By Na Jeong-ju
Staff Reporter
President Lee Myung-bak's two-day trip to Shanghai was halfway successful in that he had an in-depth discussion with Chinese President Hu Jintao regarding the March 26 sinking of the Navy vessel Cheonan at the summit, but the question of how China will deal with North Korea, the prime suspect in the naval disaster, still remains unanswered.
At the start of the summit on Friday, Hu offered his condolences to the families of the 46 deceased South Korean sailors, the first time that the Chinese leader has publicly mentioned the incident, more than one month after it took place near the inter-Korean West Sea border.
Cheong Wa Dae officials hoped the Shanghai summit would lay the groundwork for cooperation between Seoul and Beijing on how to handle the aftermath of the naval tragedy.
However, some diplomatic sources predicted it would be difficult for South Korea to gain China's backing for a joint international response even if it finds hard evidence supporting North Korean involvement.
The Cheonan issue was one of the main topics at the closed-door meeting, along with the potential free trade agreement (FTA) between South Korea and China and ways to further develop their ``strategic cooperative partnership.'' The meeting lasted about half an hour.
``Lee and Hu spoke seriously on the sinking of the Cheonan,'' Lee Dong-kwan, senior presidential secretary for public affairs, told reporters. ``We believe the summit will pave the way for formal consultations between the two sides on the matter.''
President Lee informed the Chinese leader of the result of a preliminary investigation that suggested a close-range underwater explosion had broken the 1,200-ton patrol ship in two. He also promised to share the outcome of the ongoing examination with China once it is completed.
Last month, Seoul vowed to take the incident to the United Nations if Pyongyang is found to be responsible for the tragedy.
The biggest question is whether China and Russia will agree on punitive measures against North Korea, even if they are approved by other members of the U.N. Security Council.
``It is vital for South Korea to seek cooperation from China to effectively deal with North Korea, but the ties between the communist allies remain strong,'' a North Korea expert in Seoul said on condition of anonymity.
``Beijing, the biggest supplier of economic aid to Pyongyang, may not run the risk of damaging relations with the North, because it could cause security problems of its own.''
What makes a retaliatory action more unlikely is the stalled international negotiations on North Korea's nuclear program.
``In the face of calls to play a more active role to reactivate the denuclearization talks, China won't want to link the Cheonan issue to the denuclearization process,'' the expert said.
At the summit, Lee and Hu also exchanged views on signing an FTA between their countries and shared a common understanding that the process of forging the agreement should be accelerated as it is beneficial to both nations.
A Cheong Wa Dae official, however, cautioned that it won't take place overnight.
``It is easy to enter through the door to initiate talks on the FTA with China, but difficult to seal the deal and go out the exit door,'' the official said, asking not to be named. ``It will take some time, given various complicated issues.''
North Korea's No. 2 leader, Kim Yong-nam, was also visiting Shanghai for the opening of the 2010 World Expo.
President Lee and Kim both attended a welcome dinner hosted by Hu for foreign guests, but they did not have a direct encounter as they were seated at different tables.