South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun (R) and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il view an honor guard during a welcoming ceremony at the April 25 Hall of Culture in Pyongyang, North Korea, October 2, 2007.
South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun couldn't have asked for a better start to his somewhat controversial summit in Pyongyang. When Roh left Seoul Tuesday morning, it was uncertain whether North Korea's reclusive dictator, Kim Jong Il, would attend his welcoming ceremony in the capital. But wearing his trademark khaki jumpsuit, the Dear Leader made a surprise public appearance, personally greeting his South Korean counterpart on the red carpet at a culture center in Pyongyang. It was the second meeting between Korean leaders since the 1950-1953 Korean War, and Roh was grinning from ear to ear.
Still, few expect the meeting — being billed as a sort of peace conference for the Korean peninsula, as the two nations still remain technically at war — to be anything more than symbolic. Plagued by abysmally low public approval ratings and with the end of his presidential term looming in February, Roh is clearly trying to finish his presidency on a high note. But as a lame-duck President, he doesn't have the time nor power to get anything significant passed through parliament. Also, any discussions of peace he holds with Kim Jong Il will remain just that — discussions. A proper peace treaty would have to involve the U.S. and China, which signed the original 1953 armistice. Thus Roh's critics see his trip as primarily a ploy to burnish his political reputation. "Any positive momentum coming out of the summit would be something for which he could claim credit," says Hank Morris, a business consultant in Seoul. As such, the summit has angered the conservative opposition Grand National Party, which sees the meeting primarily as a gambit to garner votes for a liberal candidate to succeed Roh in December's presidential election.
Roh's government has stated repeatedly that it wants to make peace on the peninsula a top priority of the talks, including the dismantling of some fortifications along the demilitarized zone, and that it is also interested in strengthening economic relations with Pyongyang. Officials and analysts say some other topics up for discussion might include the redrawing of a maritime border off the west coast, mining projects and rail links between the two countries. But the idea of Roh talking of peace settlements and economic ties with the Dear Leader has not gone down so well with Roh's detractors. Academics and North Korea watchers fear Roh could be getting ahead of himself, pushing discussions on military arrangements at a time when Kim has yet to disable his nuclear facilities. "We are walking into North Korea's trap," says Kim Tae Woo, an analyst at the Korea Institute for Defense Analysis. To the chagrin of many observers, President Roh stated at the outset that he would not broach the topic of the North's nuclear program as it could anger the mercurial leader.
In an attempt to defuse criticism of the summit, Roh's government did say it would address humanitarian matters during the three days of talks. But few expect the South Korean team to press the North on the most thorny issues, such as human rights, information about South Korean POWs and abductees in North Korea, and reuniting the families still separated after a half-century of war.
As for Pyongyang, critics say Kim Jong Il's main goal for the summit is to extract a generous economic aid package from South Korea, as the North's already decrepit economy shrank even further last year under international sanctions. North Korea watchers also suggest that Kim Jong Il agreed to meet his South Korean counterpart as a way of further improving relations with Washington. If so, Roh may not go home empty-handed, but no one is betting on reunification anytime soon.