Tracking Number: 188959
Title: "Top Korean Official Sees Reunification by the Year 2000." A senior official of the Republic of Korea says he thinks reunification of the Korean peninsula will occur "certainly before the turn of the century." (910703)
Author: SHEVIS, JIM (USIA STAFF WRITER)
Date: 19910702
Text:
*EPF211
07/02/91 *
TOP KOREAN OFFICIAL SEES REUNIFICATION BY THE YEAR 2000
(Briefing by Roh's national security adviser) (410)
By Jim Shevis
USIA Staff Writer
Washington -- A senior official of the Republic of Korea says he thinks reunification of the Korean peninsula will occur "certainly before the turn of the century."
Kim Chong Whi, national security adviser to South Korean President Roh Tae Woo, told reporters July 2 that the reunification process will be "costly, painful, slow and difficult but, as with the Germans, once the process has started, nobody can stop it."
Briefing journalists on the meeting between Roh and President Bush held here earlier in the day, Kim said the two leaders assured each other their countries would maintain "close ties and cooperation" even after the unification.
Most of the discussions between Roh and Bush dealt with "the question of the changing situation in East Asia -- what kind of world order will be emerging in years to come," the South Korean official said.
Following the 40-minute Bush-Roh White House meeting, Richard Solomon, assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, told reporters that Roh expressed the "fervent desire of the Korean people for reunification as early as possible."
While there have been talks on the possibility of reunification at the prime-ministerial level -- a process the United States encourages and supports -- there is no dialogue on the topic today, Kim said.
"But sooner or later, I think a dialogue will resume. We are willing to be patient and flexible," he said.
South Korea's Kim, who attended the private meeting between Roh and Bush, along with Kim's U.S. counterpart, Brent Scowcroft, said he thinks "things will change, will not stay the same" for several reasons.
For one, Kim Il Sung is 79 years old and it is generally understood that he is not in good health. "After Kim, certain problems and policies of North Korea may not be the same as today," he said.
GE 2 EPF211 "Where once Kim Il Sung said something, it was almost like a bible. Even today, things are changing."
Also, North Korea is experiencing severe economic problems, Kim said. The country is isolated, its trade balance is in "extreme difficulty," and the gap between its gross national product and that of South Korea's is "widening, rather than narrowing," he said.
"I don't know how it is changing, but I am sure it is changing," Kim said.
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File Identification: 07/03/91, EP-211
Product Name: Wireless File
Product Code: WF
Keywords: KOREA (SOUTH)/Politics & Government; KOREA (NORTH)-KOREA (SOUTH)
RELATIONS; KOREA (SOUTH)-US RELATIONS; ROH TAE-WOO; STATE VISITS; SUMMIT MEETINGS; KIM CHONG WHI
Thematic Codes: 160; 1EA
Target Areas: EA
PDQ Text Link: 188959
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