Koreans in line for an historic ‘summit’

Press, 29 January 1986, Page 17

Koreans in line for an historic ‘summit’

PETER McGILL reports on the forces and political considerations pushing the leaders of the two Koreas towards the first Heads of State meeting since the country was divided in 1945.

An historic “summit” between leaders of North and South Korea is scheduled to take place in March and April, say South Korean diplomatic sources. If realised, the meeting will be the first such get-together since partition of the Korean peninsula in 1945.

Top-secret preparations for the summit between President Kim Il Sung of North Korea and President Chun Doo Hwan of South Korea began last September with exchange visits by trusted aides of the two leaders.

Ho Dam, a key member of the (North) Korean Workers’ Party (K.W.P.) secretariat, was sent to the South Korean capital of Seoul, and Chang Se Dong, director of the (South) National Security Planning Agency (the renamed Korean Central Intelligence Agency) made a clandestine trip to Pyongyang. Domestic political considerations are the prime summit motives for Chun Doo Hwan. Seoul officials candidly admit that Chun “badly needs” a boost in popularity at home as South Korea’s economy shows signs of flagging, protectionist pressures from major export markets mount, and radical students and opposition politicians step up attacks on his authoritarian government.

Kim II Sung’s main motive for the meeting is to improve his nation’s international image from the depths to which it sank after the 1983 bombing of a pagoda in the Burmese capital, Rangoon, when North Korean agents narrowly missed killing Chun, their intended target, but blew up most of his cabinet.

An historic act of world “statesmanship” by Kim II Sung would also help to compensate for the “insult” of Seoul’s hosting of the 1988 Olympic Games. Diplomatic observers speculate that the real organising force in the North behind the proposed summit is Kim II Sung’s son and heir apparent, Kim Jong 11. Unlike his “great leader” father, who supposedly won his revolutionary spurs in the war of liberation against the Japanese and later in the Korean civil war, the “dear leader,” Kim Junior, lacks any military achievements to win him favour in the old guard of the K.W.P.

If credit for his father’s meeting with Chun can be successfully transferred to Kim Jong 11, it would help cement the young Kim’s claim to leadership in the Communist world’s first dynastic succession.

China, the Soviet Union, Japan, and the United States make up the other poker players in the high stakes game of North-South Korean dialogue. Because of its need to concentrate on modernising its economy, China is particularly interested in seeing .the Korean peninsula "stabilised” and has recently been moving towards de facto relations with Seoul, putting added pressure on its traditional ally, Pyongyang. Japan, in turn, would like to improve relations with Pyongyang, mainly for economic reasons, but at present feels constrained by the overt hostility of its ally, South Korea, towards

the North. •. . By breaking the ice, a NorthSouth meeting would give tremendous impetus to his 'PekingSeoul and Tokyo-Pyongyang matchmaking. ~ Such “cross recognition” of the two Koreas by the big powers may come sooner than imagined. The Montreal-based International Civil Aviation Organisation (1.C.A.0.) is to send representatives to Japan, China, South and North Korea in February to discuss the opening of new air routes between Tokyo and Peking over the Korean peninsula; routes which allow stops in both Seoul and Pyongyang (the present route involves a lengthy detour via Shanghai.

South Korea has already said it will “positively” consider the suggestion provided the North does the same. Kim II Sung said’ last year that he wanted -the opening of flights between Pyongyang and Tokyo. If China can agree to start air services with South Korea, and Japan with North Korea, diplomatic recognition cannot be far off.

An even more radical 1.C.A.0. proposal, the opening of a SeoulPyongyang air link across the demilitarised zone, should be viewed with more scepticism. As one diplomat put it: “How would they sort out the problem of passengers from North to South fighting across the aisles?” Copyright — London Observer Service.