By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter

President Lee Myung-bak urged North Korea Saturday to accept his "grand bargain" proposal to end the long-standing impasse with its nuclear weapons program in return for political and economic incentives.

Lee says that "the day draws near when North Korea should answer whether or not it will drop its nuclear program."

In a separate interview with British public broadcaster the BBC, Lee expressed his intent to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il this year to discuss the nuclear deadlock and peace on the Korean Peninsula.

Last year, Lee proposed the grand bargain initiative aimed at guaranteeing North Korea's security and economic aid from the five countries participating in the six-party denuclearization talks in exchange for the communist state's ending of its nuclear program. The talks involve the two Koreas, the United States, China, Japan and Russia.

"Five of the member countries of the six-way talks understand the grand bargain. If North Korea has the intention to drop its nuclear program, it may have interest in the proposal," Lee said during an interview with U.S.-based cable news channel CNN before leaving Switzerland late Friday for Seoul.

"The members will discuss the proposal with North Korea if the country returns to the talks."

Lee's overtures came after North Korea fired artillery shells over several days into waters near the inter-Korean sea border in the West Sea last week.

The President said the North's actions might be an attempt to press for a peace treaty with the United States as well as resume talks with the South.

Pyongyang has recently been seeking to hold talks to replace the Armistice Agreement on the peninsula with a peace treaty in the face of growing pressure to rejoin the six-party talks, which it boycotted over international sanctions imposed after its missile and nuclear tests last spring.

As for the economic outlook for 2010, Lee said during the CNN interview that the South Korea's economy is expected to grow an estimated 5 percent and the global economy is projected to expand more than 3.5 percent.

Asked whether the economic growth rate of 5 percent could lower South Korea's jobless rate, Lee said the rate will be able to catch up with domestic demands for jobs, but forecast that it won't be sufficient to create enough new jobs.

The nation's jobless rate stood at 3.5 percent in December, up from 3.3 percent a month earlier. The figure marked the second consecutive rise after falling to an 11-month low of 3.2 percent in October.

In an effort to create jobs, efforts should be made to enhance the service industry which lags behind advanced countries, he said.

gallantjung@koreatimes.co.kr