There is no point calling the second inter-Korean summit a meeting between a lame-duck president and an unpredictable dictator or a conference between a president with only five months left in his tenure and the author of a nuclear crisis. Neither is it interesting to contemplate the brightening of Kim Jong-il's dour expression. It's also trifling to compare the hospitality Roh received with that given to former president Kim Dae-jung during the 2000 first inter-Korean summit. In the meantime, it is madness to package the chief executive's walk across the military demarcation line as following in the footsteps of the revered independence fighter Kim Koo. There is no need to get excited about Kim's surprise suggestion that Roh stay one day longer; he is forever setting off firecrackers like that. No, there are more important things to this second summit: both things that should have been decided on and things that should not have been on the agenda, things that should and should not be given.

For such a meeting to succeed, flexibility is needed, and pragmatism. That also means making concessions. That is why toasts are raised to the success of the talks. But it should not be forgotten that principles matter too, and that it's sometimes important to stick to them. It can seem dogmatic, but sticking to principle in a difficult and urgent situation is a hallmark of courage. Visiting the Mansudae Assembly Hall, Roh wrote in the visitors' book, "The hall of people's sovereignty, from which public happiness springs." Though it isn’t quite on a par with a notorious gadfly academic’s groveling note, "Let's inherit the spirit” of the former North Korean leader Kim Il-sung's birthplace Mangyongdae, it still feels deaf to the history of civilization and insensitive to the distinction between civilization and savagery, democracy and tyranny, human rights and their absence. In terms of peaceful coexistence, recognizing a system is one thing, and hailing and praising it another. For the success of the meeting, we may make insubstantial concessions, but we should never yield in vital matters.

Faust, in the old German legend, sold his soul to the devil for the sake of youth. But we must not sell our soul for the sake of peace on the Korean Peninsula. Prior to leaving for Pyongyang, Roh said, "There'll be no taboo subjects." Indeed. He should have upheld important principles to the end. He should have a clear understanding what a healthy system is, and what happiness and sovereignty mean. He must not devalue all other values in the face of the value-neutral "nation." Even a president with only five months to go in his tenure is a president. He must not neglect, even for a moment, his role of courageously representing the values the republic has nourished and treasures.

The criterion evaluating the second inter-Korean summit will be not how cordiality he was received or how big a gabfest it was, but whether he said what he should have said and did not what he shouldn’t, and whether he agreed to something he should not have agreed to and failed to win agreement where he should. Perhaps Roh should have risked offending Kim for a while instead of doing things that would make him ashamed before his nation and history forever.

This column was contributed by Park Hyo-chong, a professor of National Ethics Education at Seoul National University.