Seoul - South Korean President Lee Myung-bak on Tuesday held out the possibility of a leaders' summit with rival North Korea if planned inter-Korean dialogue goes well, saying he had high hopes for their first talks in months.
The two Koreas have agreed to discuss November's attack by the North on a southern island and an attack in March on a South Korean naval vessel which Seoul has blamed on the North, helping to ease tension on the peninsula and opening the way for the possible resumption of six-party aid-for-disarmament talks.
The two attacks killed 50 people.
Seoul has suggested preliminary military talks take place at the Panmunjom truce village on February 11. The talks are meant to set the agenda for a more senior meeting, possibly at ministerial level.
The South has also proposed separate political talks to gauge Pyongyangy's sincerity about denuclearisation, the key component of stalled aid-for-disarmament talks which the North walked out of two years ago.
The North has yet to respond to the proposal for bilateral nuclear talks.
“I don't deny it,” Lee said when asked during a live televions interview if progress at upcoming talks could possibly lead to a summit between the rival Koreas' leaders. “We can have a summit if needed.”
Lee cut off a decade of unconditional aid to the North when he took office in 2008, angering Pyongyang, and demanded the isolated neighbour end its nuclear programmes if it wanted Seoul to get back to commercial exchange and giving aid.
Lee said he has high expectations that the North will abandon the path it had taken in the past of staging hostile acts to raise tensions, then seeking dialogue with the South to win concessions.
“I believe this is a good opportunity for the North, that it is engaging in dialogue with the South at this point.” - Reuters