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South Korea unruffled by north-south summit delay

June 12, 2000
Web posted at: 10:44 a.m. HKT (0244 GMT)

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SEOUL, South Korea -- A historic summit of longtime foes North and South Korea has been pushed back to Tuesday, one day later than scheduled, with Pyongyang reportedly citing technical reasons for the delay.

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"We have waited for the summit for 55 years, why can't we wait one more day?" said South Korean spokesman Park June-young from the capital of Seoul, quoting President Kim Dae-jung.

Kim and his 180-member delegation will travel to the North Korean capital of Pyongyang on Tuesday rather than Monday. They will meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and others in a three-day session.

North Korea requested the delay late Saturday in a telephone message sent through Panmunjom, a border village inside the Demilitarized Zone that separates the two Koreas. Officials cited "technical reasons" for the delay, including taking steps to provide adequate security for South Korean visitors.

North Korean authorities also were said to be annoyed after South Korean media disclosed details of Kim's itinerary in North Korea. The two countries had agreed not to disclose the summit schedule.

The Koreas have been locked in a Cold War standoff more than 50 years. In the early 1950s, U.S.-led forces fought Chinese- and Soviet-backed North Korean troops in the Korean War, which ended in an armed truce and unwavering political tension.

As the years passed, the fortunes of the two countries, one communist and one pro-Western, have changed. Previously disdainful of its southern neighbor, an impoverished North Korea now is hoping for help from prosperous South Korea in the way of food and other aid.

The two countries agreed to a summit in 1994. But North Korean leader Kim Il Sung died at age 82 only weeks before he was to meet with South Korean counterpart, Kim Young-sam.

Although the South Korean government has warned not to expect too much from this first-ever summit, South Korean citizens view the meeting as a chance to ensure peace for future generations.

"It is historically significant and potentially very important to the security of the United States and the international community," Bob Gallucci, a former U.S. State Department official, told CNN on Sunday.

In exchange for economic aid, South Korea hopes to convince Pyongyang to permit the reunions of families separated when the Korean War broke out.

North Korea on Saturday repeated its demand that the United States withdraw its 37,000 troops from South Korea.

"It is ... prerequisite for peace and stability in the region to force U.S. troops to withdraw from northeast Asia, including the Korean peninsula," North Korea's state-run newspaper Minju Jolson said in a commentary carried by the Korean Central News Agency.

Seoul, however, wants to avoid talking about the American troops, which it sees as a deterrent to North Korean threats.

The prospect of warmer relations between North and South Korea is drawing international attention.

Washington is expected to announce soon an easing of Korean War-era sanctions that could pave the way for trade and investments in a wide range of goods and services.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will make an unprecedented visit to North Korea next month to support efforts to reconcile the two Koreas.

On Sunday, Pope John Paul II praised the two Korean leaders for agreeing to meet.

"I join all people of goodwill in congratulating the leaders of the two countries for this initiative in the hope that dialogue and exchange can contribute to the reconciliation of the two peoples and the reunion of families which have been separated for half a century now," the pope said in his weekly address.

Seoul Bureau Chief Sohn Jie-Ae, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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