This photo taken on April 25, 2018, shows the location for the April 27 inter-Korean summit at the House of Peace, a South Korean facility that sits about 130 meters south of the inter-Korean border. (Yonhap)
I would be surprised if Kim Jong-un agrees to this unless the questions are all pre-screened:
Seoul is seeking to broadcast the upcoming inter-Korean summit as well as a joint press conference between President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un live, a top presidential aide said Tuesday.
A hotline between the two leaders is likely to be set up around Friday, and they may be able to have their first phone call early next week, he said.
Presidential chief of staff Im Jong-seok, who is leading the government’s inter-Korean summit preparation committee, said officials from the North and the South would discuss the broadcasting issue at a working-level meeting on protocol, security and media coverage, today.
“We want to broadcast the historic moment live,” Im said in a media briefing 10 days before the summit scheduled for April 27. [Korea Times]
You can read more at the link, but could you imagine if questions were not pre-screened and journalists actually did their jobs and asked Kim Jong-un about the gulags or if he was going to apologize to the family members killed by his regime’s conventional and terrorist attacks?
I think the slogan should be “Let’s Hope It Is Not More of the Same”:
South Korea has chosen “Peace, a new start” as a slogan for the upcoming inter-Korean summit, which will be held in late April, the presidential office said Sunday.
The slogan signifies the journey that the two Koreas will have to take to achieve global peace by holding their first summit in 11 years, and that the summit will also serve as a guide for summit talks between North Korea and the United States, Cheong Wa Dae spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom told reporters. [Yonhap]
You can read more at the link, but does any ROK Heads have their own suggestions on what the Inter-Korean Summit slogan should be?
The date for the planned summit between the ROK and North Korea is set:
Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon, center, speaks to reporters in Seoul before leaving for talks with North Korea to prepare for a summit between the leaders of the two rival nations.
North and South Korea will hold their first summit in more than a decade on April 27, the two sides said Thursday.
The date for the historic meeting between President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was set during a high-level meeting on the northern side of the truce village of Panmunjom in the tense border area. [Stars & Stripes]
You can read more at the link, but no word yet on when President Trump will meet Kim Jong-un. I suspect that date will be announced pending the outcome of this first summit, but they are supposed to meet sometime in May.
I have been saying for years that the ROK government should only agree to another Inter-Korean Summit if it is held in Seoul. Mr. William Brown an adjunct professor at Georgetown University shares this assessment:
Will President Moon Jae-in accept North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s invitation to Pyongyang?
It must be a very tricky decision for Moon. If he raises the issue of denuclearization, North Korea might revert to its belligerent stance.
But if Moon opts to go to Pyongyang for talks for the sake of talks it could jeopardize the alliance between South Korea and the United States, or other allies.
William Brown, adjunct professor at Georgetown School of Foreign Service, suggests Moon make a counteroffer by inviting Kim to Seoul to avoid the same old mistakes his liberal predecessors have made.
“We have seen far too many VIP trips to Pyongyang over the past decades, and every time, Pyongyang has hoodwinked the visitors into giving it something, even billions of dollars,” Brown said in an interview, citing former President Kim Dae-jung.
“I’m sure Kim Jong-un is well aware of that and in need of big money. So, Kim wants an improvement in inter-Korean ties but only to help him pursue his new ‘unification’ dream.”
He pointed out the North has “engagement” down to a fine art, knowing how to cater to foreign and South Korean egos. [Korea Times]
You can read more at the link, but after the first Inter-Korean Summit in Pyongyang with ROK President Kim Dae-jung, the then North Korean leader Kim Jong-il promised to visit Seoul at the next Inter-Korean Summit. During the administration of ROK President Roh Moo-hyun a second Inter-Korean Summit was held in Pyongyang. Kim Jong-il said that he could not hold the summit in Seoul due to “security concerns”.
This is of course nonsense, the real reason he did not want to come to Seoul is because of the propaganda value it gives to the ROK government. The Kim regime has long held that the ROK government is an illegitimate puppet regime of the evil American Imperialists™. Kim Jong-un traveling to Seoul for talks gives legitimacy to the ROK government and eliminates the propaganda value to North Korea of ROK government leaders making kowtowing tribute visits to Pyongyang.
Considering the North Korean sympathizers within the Moon administration it is unlikely they would demand that the next Inter-Korean Summit be held in Seoul. Instead if the Trump administration says they would participate in a Inter-Korean Summit if it is held in Seoul this may force the ROK government’s hand to ask that the summit be held in Seoul. This would then put the onus on the Kim regime to see how serious they are about peace. If Kim Jong-un refuses to attend an Inter-Korean Summit in Seoul it shows he is not serious about peace and instead just looking for another payday.
