hankyoreh

By Cho Hye-jeong and Park Byong-su, staff reporters

The first summit meeting between South Korean President Park Geun-hye and US President Barack Obama is a significant occasion, where the two countries will be strengthening their cooperation and stepping up coordination on peace and prosperity in Northeast Asia. This year in particular, there are plans for the two leaders to deliver a joint statement to mark the 60th anniversary of the US-ROK alliance, which began with the signing of the Mutual Defense Treaty in 1953. To honor the significance of the occasion, they will be affirming their trust and discussing ideas for moving forward.

This is reflected in the slogan chosen for the event: "Bound by trust, forward together." Blue House spokesman Yoon Chang-jung said, "Hopefully, this summit will be about establishing trust between the two leaders to carry a solid alliance forward, and also about stepping up the level and content of the collaborations between the two administrations over the next four years."

The question on many minds now is whether the plans will include taking the alliance beyond the military level, producing a more advanced agreement than the 2009 "Future Vision" in which Obama and then-President Lee Myung-bak agreed to develop a comprehensive and strategic alliance. The agenda appears set to include a number of issues where the two sides are divided, including the transfer of wartime operational command to South Korea and their respective shares of USFK expenses. Park is particularly intent on addressing the Atomic Energy Agreement, which was recently extended for two years after no agreement could be reached on its amendment, and expanding the quota for professional visas.

The leaders will also be sharing their ideas on issues of peace and prosperity in the Northeast Asia, including on the North Korean nuclear program. Park has already said she plans to go over the "Seoul process," her idea of multilateral cooperation in the region, while she is in the US. It would involve countries in the region extending their cooperation from non-political to political areas on the basis of trust, and North Korea would be part of the process. The US, for its part, is likely to ask for South Korea's participation in the Transpacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA), which it is currently spearheading.

"We expect the two leaders to discuss ideas for coordinating closely on North Korea policy and strengthening their partnership on major global agenda items, including ideas for a Northeast Asian peace agreement, climate change, and development cooperation," Yoon said.

Pressure is on for Park to find the key to addressing the North Korean nuclear issue and inter-Korean relations during her visit.

Kim Joon-hyung, a professor of international studies at Handong Global University, stressed the need to concretely address coordination on the nuclear issue, North Korean provocations, and the Kaesong Industrial Complex situation.

"This summit could very easily end up with the leaders simply reaffirming the strengthening of their alliance," he warned. "They need, for example, to affirm what the standards are for the 'sincerity' they demand from Pyongyang."

Moon Chung-in, a professor of political science at Yonsei University, said the summit would only be helpful in promoting peace if Park and Obama discuss how to proceed with inter-Korean ties, relations between Pyongyang and Washington, and the six-party talks on the nuclear issue.

"Both Beijing and Pyongyang are listening very closely to what they say at the talks. Park needs to take the initiative, telling Obama, 'Here's what we're doing for the Korean Peninsula trust-building process, and here's what we need the US to do,'" he said.

Rep. Moon Hee-sang, chair of the emergency committee for the Democratic United Party, said Park's meeting with Obama needed to be "an occasion for restarting operation at the Kaesong complex and getting the ball rolling for Seoul-Pyongyang and Pyongyang-Washington dialogue."

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