also told the Leksell Gamma Knife Society meeting, "We do not want to see unification that would mean the absorption of the North." He warned that South Korea will not be capable of taking on all of the North's financial problems." But he predicted exchange and cooperation will lead to common prosperity ¡°and in a matter of just 10 or 20 years, once we feel assured, we should reunify."
The elder statesman expressed confidence that ¡°the people of Korea and the world support my Sunshine Policy, which emphasizes peaceful coexistence, peaceful exchange and peaceful reunification as the best and most appropriate road for Korea to take given our current situation."
Kim called for the U.S. to cooperate with all participants in six-nation talks seeking to end North Korea¡¯s nuclear program. Washington ¡°should especially respect, and put first, the opinions of South Korea to take a role in the development of South-North relations," he added.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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