Korea-US Summit Planned for September

On June 23, Song Min-soon, chief presidential secretary for unification, foreign and security policy, announced that President Roh Moo-hyun and U.S. President George W. Bush plan to hold a summit meeting in Washington D.C. in the upcoming September.

Secretary Song said at the press briefing, “Both Korea and the U.S. have been consulting on a schedule for the summit meeting for a few months now and two months ago agreed to hold the summit meeting in Washington D.C. in September.”

Secretary Song plans to fly to the U.S. early next month in order to meet with Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs Steve Hadley in order to coordinate the specific timetable and agenda for the summit meeting. Although the specific date for the summit meeting has yet to be determined, it is reported that it will be sometime in mid-September.

If the Korea-U.S. summit meeting is held in Washington D.C. at that time, President Roh will have met twice with President Bush in a 10-month span, with the last meeting being held in Gyeongju in November of last year.

When asked about the arguments by some politicians that it would be better to hold the summit meeting sooner with the current North Korean missile issue, he answered, “It will proceed according to the original schedule.” However, he said, “Due to the current situation, Korea and the U.S. need to coordinate closely on issues that might indirectly affect the North Korean nuclear issue,” implying that even if the summit meeting is held in September, the recent North Korean missile issue would be treated as an important subject.

It is forecasted that during the summit meeting, both presidents will discuss the North Korean nuclear issue, FTA between both countries, the overall relationship between Korea and the U.S. as well as the stalled six-party talks.

Out of these topics, the issue of six-party talks is likely to become the main agenda.

This is presumed because after last September’s joint declaration in Beijing, the six-party talks held follow-up meetings two months later, but have been stalled for seven months since then, and the opinions of the participant countries are quite different.

The Bush administration flatly denied North Korea’s request for direct bilateral negotiations between both countries and urged North Korea to return to the six-party negotiation table, but the South Korean government is demanding a flexible response to the U.S.

The Korean government also feels burdened by the fact that the U.S. is making an issue out of North Korea’s counterfeit bills and its plans to increase pressure on North Korea’s human rights issues. While the Korean government is trying to search for a way of not provoking North Korea and cooperating with the U.S., it is not easy because of the hard-line attitude of the U.S.

Secretary Song said, “There exist differences in how Korea, the U.S. and North Korea view North Korea’s nuclear issue, as well as differences over a dialogue method,” implying that the September summit meeting would focus on coordinating this issue.

The Gaesong Industrial Complex, which surfaced as the “hot potato” in the FTA negotiations, is also predicted to be consulted on.

The Korean government wants Gaesong products to be recognized as being of Korean origin and wants to receive preferential tariff treatment when exporting to the U.S., but the U.S. is quite negative regarding this request. President Roh will probably try to persuade on the notion that the Gaesong Industrial Complex needs political consideration because it is related to peace in the Korean peninsula, but it is unknown whether President Bush will accept it or not.

The presidents of both countries also plan to cooperate on the alliance issue where turbulent signs are being noticed. Hence, the relocation of Yongsan Garrison in Seoul to Pyeongtaek is also expected to be discussed.

Yeon-Wook Jung jyw11@donga.com