Summit preparation in full swing
By Kim Rahn
Cheong Wa Dae is going all out for the inter-Korean summit as there are only 10 days left before the bilateral talks take place.
President Moon Jae-in and his aides at the presidential office as well as related ministries are setting up strategies and preparing for a seamless summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un slated for April 27.
Calling the current reconciliatory mood toward the summit “a glass bowl,” the Moon administration is taking a careful attitude, hoping to make the bilateral talks successful so it can lead to another success at the following summit between Kim and U.S. President Donald Trump over denuclearization of the North.
The slogan of the summit is, “Peace, a new start.”
A taskforce under the summit preparation committee, comprised of working-level officials from Cheong Wa Dae and foreign affairs, unification and defense ministries, have been monitoring the progress of preparation every day.
During the weekend, the two Koreas had their second working-level meeting to discuss communication channels including how to set up a hotline between Moon and Kim, as agreed during Moon's special envoys' visit to Pyongyang in early March.
Cheong Wa Dae officials said the meeting about the communication channel may take place a few more times, and the two leaders may be able to make their first phone call early next week before the bilateral talks.
Another working-level meeting on protocol, security and media coverage is scheduled for Wednesday. Most of the items on the issues are likely to be decided at that time, such as how Kim will cross the military demarcation line to the summit venue which is on the southern side of the truce village of Panmunjeom, and how Moon will greet Kim.
The two Koreas will also hold a high-level meeting soon to set the items on the agenda for the bilateral talks, with the exact date being under discussion.
Moon himself is also preparing for the summit, being briefed on the progress of preparation and refraining from participating in other events that could cause unnecessary political disputes before the historic moment.
On Thursday he listened to advice from former liberal government officials who played important roles in making the previous two inter-Korean summits happen. The next day he invited the main opposition Liberty Korea Party Chairman Hong Joon-pyo, who had been critical of the North for a meeting, and asked him not to oppose the upcoming summit but to support it.
The President did not participate in Monday's memorial ceremony for the victims of the ferry Sewol sinking but had Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon attend it on his behalf. Four years have passed, but the tragedy is still a bone of contention between liberal and conservative blocs over the then-conservative Park Geun-hye administration's poor response to the sinking.