hankyoreh

South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun said Wednesday that his upcoming summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il will enhance the success of six-party talks aimed at denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula.

In his Liberation Day speech, Roh said further progress in the six-party denuclearization forum will also help establish a permanent peace regime on the peninsula, the Cold War's last frontier.

"The six-party talks and inter-Korean dialogue will create synergies for peaceful co-existence of two Koreas. The successful progress of the six-party talks would lead to the formation of a Korean Peninsula peace regime," he said.

"The Korean Peninsula would emerge as the economic hub of Northeast Asia if the armistice is converted into a permanent peace treaty and inter-Korean economic cooperation is further strengthened."

Wednesday marked the 62nd anniversary of Korea's liberation from Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule. The two Koreas, divided in 1945, are still technically at war, with no peace treaty signed at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War.

The two Koreas, the U.S., China, Russia and Japan are members of the six-nation forum established to eliminate North Korea's nuclear weapons program. Under an agreement reached in February, North Korea is required to eventually disable nuclear programs in return for broad-ranging political and economic rewards.

Roh said he will aim to attain gradual and practical progress in inter-Korean relations during his summit with Kim in the North's capital, Pyongyang, on Aug. 28-30.

"I won't be overzealous at the upcoming summit. I'll take a step-by-step approach and seek to produce practical progresses.

Above all, mutual understanding, confidence building and compromising attitude are important. I'll engage in dialogue for the future, not in argument," Roh aid.

The formation of a unified economic zone, Roh said, will be the eventual goal of the summit talks, raising speculation that the Korean leaders may reach an agreement on large-scale economic cooperation projects which would require massive South Korean investment.

Diplomatic watchers also forecast that the Roh-Kim summit will likely pave the way for a four-way summit between the two Koreas, the U.S. and China, accelerating multilateral discussions on permanent peace for the Korean Peninsula.

During a summit in Vietnam last November, Roh and U.S.

President George W. Bush exchanged opinions on the signing of a peace treaty between the two Koreas to formally end the Korean War and restore peace on the peninsula.

About 28,000 U.S. troops are currently stationed in South Korea, a legacy of the Korean conflict.
SEOUL, Aug. 15 (Yonhap News)