Opposition GNP Cynical Over Summit

GNP Floor Leader Ahn Sang-soo, left, speaks at a party meeting Thursday, while Kang Jae-sup, the party’s chairman, listens. / Yonhap

By Kang Hyun-kyung
Staff Reporter

Leaders of the main opposition Grand National Party (GNP) Thursday expressed skepticism about the inter-Korean summit slated for Oct. 2-4, urging the government to stay focused on disabling North Korean nuclear programs.

They also said the public is calling for more jobs to be created as well as feasible economic visions that can revive the economy.

Floor leader Ahn Sang-soo said, ``It seems that the summit preparation is featuring several one-off political events'' and the summit agenda does not contain concrete elements.

``The Roh Moo-hyun administration has addressed several side issues, failing to present core summit issues on the agenda. Government officials are interested in minor issues such as to what title would be suitable for the summit event and whether or not the President should watch the Arirang performance,'' Ahn said.

The third-term lawmaker said these issues are far from what the public expected to hear.

He said the public wants to be informed on what items Roh is going to discuss with the North Korean leader.

``They also want to know if the summit agenda serves the best interests of this country so that it can help the security situation move forward. Citizens are deeply concerned that the President is going 새 the summit without an agenda,'' Ahn said.

His comments came amid U.S. President George W. Bush's hardball stance with North Korea.

Bush described North Korea as one of ``brutal regimes that deny their people the fundamental rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration'' in a speech to the United Nations General Assembly on Sept. 25.

The six-party talks resumed Thursday, amid mounting speculation that North Korea and Syria may be cooperating on nuclear issues and that Israel's air raid on a Syrian facility Sept. 6 might have been due to this.

The six-party talks will end on Sunday followed by the inter-Korean summit next Tuesday.

Lawmakers of the conservative GNP reiterated the party's stance on the summit that the leaders of the two Koreas should deal with the nuclear issue as one of the core issues on the agenda.

``It's been almost a year since the North tested its nuclear bombs. But no outstanding progress has been made in the security deadlock so far,'' GNP Chairman Kang Jae-sup said.

The nuclear issue is difficult to tackle but nevertheless it should be confronted by the Roh administration at the summit, he added.

GNP leaders said they had met their constituents during the holiday and felt that the public wanted politicians to restore the economy.

hkang@koreatimes.co.kr

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