By Kim Yon-se
Staff Reporter

South Korean enterprises are focusing their eyes on the undecided inter-Korean summit agenda after President Roh Moo-hyun hinted his talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il will mainly include economic cooperation.

The speculated agenda item includes the South's participation in the development of a gas field in the West Sea off North Korea, according to government offices such as the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy.

A government official said the two sides are mulling over how to include the joint development of the gas field in the list of major inter-Korean economic cooperation, which will be discussed in the summit, slated for Aug. 28-30 in Pyongyang.

He commented on the sea between Nampo Harbor, North Korea and Shandong Peninsula of China. The sea has been estimated to contain a great amount of oil and natural gas.

Between 1965 and 1985, North Korea performed joint exploration with companies from Norway, Sweden, Netherlands, Russia, Britain and Australia. An average of 450-barrels of crude oil per day were produced for a certain period from 1985.

In the late 1990s, the North's Kim promised the late Hyundai Group founder Chung Ju-yung that Pyongyang will provide Seoul with crude oil via pipe lines.

An economist at the Samsung Economic Research Institute said the two Koreas have already engaged in talks on a project to jointly develop underground resources in the North.

Accordingly, he said, the talks for the oil project would be feasible. But he added that the issue is how the South will receive permission from China, which also has the right to explore the oil and gas field.

Pyongyang and Beijing agreed to have the right of respective exploration into the field in late 2005.

In preparatory meetings in Gaeseong the South is reportedly proposing social overhead capital investments.

Furthermore, some people are speculating the possibility of negotiations for a free trade agreement (FTA)-like pact will be pushed after the summit as part of President Roh's commitment to establishing a joint economic zone on the Peninsula.

However, some experts for inter-Korean relations say these kind of economic projects are pie-in-the-sky unless there is further development in bilateral political and military talks.

Deputy Prime Minister and Finance-Economy Minister Kwon O-kyu, who is supposed to accompany Roh to Pyongyang, stressed the government's economic aid would be offered transparently in close coordination with the international community.

kys@koreatimes.co.kr