hankyoreh

he South Korean political world has made many requests for the agenda of the second South-North summit. The main opposition Grand National Party (GNP) has placed an emphasis on resolving the nuclear issue and other military concerns, while the opposition Democratic Labor Party (DLP) has put reunification and reconciliation at the forefront of its list of requests.

The GNP urged the government to concentrate its efforts on concluding the dismantlement of the North’s nuclear program - and let the next president settle the procedures for establishing a peace regime, such as signing a peace treaty and declaring peace on the Korean Peninsula. The party is also advocating to include reunions of separated families, repatriation of abductees in the North and elimination of human rights abuses in North Korea as the main issues on the agenda.

GNP Chairman Kang Jae-sup said, on August 9, “Dismantlement of the North’s nuclear program should be part of the central agenda for the summit, but discussions of a loose confederate state, the Northern Limit Line in the West Sea and the abolishment of the National Security Law should not.”

Rep. Chung Hyung-geun of the GNP stressed reunions of separated families and repatriation of the kidnapped in North Korea. Rep. Chung was the architect of the party’s more relaxed stance on the North, which would allow for an inter-Korean summit and expansion of South-North economic cooperation.

“If the summit contributes to settling peace and opening the North, and can produce concrete results in the problems related to separated families and abductees in the North, we will value its meaning,” Chung said.

Former Prime Minister Lee Hae-chan, who took part in the meeting of the Uri Party’s Northeast Asia Peace Committee, remarked, “When I proposed the idea of holding a South-North summit to President Roh Moo-hyun at the Jeju Peace Forum in June, I suggested that we regularize the summit, reduce ground forces, control military expenses, engage a liaison, make peaceful and joint use of the DMZ, resume reunions of separated families, confirm the MIAs (missing in action) in the Korean War, and expand the South-North economic exchange and cooperation complex as part of the summit agenda,” he said. “Outside of these, I also suggested that we discuss current affairs that I will announce after the two Koreas reach an agreement to some degree,” he added.

The opposition Democratic Labor Party (DLP) suggested five issues for the summit agenda: forming a joint promotion organization to reach an agreement on the road to reunification, consolidating laws and systems to establish trust between the South and the North, opening dialogues to reduce weapons, preparing strategies to build an economic community and promoting South-North social and cultural exchange.