Indonesian President hopes to broker inter-Korean peace
Indonesian President hopes to broker inter-Korean peace
Agencies, Jakarta
President Megawati Soekarnoputri is expected to adopt the role
of peacemaker when she holds a landmark summit with North Korean
leader Kim Jong-il next week, South Korean officials said on
Monday.
Megawati is scheduled to make a three-day visit to South Korea
from March 30 after her trip to Pyongyang, the office of South
Korean President Kim Dae-jung said.
"During her North Korea trip, President Megawati is expected
to carry a message calling for an early resumption of dialogue
with South Korea and the United States," the office said in a
statement, as quoted by AFP.
This will be the first trip to the communist North by an
Indonesian head of state since Megawati's father, Sukarno,
visited in 1964.
In Seoul, Megawati will brief the South Korean leader on her
talks with Kim Jong-il, who suspended inter-Korean talks since US
President George W. Bush took office last year.
(Bush escalated tensions on the Korean peninsula recently when
he called North Korea part of an "axis of evil." The language
embarrassed the South Korean president by jeopardizing his
reconciliation efforts with the reclusive Kim Jong-il.)
Relations between Indonesia and North Korea, both members of
the non-aligned movement, date back to Sukarno's 1964 trip to
Pyongyang.
North Korea has since used its embassy in Jakarta as a
regional base for Southeast Asian diplomacy.
After his North Korean trip, Sukarno announced an idea to set
up a political alliance between Jakarta, Phnom Penh, Pyongyang
and Beijing, as part of the new emerging forces' fight against
neo-colonialism.
Megawati first saw Kim Jong-il in 1955, when he accompanied
his father, Kim il-Sung, for the Bandung conference of non-
aligned countries.
She was then a student who presented flowers to the late North
Korean president at the airport, and performed a traditional
dance before the two Kims at a banquet, Seoul newspapers said.
In 2000, North Korea held photo exhibitions and movie shows to
celebrate the anniversary of Kim Jong-il's trip to Jakarta.
The Korean trip will be part of Megawati's first overseas
visit of the year, which will also take her to China and India.
Megawati will depart for China on March 24, one day earlier
than originally planned, to accommodate the schedule of Chinese
President Zhiang Jemin.
The summit will take place upon Megawati's arrival, according
to Indonesian Ambassador to China, A.A. Kustia.
Megawati's trip will end in India, where she will stay for
four days, beginning April 1. The President is scheduled to fly
home on April 5.