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Former prime minister Lee Hae-chan leaves Incheon Airport for North Korea on Wednesday morning. Lee serves as a special advisor on political affairs to President Roh Moo-hyun.
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Former prime minister Lee Hae-chan told reporters Wednesday he was on his way to North Korea to discuss peace on the Korean Peninsula and Northeast Asia, not to broker an inter-Korean summit. Lee said comprehensive talks on a peace framework for the Korean Peninsula would also be possible. After returning home from Pyongyang, the former PM is to fly to the U.S. and invite U.S. lawmakers to discuss a peace framework for Korea. Lee disappeared from the political stage after he resigned as prime minister over a golfing scandal. But he appears to be trying to regain some influence by playing a role in inter-Korean affairs.
Political insiders link Lee¡¯s move to an ambition to become president. Lee denies this, but a Uri Party lawmaker said the former prime minister wants to consolidate his position if he runs for president by showing himself adept at a presidential task like handling inter-Korean relations.
Dismissing claims that his visit to North Korea is aimed at preparing the ground for a second inter-Korean summit, Lee said he and the Uri Party believe this is not the time to talk about another inter-Korean summit. Regarding a possible meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, he said none had been scheduled and he had no plan to ask for one. However, Grand National Party spokeswoman Na Kyung-won denounced Lee¡¯s visit as political maneuvering by a ¡°leftist¡± government to bring about an inter-Korean summit to win the upcoming presidential election ¡°at the expense of the nation¡¯s future.¡± GNP lawmaker Chung Hyung-keun also said, ¡°The people will not tolerate the government¡¯s clandestine contact with North Korea to discuss an inter-Korean summit¡± -- a reference to rumors that President Roh Moo-hyun¡¯s long-time confidant Ahn Hee-jung secretly met with North Korean officials in Beijing last year and that Lee is a de-facto special envoy to North Korea.
Uri Party lawmaker Lee Haw-young admitted to a series of contact with North Korean officials including his own visit to Pyongyang as the representative of young Uri Party members in February last year. The lawmaker said the North invited the former prime minister based on mutual trust built up through the meetings.
Meanwhile, Lee and his entourage arrived in Pyongyang by North Korea¡¯s Air Koryo via the Chinese city of Shenyang on Wednesday afternoon. Lee meets with Kim Young-nam, the president of the Supreme People's Assembly, and Choi Seung-chul, vice-chairman of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland, during the four-day visit which ends Saturday.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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