Lee invites NK leader to nuclear summit

By Lee Tae-hoon

President Lee Myung-bak said Monday that he was willing to invite North Korean leader Kim Jong-il to the Nuclear Security Summit to be held in Seoul next year, if Pyongyang makes genuine commitments toward denuclearization.

Lee’s proposal indicates that he is ready to reengage with Kim should the latter come up with a concrete plan for denuclearization.

“I am willing to invite North Korean leader Kim Jong-il to the Nuclear Security Summit to be held in Seoul next spring should he firmly agree to denuclearization,” he said in a press conference that followed his summit with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin.

Lee is on a trip to three European nations, and Germany was his first stop.

He said that the North would be ensured of a “bright future” if it takes up his offer.

Separately, a senior presidential official said Pyongyang’s termination of its enriched uranium program and acceptance of International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors at its nuclear sites were preconditions for economic assistance.

“The North may express its commitment to denuclearization at an inter-Korean chief nuclear negotiators meeting, which South Korea proposed earlier, and then agree on a roadmap at the six-party talks,” the official said on condition of anonymity.

“In a nutshell, Pyongyang must make it clear that it is willing to dismantle all nuclear programs within a certain time framework first. Once this is done, the five other governments involved in the talks and the international community will be able to outline an assistance plan for it.”

The official noted that Lee’s invitation to Kim to attend the nuclear summit should not be viewed as an offer for an inter-Korean summit.

The President discussed the invitation during talks with Merkel, along with other inter-Korean issues during which he thanked the Chancellor for her support, especially following the North’s deadly shelling of Yeonpyeong Island late last year.

The North launched a surprise attack on the border island off the western coast on Nov. 23, killing four South Koreans including two civilians.

Lee and Merkel also exchanged their views on economic cooperation, renewable energy and Northeast Asian affairs.

At an inaugural summit in Washington, D.C. last April, 47 participating world leaders unanimously backed Seoul as the host of the Nuclear Security Summit.

Seoul and Washington have been pushing to address the North Korean nuclear issue at the U.N. Security Council as they say Pyongyang’s uranium program poses a grave threat to the international community.

The Stalinist North is widely believed to have several plutonium-based nuclear bombs. Last year it unveiled the enriched uranium program to a visiting U.S. nuclear scientist.

But China, a decades-long benefactor of North Korea and a permanent U.N. Security Council member, is opposed to the allies’ efforts.