South Korea to push North policy despite Kim setback<\/p>\n
SEOUL (Agencies): South Korea will forge ahead with its policy
\nof engaging North Korea despite the opposition's ouster of
\nSeoul's minister in charge of relations with Pyongyang, Foreign
\nMinister Han Seung-soo said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Han told reporters a day after the cabinet resigned en masse
\nover a no-confidence vote against Unification Minister Lim Dong-
\nwon that President Kim Dae-jung would push ahead with his
\ncenterpiece reconciliation policy \"without any interruptions\".<\/p>\n
\"This is the policy supported not only by the people of the
\nworld, but most of the people in South Korea,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Han said that South Korea is mystified why the rival North has
\nsuddenly offered new talks but is determined to stop the peace
\nprocess from \"backsliding.\"<\/p>\n
He admitted, however, that President Kim will face a battle to
\nstop his \"Sunshine Policy\" of engaging the communist state
\nbecoming a political football ahead of next year's presidential
\nelection.<\/p>\n
Kim Dae-Jung hopes to meet U.S. President George W. Bush
\nduring his visit to New York in late September for a UN meeting
\non children, a newspaper here said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
The most likely date for a summit between Kim and Bush is
\nSept. 24, the JoongAng Ilbo said, adding Kim would ask the United
\nStates to endorse his policy of engaging North Korea.<\/p>\n
The two Koreas held a historic summit in Pyongyang last year
\nwhich led to family reunions and other peace initiatives. But
\nthere have been no official contacts since March.<\/p>\n
North Korea offered this week to hold new talks \"at an early
\ndate\" after a six-month freeze on contacts.<\/p>\n
Widespread suspicions were raised that the North made the
\noffer to influence a national assembly vote of no confidence
\nagainst Unification Minister Lim Dong-Won.<\/p>\n
President Jiang Zemin of China has also been in Pyongyang this
\nweek, reportedly urging the North to renew contacts with the
\nSeoul government.<\/p>\n
Han and the rest of Kim Dae-jung's cabinet tendered their
\nresignations on Tuesday following a vote the day before in which
\nthe National Assembly passed an opposition motion to dismiss Lim.<\/p>\n
Kim was expected to name a new cabinet this week, retaining
\nHan.<\/p>\n
The vote, read by many analysts as a proxy poll on Seoul's
\napproach to North Korea, followed Lim's approval of a visit last
\nmonth to Pyongyang by South Korean activists, many of whom joined
\nrallies which the North used in anti-Seoul propaganda.<\/p>\n
Critics said the Pyongyang incident symbolized the failure of
\nLim's \"sunshine policy\" of engaging North Korea. But Han
\nchallenged those who ousted Lim to offered better policy options.<\/p>\n
\"If you ask the skeptics what are the alternatives, they will
\nnot give you answers,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Han acknowledged that Kim would face constraints with a
\nminority government after the defection of a conservative
\ncoalition partner over the no-confidence motion.<\/p>\n
With nationwide local elections in June and a presidential
\nelection in December, the government would strive to \"insulate
\nthe issue of reconciliation with North Korea from mundane
\ninternal domestic political squabbles\", Han said.<\/p>\n
Han said Pyongyang's offer on Sunday to hold talks with Seoul
\nwas a sign it was ready to resume contacts frozen since March.<\/p>\n
\"I don't know their real motives, but I think that it's about
\ntime that North Korea will think seriously about resuming the
\ntalks with South Korea,\" Han said. The Unification Ministry has
\nsaid Seoul would respond favorably to the offer.<\/p>\n
He said Seoul saw encouraging signs in North Korean leader Kim
\nJong-il's visit to Russia in August and his summit in Pyongyang
\nwith Chinese President Jiang Zemin this week. Both Moscow and
\nBeijing have backed Korean reconciliation.<\/p>\n
Asked about China's suggestions it supported the idea of
\ninviting Kim Jong-il to the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation
\n(APEC) forum summit next month in Shanghai, Han said, \"I don't
\nthink we have been approached by China on the possibility of an
\ninvitation.\"<\/p>\n
But with Kim Jong-il holding back on a pledge to visit Seoul
\nto reciprocate Kim Dae-jung's historic June 2000 trip to
\nPyongyang, Han said South Korea would \"strongly oppose\" any
\nattempt to substitute a Shanghai meeting for a Seoul summit.<\/p>",
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