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Foreign Minister Song Min-soon has said that the door for an inter-Korean summit is always open. In an interview with Yonhap News before leaving for Washington on Monday, Song said an inter-Korean summit would help resolve the North Korean nuclear problem and pending issues between the two Koreas, and help bring peace to the Korean Peninsula. However, the foreign minister said the necessary conditions should be met before an inter-Korean summit is held since the two sides will be left empty-handed if they meet before the conditions are mature.
Government officials have repeatedly expressed hope for an inter-Korean summit. Thus Unification Minister Lee Jae-joung, immediately after taking office last month, said an inter-Korean summit meeting is "a task for the two heads of state¡± and a ¡°long-pending issue."
Turning to the latest round of six party talks on the North Korean nuclear program, the foreign minister said it was not necessary to promote "documenting the end of the Korean War in tight sync with the North's denuclearization process" -- a reference to U.S. President George W. Bush's remark in a meeting with President Roh Moo-hyun in Hanoi on Nov. 18 that he is willing to sign a document declaring the official end of the Korean War with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il if Pyongyang disarms. Song said the process of normalizing U.S.-North Korea ties as well as the resumption of energy supply to the North -- two key "carrots" in the negotiations -- could begin "simultaneously'' if Pyongyang starts scrapping its nuclear program. The foreign minister hinted Pyongyang will be given bolder-than-expected rewards if it starts to dismantle its nuclear weapons, saying Seoul and Washington are "flexible" in the measures they will take and everything is up to Pyongyang.
Song flew to the U.S. Monday to attend the funeral of former U.S. president Gerald Ford. After the funeral in Washington on Tuesday, he meets with his U.S. counterpart Condoleezza Rice to discuss the six-way talks, the South Korea-U.S. alliance and a U.S. visa waiver for Koreans.
Meanwhile, ruling Uri Party lawmaker Chun Jung-bae on his homepage Monday called for the immediate resumption of humanitarian aid to North Korea. Chun also said that an inter-Korean summit will be an "epoch-making opportunity" in resolving the North Korean nuclear problem and establishing peace on the peninsula.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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