On a short stop in Gemany, South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak had an interesting proposal for the North. From The Korea Herald:
President Lee Myung-bak said Monday that he was willing to invite North Korean leader Kim Jong-il to the world’s largest nuclear summit to be held in Seoul next year if Pyongyang “firmly agrees” with the international community to denuclearize.
“If the North firmly agrees on denuclearization, I plan to invite Kim Jong-il to the second Nuclear Security Summit next spring,” Lee said during a joint press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel here in the German capital.
Lee’s proposal Monday was a step forward from what he said a year ago at the first Nuclear Security Summit initiated by U.S. President Barack Obama in Washington, adding greater pressure to the isolated Kim regime. The North is believed to be enriching uranium, which could be used to make atomic bombs.Lee said back then that he could invite Kim to the next gathering of some 50 world leaders in Seoul in April 2012 if the North rejoined the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and showed a clear commitment to denuclearization.
The latest conditional invitation, however, does not require the North’s return to the NPT, Lee’s secretary for external strategy Kim Tae-hyo said.
“It would be necessary for the North to clarify its position through the proposed inter-Korean talks on denuclearization,” Kim told reporters.
“Then the detailed time frame for the various denuclearization measures and corresponding economic aid could be discussed through six-party talks.”
The presidential aide added that Seoul has roughly discussed the conditional invitation of Kim Jong-il with the White House although it has not informed Pyongyang about it.
The remarks came after Lee and Merkel agreed during their talks to strengthen economic ties, especially for the development of renewable energy, and to keep up with ongoing efforts to share Germany’s experience in reunifying the East and West to help South Korea prepare for reunification with the North.
Feels like a big opportunity for Pyongyang. All the North has to do for the invitation to the summit is say they’ll denuclearize, which I’ve done countless times in the past without any real meaning or intent. This hopeful sentiment will resonate with all the higher powers that don’t know any better, and the economic aid will start flowing once more. Then Kim will bail on any agreements and will we’ll all be back where we started. Again. Hope I’m not sounding too cynical here.
Source: The Korea Herald