pyongyang Favored and Troublesome Agenda of Summit
By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
The leaders of South and North Korea are set to begin talks over a broad range of issues concerning ways of improving cross-border relations, as well as achieving peace and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula during the second inter-Korean summit.
The following are issues that government officials and analysts say are expected to be discussed by President Roh Moo-hyun and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.
Peace Regime
President Roh Moo-hyun reiterated that he will focus on initiating talks on establishing a peace regime on the peninsula to formally end the 1950-53 Korean War during the 2007 South-North Korean Summit.
The war ended in a truce, not a peace treaty, leaving the two Koreas technically at war. The Korean armistice was signed by the U.S.-led United Nations, North Korea and China.
The momentum for a permanent peace mechanism has gained in recent months in line with progress at the six-party talks aimed at ending Pyongyang's nuclear ambition. Under a disarmament-for-aid deal reached in February with the United States, China, Russia, South Korea and Japan, the North has moved to disable its nuclear program.
President Roh is expected to seek an inter-Korean declaration for a multilateral peace regime, not a deal, as any pact on a peace treaty needs approvals from parties to the truce.
Denuclearization
Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula is high on the summit agenda. But chances for the leaders to forge any major agreement on the North's nuclear weapons program are slim, given that the South does not have leverage on the issue, which is being intensively discussed under the six-way framework involving the two Koreas, the United States, China, Japan and Russia.
New Engagement Programs
The Seoul government has unveiled plans for large-scale investment projects to help North Korea's tattered economy, dubbed a ``Marshall Plan'' for the North.
Roh plans to propose creating a second inter-Korean factory park in Haeju or Nampo, modeled on the Gaeseong Industrial Complex, in an effort to help build a ``common economic bloc'' on the peninsula.
The South would likely propose a package of investment plans to develop North Korea's major cities and build the infrastructure in the poverty-stricken North such as rebuilding roads and ports.
South Korea is also pressing to open more sites in North Korea for tourists. In addition, the two Koreas are to discuss South Korean-funded joint mining projects in the North.
Rail Links
Full-scale operation of cross-border railways is expected to be high on the agenda. Officials and experts say the railway issue is the most likely issue that can be agreed upon by the two leaders.
Seoul hopes the regular runs of the reconnected two inter-Korean railways will provide momentum for its new North Korean engagement schemes by cutting the cost for transportation of goods and materials between the two Koreas.
The two Koreas sent their first trains across the border earlier this year in a one-off run.
Sea Border
The two Koreas are expected to engage in a tug-of-war over military tension-reducing measures. Of them, the Northern Limit Line (NLL) in the West Sea is a hot button topic that can provoke public backlash in the South depending on the outcome of the talks.
North Korea wants to redraw the maritime border set by the United Nations at the end of the Korean War. Most South Koreans are opposed to the NLL rearrangement as it is considered a territorial concession.
In an interview with The Korea Times, Unification Minister Lee Jae-joung said the government is considering proposing ideas to turn the NLL and Demilitarized Zone into peace zones.
Arms reductions between the two Koreas are among the agenda.
Separated Families
Since the first inter-Korean summit in 2000, meetings between hundreds of thousands of families separated by the war have been arranged. But the meetings also have been suspended as a result of North Korea's nuclear issue.
More than 10,000 have been reunited but pressure is on to speed up and regularize meetings to allow elderly Koreans to see long-lost relatives before they die.
Abductees and POWs
The repatriation of South Koreans abducted by the North and prisoners of war (POWs) is one of the most troublesome topics that the South will likely skirt around during the summit.
The Seoul government has been reluctant to handle the issue for fear of harming relations with the North. About 480 South Korean citizens kidnapped by the North after the war are thought to be alive.
Human Rights
North Korea has one of the world's worst human rights records, such as tortures, public executions and political prison camps.
South Korean officials, however, said they will not force the issue.