Asia-Pacific
Think tank pushes for new ROK-DPRK summit
By Cheng Guangjin (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-01-04 07:58
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An influential think tank in the Republic of Korea (ROK) has urged that country's president to organize a third summit with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) to press for an end to the latter's nuclear ambition.
The Korea Institute for Defense Analysis (KIDA) offered the initiative, saying the ROK should seek "various contacts" with the DPRK, including a third inter-Korean summit, to carry forward with the "grand bargain" plan proposed by ROK President Lee Myung-bak last September.
 South Koreans hit a huge bell to welcome the New Year at the Imjingak pavilion near the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas in Paju, about 32 miles north of Seoul. [Agencies] |
The ROK's Yonhap News reported the suggestion from the think tank yesterday but didn't go into details about how soon the summit should be held. The news agency previously reported that expectations were that the summit should be organized this year (2010) following the previous two in 2000 and 2007.
Expecting the summit to be held soon, Chinese scholars said that the suggested bilateral contacts are vital for the two sides to ease tensions and secure peace in the peninsula.
Under the "grand bargain" package deal, Pyongyang will be guaranteed security, massive economic aid and other incentives by the members of the Six-Party Talks in return for a single-phase denuclearization deal that does not necessitate further negotiations.
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ROK is determined to push forward the plan as the centerpiece of its inter-Korean policy this year, the Unification Ministry of ROK announced last month.
Two inter-Korean summits were held in 2000 and 2007 in Pyongyang with joint declarations issued at aiming for peaceful development between the two Koreas. The DPRK leaders have promised to pay a reciprocal visit to ROK, according to the Yonhap News.
"The suggestions by KIDA are rational and practical for easing the tensions between the South and the North," said Su Hao, an expert in East Asian affairs at the Beijing-based China Foreign Affairs University.
Speculation about a third summit has already been stimulated by Lee's recent remarks that he was ready to meet DPRK leader Kim Jong-il "anytime and anywhere" to resolve the protracted nuclear standoff, the Yonhap News said.
Su also thinks the third summit is highly likely to be held soon, as "DPRK doesn't want a nervous relationship with the ROK and needs its help, and the ROK has realized the fastest way to improve the relationship is to have a meeting between the two leaders."
The summit between Lee and Kim would improve the situation on the Korean Peninsula, which is encouraged by China and the world, Su said.
The possibility of resuming the Six-Party Talks, conducted by the United States, Russia, China, the two Koreas and Japan, rose after US Special Representative Stephen Bosworth's visit to the DPRK at the end of last year.
Pyongyang called for an end to enmity with the US and reaffirmed its commitment to a Korean Peninsula cleared of nuclear arms through negotiations in a joint newspaper editorial carried by the official Korean Central News Agency on New Year's Day.
Cooperative interactions between the two Koreas continued recently.
Last month the DPRK expressed its willingness to continue developing the Kaesong Industrial Complex, which was jointly set up in 2004 in DPRK as a reconciliation project of the two sides, where 116 ROK companies employ more than 42,000 DPRK workers, according to a Xinhua report.
Also last December, ROK offered medical assistance to help DPRK fight an outbreak of H1N1 flu, which DPRK accepted.
But experts are skeptical of a swift resolution of the DPRK's denuclearization, both Su and KIDA said.
"The process of negotiations still needs more time," Su said.
