South Korea sees Jiang's visit to North as boost to peace
South Korea sees Jiang's visit to North as boost to peace
SEOUL (AFP): Seoul hopes China's President Jiang Zemin will
press North Korea to end a freeze on contacts with the rival
South when he visits Pyongyang next week, officials said on
Tuesday.
The government hopes in particular that Jiang will convince
the North's secretive leader Kim Jong-Il to hold a promised
second summit with South Korea's President Kim Dae-Jung.
The Chinese leader brought forward his visit to Pyongyang by
several weeks to September 3-5, in what is seen as a sign of the
growing urgency of attempts to stop the North sinking back into
isolation, diplomats said.
A visit to Seoul by US President George W. Bush in October
could also help break the deadlock in the Korean peace process
launched by a summit between the two Kims last year.
Amid new strains between Washington and Pyongyang, there have
been no official North-South contacts since March and Kim Jong-Il
has refused appeals from his South Korean counterpart to set a
date for a promised return visit.
"We expect China will advise the North to resume the inter-
Korean talks, including Kim Jong-Il's return visit to Seoul,"
South Korean foreign ministry spokesman Kim Eui-Taek told AFP.
"As the Chinese side knows our desire for peace on the Korean
peninsula very well, it will fully reflect our position to the
North," he added.
Seoul officials still consider a second inter-Korean summit as
the key to getting efforts to establishing a permanent peace
moving again. The North and South never formally ended the 1950-
53 Korean War.
Chinese and North Korean official media have announced that
Jiang will make his "goodwill visit" to the North at the
invitation of Kim Jong-Il. Kim Jong-Il carried out secretive
visits to China in May 2000 and in January this year.
China is a traditional friend of North Korea, having fought
with its communist ally in the Korean War. But it has expanded
ties with South Korea since the two established diplomatic ties
in 1992.
"China's consistent foreign policy on the Korean peninsula is
that peace and stability in the region is crucial and improving
inter-Korean ties is necessary," senior government unification
policy official Rhee Bong-Jo said.
Kim Dae-Jung's "Sunshine Policy" of engagement with the North,
for which he won the Nobel Peace Prize last year, hit a major
snag after Bush ordered a stricter line on contacts with the
North, than his predecessor Bill Clinton.
Citing what it calls "hostile" US policy, the North has frozen
all contacts, including talks on Kim Jong-Il's return visit.