Summit may boost South Korea's governing party in elections

April 11, 2000
Web posted at: 5:47 p.m. HKT (0947 GMT)

SEOUL, South Korea (CNN) -- South Korean President Kim Dae-jung is warning people not to expect too much from the June summit with North Korean leaders, but says the talks will be an important step towards improving relations on the Korean Peninsula.

"The national issues, which have been divisive for a half century, cannot be resolved overnight," Kim told a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday.

AUDIO Yonsei University's Lee Chung-Min comments on Kim Jong-Il's decision to join talks 140k/12 sec. AIFF or WAV sound     RESOURCES TIME: 'North Korea Has to Work With Us' TIME: Verdict On Kim Asiaweek: Evaluating Kim Asiaweek: The (Korean) Art of Politics as Usual     MESSAGE BOARD North and South Korea

Meanwhile, the announcement that Kim Dae-jung will meet North Korean counterpart Kim Jong Il is expected to help South Korea's governing party in Thursday's general elections. However, Kim Dae-jung's Millennium Democracy Party trails the Grand National Party.

South Korean Unification Minister Park Jae-kyu announced Monday that the Koreas, still technically at war, would hold their first ever summit from June 12 to 14 in North Korea's capital of Pyongyang. Officials from the North made a simultaneous announcement.

The agenda is expected to include economic assistance, investment, and reunions of families separated when war broke 50 years ago. The 1950-53 war ended with an armed truce, but a final peace agreement was never signed. There are 37,000 U.S. troops still stationed in the South to guard against any provocation by the North.

But GNP officials have called the summit a ploy by the government to win the hotly contested National Assembly elections. "No regime in history has turned to such a blunt and shameless trick to win an election," the party said in a statement.

On Tuesday, more than 1,000 candidates made last-ditch appeals to South Korea's 33 million voters. Many people consider the elections to be a mid-term evaluation of Kim Dae-jung's economic and North Korean policies.

last year's naval clash on the Yellow Sea was an example of ongoing tensions between North and South Korea

The most recent polls indicated that the right-of-center GNP, which has governed the country in the past, was leading in 107 constituencies. Two hundred and seventy-three constituencies are being contested. The MDP was ahead in 97 ridings, and small parties and independents split the remainder.

The opposition had been making inroads by playing on conservatives' fears and suspicions about the enemy to the North. But some believe that changed with Monday's announcement.

"We expect the talks to occur and we're just trying to sort out the details," said an administration official.

North and South leaders were supposed to meet six years ago in a deal brokered by former United States president Jimmy Carter, but that summit never happened because the North Korean leader, Kim Il Sung died. When the south refused to express condolences, the two countries returned to their icy state. Until this weekend the North had said it must barter with the United States, and rejected dealing directly with the South.

Analysts say North Korea's need to build outside relationships to help overcome its economic troubles may have urged North Korea's leader to agree to a meeting

But high level diplomatic talks between the United States and communist North Korea will now occur, administration officials told CNN on Monday.

The two most important issues for the U.S. and North Korea are reining in North Korea's nuclear weapons program and the development of its ballistic missile systems.

North Korea is hoping to increase Western food aid as it struggles to end years of famine. It is also interested in being removed from the State Department's list of nations engaged in the support of terrorism.

The United States, Russia and China welcomed word of the upcoming Korean summit, with the Russian Foreign Minister saying Russia hoped the talks "will open the way for peaceful co-existence and cooperation between North and South Korea in a constructive spirit..."

37, 000 US troops help maintain peace on the Korean peninsula

U.S. President Bill Clinton said dialogue was the way to end the troubles of the divided peninsula. "Direct dialogue between the two Koreas is something we have long advocated, and is fundamental to solving the problems of the Korean peninsula.

China, which with the former Soviet Union was Pyongyang's main backer during the Cold War, said Beijing had been consistent in seeking to preserve and advance peace and stability on the peninsula through dialogue.

In Japan, foreign minister Yohei Kono said, "We strongly expect this meeting will lead to further progress in a dialogue between the South and the North, and to easing tensions ..."

The last high-level talks between the North and South were in 1991, which led to the signing of a "basic agreement" on improving ties. But that has never been implemented.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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Korean Central News Agency
North Korean Government
CIA World Factbook 1999: North Korea
North Korea: Politics & Government (University of Oregon)
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South Korea : Government (Asiaco)

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