hankyoreh

Some people in some quarters are trying to minimize the significance and value of the inter-Korean summit taking place at the end of this month. This surely is because they are more worried about how the event might affect the presidential election than they are about having a successful summit. This is an attitude that judges the issues before the nation along partisan lines and must not negatively influence the summit.

In politics, it is only the Grand National Party that is having a sensitive reaction. The GNP issued an official statement opposing the summit shortly after it was announced by the government. It then took a step back from that position and now seems not to be actively opposed, all the while saying that the summit must not be used inappropriately in the presidential campaign. By the looks of things it is judging everything based on its relationship to the election. It is not becoming of the party with the most seats in the National Assembly, and the one that is best placed to win the presidency, to be fueling suggestions that there was some secret deal behind the agreement with Pyongyang to have a summit, without any evidence. It is also out of touch with the recent atmosphere in the GNP, which recently produced a profoundly changed position on North Korea, titled “Peace Vision for the Korean Peninsula.”

The Korean public is not as careless as politicians think in the judgments it makes regarding major issues facing the country. According to a Gallup Korea poll commissioned by The Chosun Ilbo, 75.6 percent of the country is favor of having this summit but only 35.5 percent think it will accomplish anything. In other words, there is a big gap between the perceived need for a summit and the expectations for its outcome. If the GNP truly desires a resolution to the North Korean nuclear issue and peaceful reunification, then the right thing to do would be to work together to narrow that gap. Once it does, it will have no reason to worry about how the summit might affect the election, and the country will come to have more confidence in the GNP’s position on North Korea.

Meanwhile, it is regrettable that Japan is having such a guarded response to the news. An inter-Korean summit will significantly contribute to progress in the six-party talks and discussion about a peace regime in Northeast Asia. The Japanese government and ruling Liberal Democratic Party, however, are falling by the wayside in the main flow of recent events by overly obsessing on the issue of abducted Japanese citizens, which is a bilateral issue. This is because Japanese leaders are putting domestic political calculations first.

We endorse the U.S. government’s request that abolition of North Korea’s nuclear program be a main topic on the agenda at the summit. But the United States must also be aware of the fact that North and South Korea have other important issues to discuss between themselves.

The results of the summit will be of help to the whole of the South Korean people and the Korean peninsula, transcending ideology and political factions. This is why everyone should cooperate where possible for the better good, despite political differences, instead of taking a cautious approach. In addition, the government should of course work to collect a wide range of views ahead of time, so as to make sure the summit does not fuel discord within South Korea.