An Inter-Korean summit would likely be used to further weaken sanctions by agreeing to re-opening the Kaesong Industrial Park and the Mt. Kumgang Resort among other things:
Kim Yong-nam (R), North Korea’s ceremonial head of state, attends a dinner at a hotel in Gangneung, Gangwon Province, on Feb. 10, 2018. On the left is Kim Yo-jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. (Yonhap)
South Korea’s political parties showed mixed reactions Saturday to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s proposal to hold an inter-Korean summit in Pyongyang at an early date.
The proposal was conveyed by Kim’s sister, Kim Yo-jong, during a meeting with President Moon Jae-in at Cheong Wa Dae earlier in the day. Moon responded, “Let’s make it happen by creating necessary conditions.”
The ruling Democratic Party welcomed the meeting as a historic occasion in advancing inter-Korean reconciliation.
“The meeting created an important momentum for building peace on the Korean Peninsula,” Kim Hyun, party spokeswoman, said.
Noting Moon’s positive but cautious reaction, the party called for “mutual efforts to reduce tensions on the peninsula and cooperation from relevant countries.”
Opposition parties urged the government to be wary of the North’s true intentions.
“President Moon Jae-in and his government is getting caught up deeply into North Korea’s disguised peace offensive one step after another,” Rep. Jun Hee-kyung, of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party, said.
Behind the North’s peace overtures is its intention to cause a crack in international sanctions on the isolated country, she said. [Yonhap]
You can read more at the link, but here is what the Korea Times reported:
North Korea delegates sit at a table during their meeting with President Moon./ Yonhap
Moon expressed his hope to make the visit happen by creating the necessary conditions, according to the spokesman.
The President said the North Korean delegation’s visit to the South created the opportunity to hold a peaceful Olympics, relieved tension on the Korean Peninsula and improve inter-Korean relations.
“He also asked North Korea to be more open to talks with the U.S., adding Pyongyang-Washington dialogue was also necessary to improve inter-Korean relations,” the spokesman said. [Korea Times]
You can read more at the link, but any planned summit would also give the Kim regime more time to work on their nuclear and ICBM programs.
South Korea should push for a summit between President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in the first half of Moon’s term, a senior ruling party lawmaker said Thursday.
Rep. Lee Hae-chan of the Democratic Party made the suggestion in a speech set to be delivered at a security conference, saying 2019 will be good for a summit because the year is meaningful as the 100th anniversary of the 1919 nationwide uprising against Japanese colonial rule and the establishment of a provisional government.
“If possible, it’s important to push for a South-North summit in the first half (of Moon’s five-year term),” Lee said during the conference organized to mark late former President Kim Dae-jung’s winning of the 2000 Nobel Peace Prize following the first inter-Korean summit ever earlier that year.
“If a summit takes places in the second half, it would be difficult to guarantee its effectiveness,” he said. [Korea Times]
That last sentence leads me to believe that the Moon administration has little confidence that what they have planned will be popular enough with voters to elect another liberal President to follow through with whatever is agreed to at this summit.
I hope some journalist at some point asks President Moon why doesn’t Kim Jong-un honor the promise his father Kim Jong-il made and instead travel to South Korea? Why does the ROK President always have to be the one traveling to North Korea and serve as a Pyongyang propaganda puppet?:
President Moon Jae-in took the oath of office Wednesday, and offered to visit Pyongyang if conditions were met to help resolve the deadlock over North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs.
In a message to the people delivered at the National Assembly, he said he would also go to Washington as soon as possible if necessary.
To address security problems on the Korean Peninsula, Moon said after taking the oath, “I’ll fly to Washington, Beijing and Tokyo soon if necessary. And I’ll go to Pyongyang if conditions are met. I’ll do everything I can for peace on the peninsula.” [Korea Times]
UPDATE: One of things critics of the 2nd Inter-Korean summit have been bringing up is that Kim Jong-il promised Kim Dae-jung during the 1st Inter-Korean summit that he would visit Seoul for the 2nd meeting. The excuse that Kim Jong-il is using is that “security concerns” are preventing him from traveling to Seoul. Kim likes traveling by train when he leaves the country and the South Korean government expects people to believe that Kim Jong-il can’t take his train on the new train track laid through the DMZ that cost the South Korean taxpayer $80 million bucks to do one test run on, to come to Seoul?
In response to criticism about a secret payoff the South Korean government is claiming there was no secret pay off:
Kim Man-bok denied that there was any cash attached to the deal. Such talk, he said, is “groundless and absurd.” He said the summit was worked out in a “transparent manner.”
If the Roh administration has not provided any secret bribe than that means the likelihood of Roh signing an agreement which makes South Korea have to give unconditional aid to North Korea for a fixed number of years is more likely. I began digging through my archives a bit more and found what Roh administration may have planned:
The government provides rice and fertilizer to the North on humanitarian grounds. But that is not enough to address the fundamental poverty there, and a different approach is needed. Lee appears to be thinking of comprehensive economic aid so Pyongyang can overcome poverty. Experts speculate that the government is thinking about a large-scale economic package similar to the Marshall Plan that revived Europe after World War II.
