By Yi Whan-woo
North Korea secretly sought to arrange an inter-Korean summit in return for large-scale economic aid when former President Lee Myung-bak was in office, according to the former head of state.
In an extract of his forthcoming memoir released to the media, Wednesday, Lee claims that Pyongyang requested Seoul to arrange a summit through correspondence from its officials as well as through former Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao.
The memoir, titled "The President's Time," is an account of Lee's experiences in office from February 2008 to February 2013. It will be published on Feb. 2.
Lee wrote that all negotiations failed because he would not comply with demands from then-North Korean leader Kim Jong-il that a summit take place on basis of preconditions being met. Kim died in December 2011.
According to Lee, the North Korean leader proposed that the summit be arranged through a message delivered secretly in August 2009.
Lee dispatched then Labor Minister Yim Tae-hee, also a confidant of Lee, to Singapore in September 2009 to meet Kim Yang-gon and discuss related issues.
Kim Yang-gon heads the United Front Department (UFD), which is Pyongyang's main policymaker on inter-Korean issues.
Lee claims that Pyongyang demanded Seoul supply 400,000 tons of rice, 100,000 tons of corn, and 300,000 tons of fertilizer.
He stated that the impoverished regime also asked for petroleum tar worth $100 million for road construction and $10 billion in cash to set up a state-run bank for economic development.
According to Lee, then Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao hinted at Kim Jong-il's desire for an inter-Korean summit in October 2009 during an ASEAN+3 meeting in Thailand. The ASEAN+3 meeting involved 10 ASEAN member countries plus South Korea, China and Japan.
In November 2009, the repressive state reiterated its demand for economic aid during a meeting between working-level officials from the Ministry of Unification and their North Korean counterparts in Gaeseong, a border city in the North.
Pyongyang adopted a slightly different tactic in July 2010 in the wake of the North's sinking of the South's naval frigate Cheonan in March of that year, according to Lee.
The military regime asked for 500,000 tons of rice in return for accepting demands from the Lee government to make an apology for the deadly incident.
In December 2010, Pyongyang secretly sent a four-member delegation to visit Seoul and "made noticeable progress" toward a summit, according to Lee.
However, the delegates, including two high-ranking military officials, were executed for unknown reasons in 2011, Lee wrote, citing sources in Washington and Beijing.
The negotiations continued in 2011 in both Beijing and New York but instead, the two Koreas clashed over the sinking of Cheonan, Lee stated.
The two Koreas held the summit in June 2000 and October 2007.
In 2003, it was alleged that secret payments of millions of dollars had been made by the Kim Dae-jung administration to North Korea for a summit in June 2000.
Former ambassador to China Kim Ha-joong wrote in his memoir that Kim Jong-il rejected U.S. offer to visit Washington in December 2000.
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In an extract of his forthcoming memoir released to the media, Wednesday, Lee claims that Pyongyang requested Seoul to arrange a summit through correspondence from its officials as well as through former Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao.
The memoir, titled "The President's Time," is an account of Lee's experiences in office from February 2008 to February 2013. It will be published on Feb. 2.
Lee wrote that all negotiations failed because he would not comply with demands from then-North Korean leader Kim Jong-il that a summit take place on basis of preconditions being met. Kim died in December 2011.
According to Lee, the North Korean leader proposed that the summit be arranged through a message delivered secretly in August 2009.
Lee dispatched then Labor Minister Yim Tae-hee, also a confidant of Lee, to Singapore in September 2009 to meet Kim Yang-gon and discuss related issues.
Kim Yang-gon heads the United Front Department (UFD), which is Pyongyang's main policymaker on inter-Korean issues.
Lee claims that Pyongyang demanded Seoul supply 400,000 tons of rice, 100,000 tons of corn, and 300,000 tons of fertilizer.
He stated that the impoverished regime also asked for petroleum tar worth $100 million for road construction and $10 billion in cash to set up a state-run bank for economic development.
According to Lee, then Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao hinted at Kim Jong-il's desire for an inter-Korean summit in October 2009 during an ASEAN+3 meeting in Thailand. The ASEAN+3 meeting involved 10 ASEAN member countries plus South Korea, China and Japan.
In November 2009, the repressive state reiterated its demand for economic aid during a meeting between working-level officials from the Ministry of Unification and their North Korean counterparts in Gaeseong, a border city in the North.
Pyongyang adopted a slightly different tactic in July 2010 in the wake of the North's sinking of the South's naval frigate Cheonan in March of that year, according to Lee.
The military regime asked for 500,000 tons of rice in return for accepting demands from the Lee government to make an apology for the deadly incident.
In December 2010, Pyongyang secretly sent a four-member delegation to visit Seoul and "made noticeable progress" toward a summit, according to Lee.
However, the delegates, including two high-ranking military officials, were executed for unknown reasons in 2011, Lee wrote, citing sources in Washington and Beijing.
The negotiations continued in 2011 in both Beijing and New York but instead, the two Koreas clashed over the sinking of Cheonan, Lee stated.
The two Koreas held the summit in June 2000 and October 2007.
In 2003, it was alleged that secret payments of millions of dollars had been made by the Kim Dae-jung administration to North Korea for a summit in June 2000.
Former ambassador to China Kim Ha-joong wrote in his memoir that Kim Jong-il rejected U.S. offer to visit Washington in December 2000.
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