S. Korean President Calls for Comprehensive Reciprocity with DPRK

Visiting South Korean President Kim Dae Jung has put forward here a olicy of "comprehensive reciprocity" towards the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) as a way to further advance peace momentum spurred by last year's summit between the two sides of the Korean Peninsular.

"A comprehensive reciprocity meaning a larger framework within which there are certain things that we can give to North Korea

(DPRK) and certain things that we must take from North Korea (DPRK), " President Kim said at a luncheon held in his honor by American Enterprise Institute and Council on foreign Relations on Thursday.

Kim said that he has explained the concept of "comprehensive reciprocity" during his talks with President Bush and other American senior officials. But many analysts here found that the new US administration seemed to have refrained from giving an immediate applauding to Kim's idea.

Kim proposed that the DPRK should adhere to the Geneva Framework, settle its missile issue and forego any attempt to invade South Korea, and in exchange Seoul and Washington should give assurances of DPRK's security, provide it with economic assistance and help it obtain loans from international financial groups.

"Our aim is to go beyond the passive concept of winning peace merely through deterring war, and to realize active peace that would take root as inter-Korean exchanges and cooperation and inter-dependence deepen," he said.

Inter-Korean relations have improved significantly since DPRK leader Kim Jong Il and President Kim Dae Jung met at a summit in Pyongyang last June. Since then, "meetings between the authorities of the two sides at the ministerial and other levels have frequently been held, and the defense ministers of the two sides have met, pledging never to engage each other in another war," President Kim said.

"The ardent aspiration of our people for the reunion of the 10 million members of separated families has begun to be addressed through exchanges of visits, and agreements have also been reached on mail exchanges and meeting centers for these families," he said.

Kim noted that inter-Korean trade, which recorded a mere 18 million U.S. dollars in 1989 has gone up to 400 million dollars last year, and railway and road between the South and the DPRK are being re-linked.

"These developments, I believe, would not have come about without North Korea's willingness to change," Kim said.

The DPRK also set up diplomatic ties with Italy, the Philippines, Australia and the United Kingdom last year, and since the beginning of this year, it has already added the Netherlands, Belgium, Canada, and Spain to the list, and it is still talking with many other countries toward normalization of relations, President Kim said.

President Kim rebuffed America's criticism of the DPRK's

human rights issue, saying that "to affront them with human rights issues publicly would not be a wise way to deal with" Pyongyang.

"I would have to say that the greatest human rights issue on the Korean Peninsula today is that of the 10 million members of the separated families," Kim emphasized.

"We have been able to make some progress for their plight through dialogue with North Korea. We have begun exchanges of visits for these people, and we have agreed with North Korean to allow these people to engage in mail exchanges. And hopefully all of these people will have their tragedy resolved on day," Kim said.

Kim said that Chairman Kim Jong Il's visit to Seoul later this year "should be made into an occasion to get the peace process on the Korean peninsula into gear," but he ruled out the possibility of reaching a peace treaty with the DPRK leader in the upcoming summit.

"There is also much talk about a peace treaty, but a peace treaty is something that should be worked out in the four-party framework, with both Koreas and the United States and China participating, with the two Koreas being the principal signatories, and the United States and China giving support and endorsement," Kim said.

"So a peace treaty is certainly not something that is going to be an outcome of the second inter-Korean summit," he added.

Kim shrugged off the speculation that the 1994 Framework Agreement between Pyongyang and Washington signed on the nuclear issue will be modified, and stressed that significant progress was made during the previous Clinton administration between the United States and the DPRK in handling such issues as the proliferation of missile and nuclear weapons.

"As far as the agreed framework is concerned, the Bush administration has already said that it will be abiding by it," he said. "And I don't think North Korea will agree to revising the agreed framework," he added.

The South President arrived here Tuesday to start his four-day visit to the United States, the first tour by an Asian leader since President Bush took office on January 20. During his stay, Kim met with President Bush and Secretary of State Collin Powell and the two sides discussed a wide range of issues of common concern.






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