Korea and Germany Hold Summit Meeting

President Roh Moo-hyun, who is on a state visit to Germany, discussed cooperation for North Korea’s reform and opening, and a plan to expand trade and investment between the two countries with German President Horst Köhler at a summit held in Charlottenburg Palace (Schloss Charlottenburg) in the morning of April 11 (German time).

Prior to attending the summit, President Roh had a meeting with the Koreans residing in Germany at the InterContinental Hotel Berlin where he stays, on the afternoon of April 10. He criticized North Korea by saying that once the two Koreas agreed the Denuclearization

of the Korean Peninsula in 1992, the North should keep its promise, whatever its decisions are abroad. He added that the North should not think that it has the right to possess nuclear arms and break the consent between the two Koreas on the grounds of a threat from U.S.

President Roh further emphasized that in the South’s relations with North Korea, the South sometimes needs to express its discomfort and criticize the North, and that the South can’t always comply with the North, which unilaterally cut off the official dialogue between the two Koreas.

In addition, President Roh made it clear that the North closed the door against the South, considering the entry of 460 North Korean defectors via Vietnam as hostile actions against the North, that it is also reasonable for North Korea to request a fertilizer aid at the official dialogue table, and that it is hard to establish a healthy relationship between the South and the North when one side is being dragged by the other, ignoring each side’s position.

Regarding a summit meeting between South Korea and North Korea, President Roh stated that he wanted to hold a summit but North Korean leader Kim Jong Il didn’t reply, even though Kim was supposed to come, according to the joint declaration of June 15, 2000, and that although two Koreas agreed at the time, following procedures can be advanced while even one of the agreement is being under way.

Jung-Hun Kim jnghn@donga.com