hankyoreh

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak on Thursday proposed that the two Koreas set up a high-level diplomatic channel and create the first liaison offices in the two countries' capitals.

Lee, who arrived here Wednesday for a Camp David summit with U.S. President George W. Bush on Saturday, made the attention-getting proposal in an interview with the Washington Post.

"Both South and North Korea must change their ways. It is not sufficient for North Korea to resort to their old ways," Lee said, referring to a series of recent provocative threats from the communist North.

Lee then said that he wanted to establish a permanent channel so the two countries could have regular dialogue, rather than intermittent contact elicited by crises, and the offices should be headed by officials with direct access to the leaders of each country.

"Between the two Koreas, we need to always have dialogue going on. In the past, we had dialogue between the two Koreas whenever there was a need, and when there wasn't a need, the dialogue would close. I don't think that is helpful," said the president.

In an hour-long interview with Washington Post Chairman Donald Graham, Lee reiterated his four principles in handling inter-Korean economic cooperation -- progress on North Korean nuclear issues, economic feasibility, financial capacity and value, and national consensus.

"Full-scale economic cooperation with North Korea will be linked to progress in its denuclearization, but the food shortage crisis facing the North Korean people should be approached from the humanitarian perspective," said Lee.

"My predecessors attached greater importance to inter-Korean relations than the nuclear settlement. But my new government will prioritize the denuclearization of North Korea. It's important to persuade the North that abandonment of its nuclear program would be economically beneficial," he said.

On the six-party talks on ending North Korea's nuclear weapons programs, Lee consented to the recent proposal by the U.S. to have the North acknowledge U.S. concerns and evidence about its apparent efforts to enrich uranium and its suspected nuclear trade with Syria. He stressed that the most important thing for now is to deter nuclear proliferation by North Korea.

Asked if China would fill a power vacuum in the wake of a possible collapse of the North Korean regime, Lee rejected the assumption of the North's sudden collapse.

"China has been very careful in dealing with territorial issues involving North Korea and other neighboring countries. Thus it is difficult to imagine that China would hastily attempt to occupy foreign soil," said Lee.

WASHINGTON, April 17 (Yonhap)