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South Korea Denies Japanese Press Report Claiming Plans for North-South Nuclear Summit
South Korean Prime Minister Lee Hai-chan reportedly told a Japanese newspaper yesterday that his country hopes to hold a bilateral summit meeting with North Korea to discuss Pyongyang’s nuclear work. Lee later said he was misquoted, Xinhua reported (see GSN, Aug. 26). “We could find a clue to resolving the problem if a North-South summit is held,” the Nihon Keizai Shimbun quoted Lee as saying in an interview, according to Agence France-Presse. He also said Seoul had proposed a meeting to Pyongyang, according to the report. “There has been an indirect request for a visit (by the South Korean leader) to the North,” said Lee. He added that North Korean leader Kim Jong Il should come to South Korea for talks. Seoul is prepared to offer wide-ranging assistance to Pyongyang if it abandons its nuclear programs, he added (Agence France-Presse/SpaceWar.com, Aug. 27). Lee, however, said today that his remarks had been “wrongly conveyed” by the Nihon Keizai and demanded a correction, according to the Yonhap News Agency. Lee said he had told the newspaper that if a summit were held, he hoped that it would lead to a solution to the nuclear standoff. South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun’s office also dismissed the report, according to Yonhap. “South Korea can push for the summit if meaningful and significant progress can be made on the nuclear issue through the summit,” spokesman Kim Jong-min said, adding that now was not the time to pursue such talks (Xinhua, Aug. 27).
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