Three-way summit likely after Clinton's Pyongyang visit

President Kim Dae-Jung said Saturday that the leaders of South Korea, the United States and Japan might meet in Seoul for a three-way summit if U.S. President Bill Clinton travels to North Korea. Kim told chiefs of local government and public organizations and civic leaders from Taegu and North Kyongsang Province invited to a dinner with him that Seoul would be the international center of Korean affairs from now on.

The three nations should work together to keep North Korea on the right track, the President said, and the focus of the tripartite cooperation has to shift from its past preoccupation with security to improving ties with Pyongyang for the future. He refuted the argument that South Korean food aid to the North is too generous, comparing its worth of US$150 million, including fertilizer, with the US$1.4 billion that was offered Russia at the time of diplomatic normalization. Further aid will come in the form of voluntary investments from private businesses acting on their own calculations or international organizations, Kim added. South Korea is not straining itself too much and does not have to do so, he said. "It is necessary in many ways to help our hungry Northern compatriots to some degree."

Choi Young-Mook ymook@donga.com