President Roh Moo-hyun walks across the Bridge of Unification in South Korea’s northernmost region of Paju, Gyeonggi Province, on his way to North Korea for the three-day inter-Korean summit on Tuesday.

President Roh Moo-hyun puts the top priority on establishing a permanent peace on the Korean Peninsula during his trip to the North, which begins Tuesday. At a ceremony marking the 59th Armed Forces Day, he said there can be no mutual prosperity and unification without permanent peace. Roh seemed to use the phrase “establishment of permanent peace” as a comprehensive concept that includes measures to ease tension on the Peninsula and expand cross-border economic cooperation as well as the start of talks on establishing a permanent peace framework. He said the two Koreas would discuss military trust-building measures, the signing of a peace treaty and arms reduction once talks for a permanent peace mechanism for the peninsula gain steam, but he warned not everything would “go smoothly.”

Asked whether the two leaders would issue a peace declaration, a Unification Ministry official on Monday said, more talks with the North are needed. "We haven’t yet finished fine-tuning our views on what to call such a declaration, what it will carry, and whether it will be issued as a separate declaration or as part of an inter-Korean agreement," he said.

Another South Korean government official said, "I believe that various kinds of documents will mention or reflect peace for the Korean Peninsula." The South Korean delegation and working-level North Korean officials will likely continue talks until they reach a conclusion on what specifically the declaration will contain.

It seems likely that the South Korean delegation will focus on buffering peace with substantial economic assistance, while the North will stress the importance of specifying a method for the unification. In an article dated Sept. 29, the Workers' Party daily or Rodong Shinmun wrote, "Despite differences in classes, social strata, and political views, the members of our nation share views in favor of realizing reconciliation and unity and achieving national reunification as a single nation."

Some South Korean government officials have hinted at the possibility of issuing a text that will effectively declare the Korean War over. That would be close to a real declaration ending the war, an interim stage before the armistice, which still officially halts hostilities between the two Koreas, is replaced by a peace treaty.

In a press briefing after a Seoul-Washington summit on Sept. 7, Roh asked U.S. President George W. Bush to be more specific about a peace framework or a declaration to end the war on the Korean Peninsula. Some experts speculate he sought the clarification with any agreement he would reach during the upcoming inter-Korean summit in mind.

Some critics worry that a peace declaration would create an illusion at a time when efforts to end the North Korean nuclear arms program are still at the early stage of dismantlement of nuclear facilities.

Retired lieutenant general Kim Hee-sang, a presidential adviser for national defense during the early years of the Roh administration, said, "Peace cannot be obtained by declaration or agreement. A peace declaration will be meaningless in a situation where no North Korean nuclear weapons have been dismantled." He said history had repeatedly proved his point.

"There still is a long way to go before the North Korean nuclear weapons are dismantled. The two sides still confront one another militarily,” said Paik Jin-hyun, associate dean of the Graduate School of International Studies at Seoul National University. "If such an unrealistic declaration were to be issued, it would not be helpful to peace.”

(englishnews@chosun.com )