DATE=6/12/2000
TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT
TITLE=KOREA SUMMIT SCENESETTER
NUMBER=5-46482
BYLINE=ROGER WILKISON
DATELINE=SEOUL
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: The leaders of North and South Korea are
scheduled to begin an historic three-day summit
Tuesday in Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, -- the
first meeting between the countries' leaders since the
Korean War ended about a half century ago. VOA
correspondent Roger Wilkison reports communist North
Korea wants aid to help rebuild its impoverished
economy, South Korea wants to give millions of divided
families a chance to reunite, and the world is hoping
for a lessening of tensions on the Cold War's last
frontier.
TEXT: The unprecedented summit was delayed for a day
due to what North Korea calls "unavoidable technical
problems." What that means is anybody's guess, but
South Korean officials say North Korea is angry that
South Korean news media have reported on President
Kim's schedule of activities when he visits the North.
The officials say those reports were mostly based on
speculation and ran counter to North Korea's practice
of never publicizing the activities of its own leader
-- Kim Jong-il -- in advance. /// OPT /// Two weeks
ago, Kim Jong-il's trip to China was shrouded in
secrecy and not officially disclosed until he returned
home. /// END OPT ///
South Korea's President Kim was quoted Sunday by his
spokesman as saying the two sides have waited 55 years
for this meeting, so a delay of one more day does not
matter.
The South Korean government is trying to downplay
expectations about the summit, calling it just the
beginning of a long road toward reconciliation after
decades of bitter conflict between the two Koreas.
But as one South Korean minister puts it, the mere
photograph of the two leaders shaking hands and
smiling will provide momentum for peace on the
peninsula. There has been no formal peace since the
Korean War ended in 1953, only an armistice.
North Korea, which has suffered famine as a result of
five years of natural disasters and mismanagement of
its collective farm system, is hoping that the summit
will bring it food aid and investment from South
Korean companies to rebuild its dilapidated economy.
Lee Jung-min, a professor of international relations
at Seoul's Yonsei University, says Pyongyang is hoping
that the summit and its recent diplomatic opening-up
to the outside world will bring in more foreign
assistance.
/// LEE ACTUALITY ///
North Korea's strategy is, I think, quite simple.
They cannot afford to open up North Korea like China
because of (internal) political repercussions. But
they need foreign aid and economic assistance quite
badly. So, therefore, by taking the pragmatic
diplomatic approach, including the North-South summit,
they give the impression that they're moving in the
right direction, but not all the way. So, therefore,
they're able to lock in assistance and aid from
western countries as well as South Korea and Japan.
And I think they will pursue this strategy for as long
as it takes.
/// END ACTUALITY ///
In exchange for food aid and investment money, South
Korea hopes unpredictable North Korea will move away
from military threats to lessen tension on the Korean
peninsula. That is a goal shared by the United
States, China, Japan and Russia, all of which have a
strategic interest in keeping the peninsula stable.
But South Korea also wants to facilitate reunions of
family members who have been separated since the
Korean War. More than seven million South Koreans
have relatives in the North, whom they have been
unable to visit or phone or even correspond with for a
half-century. Cho Dong-young, who heads South Korea's
leading association of separated family members, says
he is hopeful that an agreement for such reunions can
be struck at the summit. If it is not, he says, many
separated family members will lose faith in their
government's ability to obtain anything from North
Korea.
/// CHO ACTUALITY (IN KOREAN) ///
Mr. Cho says he is, at the very least, hoping for an
agreement that will allow divided families to exchange
correspondence across the heavily militarized border.
If that fails to materialize, he says, the family
members -most of whom are elderly- will become
desperate. Mr. Cho says the separated families
deserve something in exchange for South Korean
economic cooperation with the North. He says they
should at least be able to find out whether their
relatives in the North are alive.
Although the broadly worded agenda for the summit will
allow both sides to bring up any issue, experts rule
out any agreement on such sensitive topics as the U-S
troop presence in South Korea or North Korea's nuclear
and missile programs. Yonsei University's Professor
Lee says the credibility of President Kim Dae-jung's
sunshine policy of engaging the North will depend on
whether he can build upon the contacts established at
the summit.
/// LEE ACTUALITY ///
What type of follow-up measures will there be? For
example, will Kim Jong-il come down to Seoul for a
second inter-Korean summit, and will there be
routinized high-level discussions? Will, for example,
the prime ministers of the two countries, meet again
on a regular basis to talk about economic issues,
separated families, and to basically enhance security
on the peninsula? So, if those follow-up measures do
occur within President Kim's remaining two and a half
years in office, then I would agree that his place in
history would be more secure. So he has to go well
beyond just a single summit this time.
/// END ACTUALITY ///
If the first meetings between the two leaders go
smoothly, working groups on the main issues are
expected to be set up.
/// REST OPT ///
Both sides have agreed that there will be no display
of national flags and no singing of national anthems
at the summit. And, in a departure for most visitors
to Pyongyang, the South Korean delegation will not
have to bow before the giant statue of North Korea's
late leader, Kim Il-sung. (signed)
NEB/HK/RW/JO
12-Jun-2000 17:58 PM EDT (12-Jun-2000 2158 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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