Seoul reports breakthrough in preparing for Korean summit<\/p>\n
SEOUL (Agencies): South Korea and North Korea made a
\nbreakthrough in weeks of negotiations to prepare for a summit of
\ntheir leaders by resolving differences over its agenda, South
\nKorea said on Thursday.<\/p>\n
That left only one issue unresolved - the size of the South
\nKorean press corps -- for the June 12-14 summit in the North
\nKorean capital of Pyongyang, Seoul's Unification Ministry said in
\na news release.<\/p>\n
North Korea sent a new draft accord by telephone on Thursday
\nthat is similar to that of South Korea except for the size of the
\npress corps, it said.<\/p>\n
After four rounds of talks at the border village of Panmunjom,
\nthe Koreas decided to try to resolve pending issues through
\ndocuments instead of meetings.<\/p>\n
Stalinist North Korea's phobia of negative media coverage made
\nit hard to prepare for the first inter-Korean summit in Pyongyang
\nin June, a former Seoul official said.<\/p>\n
\"North Korea is concerned about the (media) exposure of the
\nregime's weak points,\" former vice unification minister Song
\nYoung-dae said in a discussion on the summit, hosted by Chosun
\nIlbo newspaper.<\/p>\n
The rival Koreas were wrestling over the size of the press
\ncorps to accompany South Korean President Kim Dae-jung to
\nPyongyang for the historic summit with North Korean leader Kim
\nJong-il.<\/p>\n
\"It may be a (North Korean) ploy aimed at taming South Korean
\nmedia and blocking them from making reports negative to
\nPyongyang,\" Song said.<\/p>\n
While Seoul proposes 80 South Korean journalists be allowed to
\nenter the North for summit coverage, Pyongyang demands just 30 to
\n40.<\/p>\n
The planned summit would be the first between leaders of the
\nKoreas, which were divided into the communist North and the pro-
\nWestern South at the end of World War II. Their three-year war in
\nthe early 1950s ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty.<\/p>\n
South Korea proposed a four-point agenda calling for economic
\ncooperation, the reunion of separated family members, peace
\nmeasures and a permanent channel of government dialog.<\/p>\n
North Korea reportedly suggested a broadly worded agenda
\nstressing peace and national unification.<\/p>\n
South Korean officials said privately that they would accept
\nthe North Korean suggestion but that they differed over its
\nlanguage. Details were not released.<\/p>\n
Also on Thursday, North Korea accepted a South Korean proposal
\nto provide it with 200,000 tons of free fertilizer, the ministry
\nsaid. South Korea had offered to ship the fertilizer by June in
\nwhat was seen as a goodwill gesture to facilitate preparations
\nfor the summit.<\/p>\n
North Korea said it wanted to receive the fertilizer through
\nfive ports. Red Cross officials of the two sides were expected to
\nmeet on the border soon to arrange shipments.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/seoul-reports-breakthrough-in-preparing-for-korean-summit-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}