President Roh Moo-hyun proposed Tuesday that leaders of the two Koreas, the U.S. and China hold a summit as soon as possible to issue a declaration on the scrapping of North Korea's nuclear program and the signing of a Korean peace treaty.
Roh and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il signed a joint declaration in Pyongyang in early October calling for a three- or four-nation summit to discuss the termination of the 1950-53 Korean War and a Korean peace treaty. The Korean War ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty, leaving the peninsula technically in a state of war.
Local media have since speculated that Roh may seek the launch of summit talks with the U.S., China and North Korea before his retirement next February to declare the end of the Korean War and establish a new peace regime.
But the Bush administration has contended that the official declaration of the end of the Korean War will not be possible this year, saying the verifiable denuclearization of North Korea is a prerequisite.
Speaking to an international peace forum in Busan, Roh asserted that the four-nation summit declaration would serve as a milestone leading to the termination of the 1950-53 Korean War and the establishment of a new peace regime on the peninsula.
"It is meaningless to argue over the priority of the dismantlement of North Korean nuclear program, a Korean Peninsula peace treaty and the declaration of the end of the Korean War, because all the procedures would be time-consuming and turbulent," Roh said.
The dismantlement of North Korea's nuclear program and discussions on a Korean Peninsula peace treaty should, therefore, proceed simultaneously, he stressed.
"The names of the international peacemaking efforts shouldn't matter much, as they eventually converge in one single cause -- the termination of war on the peninsula and the buildup of peace. The four-nation summit declaration would lead North Korea to further accelerate the dismantlement of its atomic weapons program. Considering such a situation, the time remaining is not sufficient for the (U.S. President George W.) Bush administration," said Roh.
Apparently aware of Washington's cautious approach, Roh said at the seminar that North Korea's intention to dismantle its nuclear weapons program is clear.
"North Korea has an obvious willingness to abandon its nuclear program. I want to emphasize again that we should not fight over the priority of the peacemaking procedures. There is no other way but dialogue in settling the North Korean problems," said Roh.
(Yonhap)