Seoul Suggests ROK-US Summit Talks Next Month

The Korean government is reported to have officially asked Washington to hold R.O.K.-U.S. summit talks around June in the U.S. during the visit of Christopher Hill, U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs to Seoul. Some diplomatic sources in Washington said, “The offer for Hill was formally accepted by the U.S. State Department. It is known that the White House and the State Department would continue to have a discussion with the Korean government,” he said.

Korean government officials said, “It is not true that South Korea suggested the idea first,” although it was identified that consultations on the resumption of the summit talks were informally under way on April 27. Other officials said, “The idea is a product of the agreement between President Roh Moo-hyun and President George W. Bush at last November’s Chile summit talks to “meet at the international events slated for next year.”

The international events next year that the two heads mentioned have been understood as Russia’s World War II 60th anniversary event in early May, and the APEC summit slated for November in Busan, both of which will have the attendance of the two.

Seung-Ryun Kim Jung-Hun Kim srkim@donga.com jnghn@donga.com