[2중급용] 4 Seoul Wants Overland Trip to Pyongyang for Roh

Seoul Wants Overland Trip to Pyongyang for Roh
Unification Minister Lee Jae-joung leaves
after a weekly briefing
at government house in Seoul on Thursday. /AP

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The governemnt wants President Roh Moo-hyun and his entourage
to travel overland to Pyongyang
for the second inter-Korean summit later this month.
Unification Minister Lee Jae-joung on Thursday said
Seoul will ask North Korea to agree.
Lee was chairing the first meeting of a government taskforce
preparing the planned summit.
He suggested
that preparatory talks for the summit should be held
in the North Korean border city of Kaesong on Aug. 13.

Lee told reporters
he expects the North to accept the proposal given
that New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson recently visited North Korea
by the overland route.
While Lee did not elaborate,
the most likely option is the reconnected Gyeongui railway
linking Seoul and Shinuiju in the North,
which had a symbolic test run in May.
Some commentators speculate
that North Korean leader Kim Jong-il would come down
to Kaesong to meet Roh
for a visit to the inter-Korean Industrial Complex there.

For the historic first inter-Korean summit in 2000,
president Kim Dae-jung flew to Pyongyang
by a direct air route over the West Sea
and North Korean leader Kim greeted him
at Sunan International Airport in Pyongyang.

Asked if the two Koreas will discuss the agenda
for the summit at the preparatory meeting,
Lee said the principles for discussions
should be set first
and the two sides have yet to talk about the agenda.
The first working meeting of the two sides
will deal with the size of delegations,
the schedule, transport and the dispatch of an advance team,
he said. The three-man South Korean side
will be led by Vice Unification Minister Lee Kwan-se.