South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun's upcoming visit to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) will facilitate the establishment of a mechanism of inter-Korean summit meetings, a South Korean professor said.
Roh plans to visit Pyongyang on Oct. 2-4 and hold a summit meeting with the DPRK's top leader Kim Jong-il.
The summit will be the second inter-Korean summit in history. In June 2000, then South Korean president Kim Dae-jung paid a historic visit to Pyongyang and held the first-ever inter-Korean summit with Kim Jong-il.
In an exclusive interview with Xinhua, Ahn Yin-hay, a professor of international studies at Korea University, said that since the first inter-Korean summit, South Korea and the DPRK have made several contacts with one another over the possibility of a new round of summit meetings, which was not realized because of DPRK-U.S. relations and the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula.
The main task of Roh's visit is to carry forward the inter-Korean summit and make it a new starting-point for the final establishment of a peace regime on the peninsula, said Ahn, who is also a member of the Policy Advisory Council in the Unification Ministry and the National Security Council of the Presidential Office.
The historic summit in 2000, the first-ever inter-Korean summit since the Korean Peninsular was divided 55 years ago, brought about reconciliation and cooperation on the peninsula, which remained in a state of cold war of antagonism and confrontation, she said.
The first inter-Korean summit has inaugurated a new era for South Korea and the DPRK, Ahn said, adding that the second one will keep the sound momentum of exchange and cooperation between the two sides.
Nevertheless, the professor did not expect too much for the results of the upcoming summit, saying the biggest obstacle in the breakthrough of inter-Korean relations is the nuclear issue on the peninsular, which has not been totally resolved yet.
The international community, including countries concerned in the six-party talks, should make concerted efforts to help the DPRK disable its nuclear facilities and completely abandon its nuclear programs, she added.
Ahn said the improvement of inter-Korean relations will push forward the six-party talks.
During Roh's visit, South Korea and the DPRK are expected to reaffirm their commitments in a 1992 joint declaration about denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula.
She described the South-North Joint Declaration, signed during the first inter-Korean summit, as the first "declaration of unification" between South Korea and the DPRK, in which the two sides, "recognizing that a proposal for federation of lower stage advanced by the North side and a proposal for confederation put forth by the South side for the reunification of the country have elements in common," agreed to work for the reunification in this direction in the future.
During the second summit, the two sides will seek common prosperity and development by putting forward more practical objectives, Ahn said.
Recently, the South Korean government reiterated that the economic cooperation between the two sides in the future will be adjusted toward the direction of mutual benefit.
South Korea and the DPRK should seek complementary cooperation projects to realize this goal, the professor concluded.
Source: Xinhua
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