(…)
On Tuesday, the unification minister said, “We need to offer aid to North Korea from a more productive and longer perspective beyond what is currently being done. We need to restate our concept of aiding the North so that it can continue under the next administration.” Kim Tae-hyo, a political scientist at Sungkyunkwan University, says “it sounds as if the government wants to help North Korea in infrastructure or logistics systems, beyond cooperative projects like package tours to Mt. Kumgang or the Kaesong Industrial Complex. It seems to have concluded that it must do it in a way so the next government can’t change the policy on aid to the North it has set.”
I think it is now pretty clear that this is what the Roh administration has in store, a massive unconditional aid package that when the conservatives come into power, they cannot over turn. The fundamental problem with poverty in North Korea that such a massive aid package won’t fix is that the cause of poverty in the country, the North Korean regime! You can give them fertilizer and food, you can pave all the roads in North Korea, but poverty will remain because it is in the regime’s interest to keep the people poor and the South Korean government knows it and does not care.
It is all about the photo op and maintaining the “Myth of Progress“. Sadly I believe most people in South Korea want to believe the myth is true, which means people like this 66 year old grandma will be left fighting to expose what the regime really is.
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I come home from work today and find out that peace in our time is at hand, with the announcement of a second Inter-Korean summit. At least that is what would think after reading this South Korean government’s press release:
President Roh Moo-hyun will visit Pyongyang Aug. 28-30 to hold a summit meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, Roh’s office Cheong Wa Dae said in a statement Wednesday.
“The two Koreas have agreed to hold a summit in Pyongyang Aug. 28-30. For the summit, Roh will remain in the North Korean capital for three days,” said the statement.
“The second inter-Korean summit is expected to contribute to peace and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula. The talks will also provide momentum to settle the North Korean nuclear problem,” it said.
Hmmmm, “peace and prosperity on the Korean peninsula”? I don’t know about the peace portion, but I guarantee there will be some prosperity for at least one person, Kim Jong-il. The last inter-Korean summit that Kim Dae-jung lined up in 2000 that earned him the Noble Peace Prize was only agreed upon after $500 million dollars was secretly sent to North Korea. The going rate for this meeting had to be much more expensive considering the lame duck status of President Roh Moo-hyun. Whatever the bribe is this time, it won’t be found out after the election, but as usual it will be the Korean taxpayer that will lose out.
President Roh has already put down some pretty good down payments on the inter-Korean summit bribe. Anyone remember the suitcase stuffed with $400,000 in cash or the hundreds of tons of supposed humanitarian aid, not to mention all the oil the North Koreans received from the denuclearization agreement, which will never be up held. Plus Kim Jong-il is earning millions more from his slave labor camp at Kaesong. Also don’t forget the one billion dollars in aid sent to North Korea this year along with the $80 million to Kim Jong-il to allow the South Koreans to test drive one train across the DMZ in what I like to call the World’s Most Expensive Train Ride. Remember all the unification talk and feel good stories about riding trains from Seoul to Paris via North Korea after that train ride? Well what has that train ride accomplished since then? Well nothing, and that is what this summit is going to accomplish for the people of South Korea.
Roh thinks he is going to get some kind of legacy over this and the leftist politicians think this summit will help them in the presidential election this year. They will end up losers in all of this and the only winner of this summit will be Kim Jong-il who has been banking in the money from all the South Korean extortion payments and may get what my biggest fear of all is, some kind of agreement for unconditional aid for a set number of years that a future conservative president cannot over turn. Why would Roh Moo-hyun care about the loss of Korean tax payers dollars when he has scored the World’s Most Expensive Photo Op.
If President Roh had any ounce of decency and moral courage in him he would demand that Kim Jong-il return the 3,790 South Korean citizens kidnapped by North Korea over the years along with accounting for the many thousands more of Korean War POWs. If he was able to win the release of these people from the gulag that is North Korea, than Roh would be worthy of some legacy, but I fully expect that winning the freedom for these South Korean citizens will be left to 66 year old grandmas to do. But, hey “peace and prosperity on the Korean peninsula” is on its way.
Actually predicting that a second inter-Korean summit was going to happen was quite easy and predicting what is going to come out of it is even easier. Expect Kim Jong-il to only make vague promises and declarations with no substance. President Roh understands Kim Jong-il won’t denuclearize or make any major concessions, but that isn’t what a second inter-Korean summit is about. It is all about the photo-op and keeping the myth of progress alive.
Personally I think a photo of President Roh toasting Kim Jong-il, ala Madeline Albright, will be a fitting legacy for Roh.
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