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Wed, July 6, 2022 | 03:38
Defense
Pyongyang offers talks for inter-Korean summit
"北, 엘더스에 남북정상회담 의지 피력"
Posted : 2011-11-13 16:37
Updated : 2011-11-13 16:37
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By Lee Tae-hoon

A senior North Korean official has expressed Pyongyang’s willingness to hold an inter-Korean summit to “The Elders,” a group of former state leaders and renowned global figures, a U.S.-based Korean scholar familiar with the group said Sunday.

The scholar said the official sought help from the group in holding a high-level meeting with South Korea early next year to negotiate a possible summit between its leader Kim Jong-il and President Lee Myung-bak.

"A North Korean official handling inter-Korean projects met key figures of The Elders in August in New York and asked them to convey the North's willingness to hold a high-level meeting in January to the South," Yonhap News Agency quoted the scholar as saying.

The scholar, asking for anonymity, said a delegation is scheduled to visit Seoul this week to deliver the proposal and then travel to Pyongyang to fine-tune the meeting.

“The North Korean official suggested that details of the high-level meeting should be fixed no later than the end of the year,” he said, adding that he asked a foreign and security policy official at Cheong Wa Dae to attend the preliminary talks.

According to a source, The Elders are considering joining the high-level inter-Korean talks as a third party, but has decided to exclude former U.S. President Jimmy Carter from the trilateral meeting.

The source said they will keep Carter away from participating in upcoming inter-Korean talks as the Lee administration has been at odds with the former U.S. President’s North Korean activities and advocacy of removing sanctions against the communist regime.

He said the global diplomatic team will likely choose former Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland as the head of its delegation and propose the meeting take place in January in Sweden, which has a policy of neutrality.

Returning from a three-day trip to the North in April, Carter said North Korean leader Kim was ready for a summit with President Lee at any time. The former U.S. President said he failed to meet Kim, but the latter expressed his intent to meet Lee at any time on any subject in a written message read to him by a North Korean official just before he left the communist regime.

President Lee, whose five-year term ends in early 2013, has expressed willingness to hold an inter-Korean summit as well, but insisted that Pyongyang must first take responsibility for past attacks and declare its intent to abandon its nuclear programs.

The North carried out two surprise attacks against the South near the maritime border in the West Sea, killing 50 people including two civilians

Lee, however, has softened his hard-line posture against Pyongyang in recent months in an apparent move to mend souring ties by replacing the unification minister and resuming aid to the Stalinist regime.

The two Koreas held summit meetings in 2000 and 2007 under Lee’s two liberal predecessors and agreed on a series of reconciliation and joint economic projects.

The inter-Korean relationship worsened after President Lee took office in February 2008 and took a tougher stance on the North, linking major aid and economic cooperation with the dismantlement of Pyongyang’s nuclear programs.

"北, 엘더스에 남북정상회담 의지 피력"
재미 한인 학자 "北 인사, 올 8월 뉴욕서 엘더스와 접촉해 고위급 회담 요청" 엘더스 실무진 이번 주초 남북한 순차 방문, 회담 주선할 듯 북한의 한 고위 인사가 세계 전직 국가수반들의 모임인 `디 엘더스(The Elders.이하 엘더스)'에 남북정상회담 의지를 피력한 것으로 알려졌다. 엘더스는 이번주 초(한국시간) 실무진을 서울로 파견해 북측의 강력한 대화 의지를 한국 정부에 전달한 뒤 곧바로 북한도 방문할 계획인 것으로 전해져 그 결과가 주목된다. 엘더스의 내부 사정에 정통한 한 재미 한인 학자는 13일(한국시간) 연합뉴스와의 통화에서 "대남 사업에 관여하는 북한의 고위 인사가 지난 8월 미국 뉴욕에서 엘더스 핵심 관계자들과 만났다"며 "그 자리에서 남북한 고위급 회담을 열자는 북의 의사를 남측에 전달해 달라고 요청했다"고 말했다. 이 학자는 북측이 뉴욕 접촉에서 "늦어도 올 연말에는 (고위급) 회담의 그림이 나와야 하지 않겠느냐"고 언급했으며, 고위급 회담의 남측 협상 대표단에 청와대 내 특정 외교안보 관계자가 포함됐으면 한다는 뜻도 전했다고 이 학자는 전했다. 고위급 회담에 대해 이 학자는 "남북정상회담을 위한 사전 단계의 성격으로 봐도 무방하다"고 말했다. 엘더스는 뉴욕 접촉 후 남북정상회담 개최를 주선하기로 하고, 이를 위해 내년 1월 엘더스가 참여하는 3자 형식의 고위급 회담을 추진하는 방안을 검토 중인 것으로 알려졌다. 엘더스는 특히 중립성을 표방하기 위해 고위급 회담을 내년 1월 제3국인 스웨덴에서 여는 방안을 검토 중이며, 한국에서 `친북 인사'란 비판을 받아온 지미 카터 전 미국 대통령을 이 회담 추진 과정에서 배제했다고 이 학자는 전했다. 엘더스는 회원인 그로 할렘 브룬틀란 전 노르웨이 총리를 고위급 회담 대표로 사실상 내정한 것으로 전해졌다. 이 학자는 "카터 전 대통령을 배제했다는 것은 엘더스와 카터에 대한 이명박 정부의 거부감을 고려한 것"이라고 덧붙였다. 엘더스는 지난 4월 카터 전 대통령을 단장으로 한 대표단이 북한을 방문한 뒤 한국을 찾아 "남북정상회담을 할 용의가 있다"는 북한 김정일 국방위원장의 메시지를 전달한 바 있다. (연합: 애틀랜타)
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