South Korea to push North policy despite Kim setback

South Korea to push North policy despite Kim setback

SEOUL (Agencies): South Korea will forge ahead with its policy
of engaging North Korea despite the opposition's ouster of
Seoul's minister in charge of relations with Pyongyang, Foreign
Minister Han Seung-soo said on Wednesday.

Han told reporters a day after the cabinet resigned en masse
over a no-confidence vote against Unification Minister Lim Dong-
won that President Kim Dae-jung would push ahead with his
centerpiece reconciliation policy "without any interruptions".

"This is the policy supported not only by the people of the
world, but most of the people in South Korea," he said.

Han said that South Korea is mystified why the rival North has
suddenly offered new talks but is determined to stop the peace
process from "backsliding."

He admitted, however, that President Kim will face a battle to
stop his "Sunshine Policy" of engaging the communist state
becoming a political football ahead of next year's presidential
election.

Kim Dae-Jung hopes to meet U.S. President George W. Bush
during his visit to New York in late September for a UN meeting
on children, a newspaper here said on Wednesday.

The most likely date for a summit between Kim and Bush is
Sept. 24, the JoongAng Ilbo said, adding Kim would ask the United
States to endorse his policy of engaging North Korea.

The two Koreas held a historic summit in Pyongyang last year
which led to family reunions and other peace initiatives. But
there have been no official contacts since March.

North Korea offered this week to hold new talks "at an early
date" after a six-month freeze on contacts.

Widespread suspicions were raised that the North made the
offer to influence a national assembly vote of no confidence
against Unification Minister Lim Dong-Won.

President Jiang Zemin of China has also been in Pyongyang this
week, reportedly urging the North to renew contacts with the
Seoul government.

Han and the rest of Kim Dae-jung's cabinet tendered their
resignations on Tuesday following a vote the day before in which
the National Assembly passed an opposition motion to dismiss Lim.

Kim was expected to name a new cabinet this week, retaining
Han.

The vote, read by many analysts as a proxy poll on Seoul's
approach to North Korea, followed Lim's approval of a visit last
month to Pyongyang by South Korean activists, many of whom joined
rallies which the North used in anti-Seoul propaganda.

Critics said the Pyongyang incident symbolized the failure of
Lim's "sunshine policy" of engaging North Korea. But Han
challenged those who ousted Lim to offered better policy options.

"If you ask the skeptics what are the alternatives, they will
not give you answers," he said.

Han acknowledged that Kim would face constraints with a
minority government after the defection of a conservative
coalition partner over the no-confidence motion.

With nationwide local elections in June and a presidential
election in December, the government would strive to "insulate
the issue of reconciliation with North Korea from mundane
internal domestic political squabbles", Han said.

Han said Pyongyang's offer on Sunday to hold talks with Seoul
was a sign it was ready to resume contacts frozen since March.

"I don't know their real motives, but I think that it's about
time that North Korea will think seriously about resuming the
talks with South Korea," Han said. The Unification Ministry has
said Seoul would respond favorably to the offer.

He said Seoul saw encouraging signs in North Korean leader Kim
Jong-il's visit to Russia in August and his summit in Pyongyang
with Chinese President Jiang Zemin this week. Both Moscow and
Beijing have backed Korean reconciliation.

Asked about China's suggestions it supported the idea of
inviting Kim Jong-il to the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation
(APEC) forum summit next month in Shanghai, Han said, "I don't
think we have been approached by China on the possibility of an
invitation."

But with Kim Jong-il holding back on a pledge to visit Seoul
to reciprocate Kim Dae-jung's historic June 2000 trip to
Pyongyang, Han said South Korea would "strongly oppose" any
attempt to substitute a Shanghai meeting for a Seoul summit.