South-North Summit Could be Discussed in Mid-April

A discussion between two Koreas for a South-North summit meeting may take place in mid-April.

Former Prime Minister Lee Hae-chan, who arrived in China after his visit to North Korea for four days, said on March 10, “An Inter-Korean summit meeting cannot proceed alone and it should go hand in hand with the six-party talks. The discussion may be possible in mid-April when plans to execute the initial steps are finished within 60 days.” Lee held a talk with correspondents stationed in Beijing, China at the Korean Embassy at China on that day and said, “We told the North that the South-North summit meeting should be decided on the process of five working-level meetings, such as the North-U.S. meeting to normalize their relations, and on how well the initial actions are implemented.”

He added, “The North agreed with us on this issue.”

If the six-way talks go smoothly and the North faithfully implements the agreement’s initial actions, a South-North summit meeting could take place earlier than expected.

However, he said, “I am not a special envoy and this visit was made at a party level. The South-North summit meeting was not the key agenda component.”

He said, “I visited North Korea as the head of the Uri Party`s Northeast Asia Peace Committee to establish peace in a rapidly changing Northeast Asia. I got the feeling that the North is determined to implement the February 13 agreement and they will take actions to build trust, which is vital in the North-U.S. relationship.”

He went on to say, “I strongly asked them to make humanitarian efforts for missing people during and around the Korean War during my visit. The North said they would make efforts to that end.”

He also said, “I told them that the site of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics will be decided in July and suggested jointly holding the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics with the North. The North showed a positive reaction. And the North said they are preparing for holding an exhibition of North Korean products in Korea and they asked us to actively participate in it. I replied that we would actively try.”

orionha@donga.com