Seoul says good results achieved at Pyongyang: Kim’s offer to extend summit rejected
SEOUL, Oct 3: South Korea’s president on Wednesday turned down a surprise offer from North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il to stay an extra day in Pyongyang for a historic summit, but said he was satisfied with the outcome.
“We estimate that the talks were sufficient and candid and have achieved good results,” Roh’s spokesman Cheon Ho-Seon said in comments broadcast live from Pyongyang.
“President Roh himself said he was satisfied with the outcome. We will be able to announce the outcome in the form of a declaration before tomorrow’s lunch.” The summit is only the second in the 59-year history of the communist North and capitalist South.
The offer of an extension was Kim’s second surprise of a meeting designed to end a half-century of hostility. Television footage showed that Roh, who had earlier spoken of disagreements and lack of trust, was clearly taken aback.
He said he would have to discuss it with his security and protocol teams.
“Can’t you make a decision, Mr President?” responded a joking Kim, whose own power in the hardline communist state is absolute. “The two leaders discussed Chairman Kim’s proposal for President Roh to extend his stay. They later agreed President Roh will return home as scheduled,” Cheon said earlier.
Despite Kim’s earlier extension offer, Cheon quoted the North Korean leader as saying later: “We had enough talks. I don’t see any need to extend it. Your people are waiting for your return. I think you better do it as scheduled.” Roh had described his morning session with Kim as “honest and frank” but said the two sides had some disagreements and must learn to trust each other.
He said he and Kim “didn’t share the same views in all aspects but confirmed our strong will to stabilise peace and the need to set a direction for the future.” Kim had first created a surprise when he made an unscheduled appearance Tuesday to welcome Roh — although he was unsmiling and taciturn.
The North Korean leader was noticeably warmer on Wednesday, smiling slightly as he shook hands with his guest before the start of the summit and asking him whether he had slept well.
The film buff also voiced gratitude to Roh for bringing along dozens of DVDs of South Korean films — which are banned in North Korea for fear that people could discover the prosperity of their neighbour.
Kim thanked the president for crossing the world’s last Cold War frontier by land, saying the symbolism was “very meaningful.” Roh, speaking to his delegation at lunchtime before a second session of talks, said both leaders want greater economic cooperation and exchanges to promote prosperity and reconciliation.
“I realised though we had an obstacle on one subject, which is the trust issue. In order to resolve many issues, we need to work harder to build trust,” he said.
The North wants the Seoul-funded industrial estate in its border city of Kaesong to be developed faster, he said.
The South sees Kaesong, which employs more than 13,000 North Koreans in 22 South Korean firms, as a flagship project to revive the North’s moribund economy and ease the massive costs of any eventual reunification.
“South Korea views the Kaesong industry project as a success. However, in terms of its speed, the North is not fully satisfied due to obstacles caused by North Korea’s nuclear issue,” Roh said.
Pyongyang’s nuclear programme, culminating in an atomic bomb test in October 2006, has soured relations for years. But progress in six-nation nuclear talks may have warmed the summit mood.
Seoul said peace and prosperity would be the overriding themes of this week’s meeting between two nations still technically at war following their 1950-53 conflict.
But any peace declaration would be mainly symbolic in the absence of a multilateral treaty.
Joint economic projects were high on the agenda. The South’s per capita income is almost 17 times higher than the North, where millions rely on international food aid.
Officials say the two sides could agree on participation by the South in major infrastructure and industrial development projects.—AFP
