Inter-Korean diplomacy hits world stage

During the greatest-ever Millennium Summit scheduled for Sept. 6-9in New York, with heads of state and attendants from more than 162 nations, many expect a great deal of focus and attention on the diplomacy of the two Koreas.

For South Korean President Kim Dae-Jung, the U.N. Millennium Summit will mark his first outing into the international diplomacy arena since the inter-Korean Summit.

Although North Korea will be represented by Supreme People`s Assembly President Kim Young-Nam, the ceremonial head of state, it still will represent a great opportunity for Western nations, including the United States, Japan and the European Union to establish progressive relationships with North Korea.

In addition, as the two Korean leaders already have agreed to make concerted efforts to obtain the chairman`s statement supportive of the inter-Korean normalization talks, the upcoming meeting will be the first testing ground for inter-Korean collaborative diplomacy.

Kim Dae-Jung`s multi-faceted diplomacy:

President Kim is scheduled to hold summits with President Clinton of United States, Chinese President Jiang Zemin, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"It is the first time in history for a Korean president to hold consecutive summits with four superpowers at an international diplomacy stage," a Korean government source said. "Currently, the schedule of the meetings is being worked out."

During the summits, President Kim is expected to clarify the state of affairs in the peninsula since the inter-Korean Summit, and request understanding and cooperation for the improvement of South-North bilateral relationship and for stability and peace in the peninsula.

On the first day of the U.N. meeting, President Kim and the North`s head of state Kim Young-Nam have agreed to hold a talk. Accordingly, President Kim is expected to lay out a multiple and multidimensional diplomacy at an international stage with heads of state from all over the world for the negotiations on the South-North issued and discussion with the four major powers for the future of the peninsula.

Possibility of South-North-U.S. three-party talks:

Another concern for many is the question of a North-U.S. meeting. Should there be one? How will it go?

Many in the Seoul government agree that although there hasn`t been any visible progress in the establishment of amicable relationship between North Korea and the United States, there will most likely be a meeting of some sort even so.

However, most agree that a one-to-one meeting between People`s Chairman Kim and President Clinton is unlikely. Without first being removed from the terrorist nations list, the possibility of a summit between the two states is slim.

Although there could be a possibility of bilateral talks between People`s Chairman Kim Young-Nam and U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, many point out that North Korea has always been very sensitive concerning the diplomat grading and may back off.

As such, a careful suggestion is being made for three-party South-North-U.S. talks. For the United States, it would be the greatest achievement for President Clinton to stand between the two heads of state of the region, which represents the last cold war frontier in the world.

Boo Hyung-Kwon bookum90@donga.com