Mega embarks on historic Korean visit
Mega embarks on historic Korean visit
Susanto Pudjomartono, The Jakarta Post, Fuzhou, China
Megawati Soekarnoputri on Thursday morning embarks on possibly
the most important diplomatic mission of her brief presidency as
she flies to Pyongyang carrying an invitation for North Korea to
again engage in peaceful dialog.
Officials in the Indonesian delegation accompanying the
President on her four-nation Asian tour confirmed that Megawati
had been entrusted to deliver a special message of reconciliation
to encourage North Korean President Kim Jong-il to return to the
negotiating table.
Indonesia's President will be relying on her acquaintance with
her North Korean counterpart, first established four-decades ago,
to gain a responsive ear.
Megawati herself on the last night of her five-day visit to
China confirmed on Wednesday that she was carrying a message from
South Korean President Kim Dae-jung to be delivered to his
northern counterpart.
She refused to make public the contents of the message, and
when asked also refused to comment on suggestions that Indonesia
was about to become a mediator in the Korean Peninsula.
"I don't want to deal in speculation," she told a briefing
with Indonesian journalists in Fuzhou, the capital of Fujian
province.
Megawati merely asserted that the spirit of the historic 1955
Asia-Africa Conference, which her father, Sukarno, chaired and
Kim Jong-il's father, Kim Il-sung, attended, was still relevant.
Separate informed sources close to the delegation revealed
that the United States was also imparting a similar message
through Megawati.
The source said it was "embarrassing" for Washington to go
public with an offer of dialog for Pyongyang as just weeks
earlier U.S. President George Bush had included North Korea as
part of the "axis of evil" which had to be fought.
North Korea has been living in relative isolation, with talks
of possible reunification having been bogged down for several
months.
Megawati's mission at the outset may be well received given
Indonesia's foreign policy standing and the two president's
personal affinity.
The two first met some four decades ago when the young Kim
accompanied his father to Indonesia to meet Sukarno.
Indonesian foreign minister Hassan Wirayuda on Wednesday
claimed that the visit was part of a grand strategy with members
of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to thaw
tensions in the peninsula and draw Pyongyang back into the
international community.
He suggested a strategy of "positive and constructive
engagement" similar to that applied in the past with Myanmar,
while noting that the tension in Korea was a regional
destabilizing factor.
Speaking of her stay in China, Megawati said she was very
happy with talks on all fronts including the prospect of greater
economic and political cooperation.
Asked about Indonesia's prospects of winning a multimillion
dollar contract with China for gas from the Tangguh Gas Fields in
Irian Jaya, the President said she was "optimistic" without
elaborating further.
On a lighter note, she also recalled how she and Chinese
President Jiang Zemin ended up on the dance floor.
"He asked me if I liked to dance and sing and I also asked him
the same ... He said his family were artists. That's how it came
about," Megawati said.
The two presidents on Monday not only took to the floor for
some six minutes, but both also ended up serenading an
appreciative audience at the official banquet.
Megawati is due to stay in Pyongyang for two days before
taking a hop south to Seoul before traveling on to New Delhi.