Rescheduled summit focus shifts to solidifying six-party agreement

Posted on : 2007-08-20 09:58 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST
North Korea asks to postpone the summit to October 2-4 due to extensive flood damage

The two Koreas have postponed the second inter-Korean summit to October 2-4, following the North’s statement that it desperately needs time to return to normalcy and overcome extensive flood damage. The two sides also appear to be considering both internal and diplomatic schedules. As the second summit will take place 35 days later than originally planned, it is expected to affect both the six-party talks and inter-Korean relations.

North Korea asked for the second summit to be put off until early October because it is imperative that the country recover from recent flood damage and stabilize the lives of its people, according to representatives from both North and South. The North does not want to display a devastated Pyongyang, which it calls the “capital of revolution,” to the South.

Extensive flooding, which began August 7, has subjected the already impoverished North to further devastation as hundreds have been reported either dead or missing and thousands have been displaced. Flood damage has also ruined crops and destroyed portions of the nation’s infrastructure, including roads, railways, power lines and other facilities.

President Roh Moo-hyun is planning to participate in the upcoming Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation, or APEC, summit scheduled to take place in Sydney, Australia, early September. Roh had also been planning to take part in the opening ceremony of the U.N. general meeting slated for late September, however, with the inter-Korean summit now scheduled for early October, it is highly possible that Roh will cancel this engagement.

A government official said, “The later the summit is put off, the more negatively it will affect us. Early October is the earliest possible date, in consideration of various circumstances.”

Unification Minister Lee Jae-joung also remarked, “As the first of October is Armed Forces Day and the 10th of October is the North’s anniversary of the foundation of the Labor Party, we agreed to hold the summit from October 2-4.”

During the second-phase of the 6th round of six-party talks to be held in early September, the concerned parties will prepare a roadmap for the disablement of the North’s nuclear weapons program and corresponding measures. A separate six-party foreign ministers’ meeting will happen in Beijing at an appropriate time.

If the second inter-Korean summit were to have taken place on August 28-30 as planned, North Korean leader Kim Jong-il would have been able to exercise a positive effect on the six-party talks by declaring his will to implement the disablement of the nuclear program, observers said. With the postponement of the second summit, the focus will be put on solidifying the results of the six-party talks and on confirming the cooperation between the two leaders.

By delaying the summit for 35 days, the current South Korean government will have less time to materialize and institutionalize the results of the summit during the remaining months of its term before President Roh steps down following the presidential election on December 19 of this year.

Kim Seong-bae, chief researcher at the Institute for National Security Strategy, stressed the necessity of stepping up cooperation and implementation on the six-party agreement by strategically holding negotiations between the South and the North after the second summit.

Meanwhile, the South Korean military drills, Hwarang and Chungmu, which were initially planned to be held in tandem with the South Korea-U.S. joint military exercise, known as Ulchi Focus Lens, will commence after the second summit.