I would never have expected to hear this word in Washington as often as I have since the upcoming inter-Korean summit was announced last Wednesday.

Michael Green, former senior director of the U.S. National Security Council for Asian Affairs, used the word five or six times during an interview on Thursday. "This euphoria at the idea that peace might be achieved in the wake of the summit could have undesirable effects on North Korea's denuclearization process," he said.

Don Oberdorfer, a professor at Johns Hopkins University, and Jack Pritchard, the president of the Korea Economic Institute and a special envoy for North Korean affairs under the Bush administration, both used the word during an interview at the Chosun Ilbo office in Washington on Wednesday. They both said that it's undesirable for South Korea to be intoxicated by "euphoria" over the inter-Korean summit. Bruce Klingner, a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation, also warned against the undesirable effects of summit excitement.

It's little exaggeration to say that this single word represents what the U.S. thinks of the summit, which was announced simultaneously by both Koreas. And it's not just the Korea watchers -- even White House officials are using the word, warning against the side effects of euphoria for the summit slated for Aug. 28. They are concerned that South Koreans might be intoxicated by joy at the prospects for peace, just as they were collectively hypnotized in the wake of the first inter-Korean summit in 2000.

Let's look back on the days right after the summit of June 2000. Though it contained nothing concrete, the June 15 Joint Declaration was acclaimed as a historic statement. After the summit, North Korean leader Kim Jong-il was reassessed overnight as a kind and refined man, no longer the cruel dictator who has caused millions of people to starve to death and executed so many dissidents. After returning from Pyongyang, those South Koreans who had accompanied President Kim Dae-jung to the summit went about praising the North. "There will be no more threat of war on the Korean Peninsula," Kim Dae-jung declared triumphantly upon his return to Seoul. Nearly all of South Korea was drunk with joy over the idea that lasting peace was just around the corner.

But seven years later nothing has changed in the nature of inter-Korean relations. In fact the security situation on the peninsula has worsened. At every opportunity North Korean officials tell us that late leader Kim Il-sung wanted a denuclearized peninsula, but the North joined the world's nuclear nations by conducting a nuclear test last October. According to the National Intelligence Service, the North has already secured 50 kg of plutonium with which it can produce about 10 nuclear weapons to threaten our security any time. In July last year, the North fired Daepodong missiles into the East Sea even while passenger airplanes were flying over and fishing vessels were out at sea. The North agreed to the Feb. 13 denuclearization agreement only just this year and later closed the Yongbyon facilities. And still most experts maintain that Pyongyang might go back on its decision any time.

In this context, it's easy to see the dangers of over-excitement at the idea of lasting peace. If this politically-charged summit delivers only euphoria without concrete results, we may have to face another seven years of threats to our security. We should think deeply about the advice from Washington: "Keep your hopes up, but don't delude yourselves."

This column was contributed by Lee Ha-won, the Chosun Ilbo's correspondent in Washington.