By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
President Lee Myung-bak said Sunday that he believes North Korea still remains undecided on denuclearization and has shown few signs of making such a decision.
Lee made the remarks during a luncheon at the ASEAN+3 Summit in Thailand.
The remarks came at a time when speculation is growing that a summit between Lee and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il will take place soon as the communist North has recently shown its willingness to improve cross-border ties.
The international community should take concerted efforts to induce Pyongyang to come forward for dialogue while implementing the United Nations resolutions against the North's provocative steps, including the launch of inter-continental ballistic missiles and nuclear tests, Lee said.
Lee lamented that despite the global community's strong efforts, the impasse with North Korea's nuclear weapons program has continued and, in some ways, become worse.
The President referred to his ``grand bargain'' initiative aimed at guaranteeing North Korea's security and economic aid in return for the regime's removal of its nuclear program as a solution to the deadlock.
Lee Dong-kwan, senior presidential secretary for public relations, denied Saturday that there were talks of an inter-Korean summit.
He reiterated that a summit would only happen if North Korea first agreed to completely give up its nuclear ambitions.
According to the U.S. State Department, Sung Kim, the U.S. special envoy to the six-party nuclear talks, met on Saturday with Ri Gun, director general of the North American Affairs Bureau of North Korea's Foreign Ministry. The two discussed Pyongyang's denuclearization. Ri arrived in New York, Friday, to attend a series of seminars.