pyongyang Roh to Make Peace Settlement With Economic Development
By Yoon Won-sup
Staff Reporter
President Roh Moo-hyun said Tuesday that he will focus on producing a peace settlement and economic development on the Korean Peninsula during a summit with North Korea leader Kim Jong-il.
``There will be various items on the agenda for discussion, but, among other things, I intend to concentrate on making substantive and concrete progress that will bring about a peace settlement together with economic development,'' Roh said in a speech to the nation before making his departure to Pyongyang.
Roh said that the first inter-Korean summit in June 2000 had paved a new path for South-North relations and the second summit will remove stumbling blocks on the way and hasten the slow march.
Under this backdrop, the summit will be held in a calm and pragmatic manner, he said.
Turning to North Korea's nuclear issue, Roh said he will do his best to further the six-party process of denuclearization in North Korea at meetings with the North Korean leader. At the same time, he stressed that denuclearization and the peace system cannot go separately.
Denuclearization
``The issue of denuclearization and a peace regime on the Korean Peninsula cannot be ultimately resolved only through an agreement between the South and North,'' he said. ``But, I believe that the determination of the two Koreas is more crucial than anything else when it comes to outlining the basic direction and picking up the pace of the movement forward.''
He also pledged to narrow down the gap in understanding between the two Koreas with regards to the inter-Korean economic cooperation.
``Inter-Korean economic cooperation has made remarkable headway, but there still remain many obstacles along the road,'' he said. ``Many of those barriers can be attributable not only to international factors but also to the gap in understanding between the South and North.''
He said inter-Korean economic cooperation cannot be improved without overcoming the gap.
Meanwhile, he said his visit to Pyongyang could not be a panacea to resolve all the problems of inter-Korean relations given that his term of office has less than five months remaining.
He made clear that though he will not be overly ambitious, he will nevertheless not hold back or set restrictions on himself when meeting with Kim.