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catman
Joined: 18 Jul 2004
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 Posted: Sun Jan 13, 2008 6:18 pm Post subject: SKorea's next leader says willing to meet NKorea's Kim |
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SEOUL (AFP) - South Korea's conservative next president Lee Myung-Bak said Monday he is willing to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il after taking office next month.
"The leaders of the two Koreas can meet anytime they believe it will help North Korea abandon its nuclear weapons and will also help both Koreas," Lee told a press conference on his policy priorities.
Lee, who has promised to take a firmer line with the nuclear-armed communist state, said any future summit should be held in the South. "If we meet again, I think, the place should be on our side," he said.
The previous two summits, in 2000 and last October, were held in the North's capital Pyongyang.
Lee, who will be sworn in on February 25, also offered the impoverished North major economic aid if it honours an international pledge to scrap its nuclear programmes.
"If they sincerely fulfill the agreements reached at the six-party talks, we can advance the era of full-scale inter-Korean cooperation," he said.
The former construction executive promised to strengthen Seoul's alliance with the United States and said this would in turn help the North reconcile with its traditional enemy Washington.
"If both South Korea-US relations and inter-Korean relations improve, North Korea-US relations will be able to improve too," he said.
The North missed a year-end deadline to disable its main atomic plants and declare all its nuclear programmes under a six-nation pact, according to its negotiating partners.
Pyongyang says it declared its nuclear programmes to the United States in November, and accuses its partners in the disarmament deal of failing to keep their side of the bargain.
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Do you think a meeting would take place? I would be surprised if it did. |
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soviet_man
Joined: 23 Apr 2005
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Sun Jan 13, 2008 6:37 pm Post subject: |
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| Kim Jong Il isn't going to come to the South for a meeting. That much I'm sure of. |
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Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994
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| Posted: Sun Jan 13, 2008 8:21 pm Post subject: |
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I agree. Aside from being rather reclusive, half the reason for having the summits in the north is the symbolism of paying homage to the Dear Leader.
Now that the South has a leader who is insisting on actual compliance with agreements, I'm wondering if we'll go back to the days of armed infiltrators coming down. Those were rather exciting days. |
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thepeel
Joined: 08 Aug 2004
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| Posted: Sun Jan 13, 2008 8:29 pm Post subject: |
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| soviet_man wrote: |
| Kim Jong Il isn't going to come to the South for a meeting. That much I'm sure of. |
The riots would be unbelievable. Hell, the riots on any given day are unbelievable in the ROK. Seoul would be a mess. There are a lot more conservatives then we sometimes think. |
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catman
Joined: 18 Jul 2004
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| Posted: Sun Jan 13, 2008 10:10 pm Post subject: |
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| Ya-ta Boy wrote: |
I agree. Aside from being rather reclusive, half the reason for having the summits in the north is the symbolism of paying homage to the Dear Leader.
Now that the South has a leader who is insisting on actual compliance with agreements, I'm wondering if we'll go back to the days of armed infiltrators coming down. Those were rather exciting days. |
Were you here when the Nork sub grounded itself in Sokcho?
Must have been interesting times. |
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caniff
Joined: 03 Feb 2004
Location: All over the map
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| Posted: Sun Jan 13, 2008 10:22 pm Post subject: |
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| Maybe they could meet in the Gaesong industrial zone. That's practically South Korean soil. |
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mateomiguel
Joined: 16 May 2005
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| Posted: Sun Jan 13, 2008 10:47 pm Post subject: |
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maybe I could give my life more meaning by assassinating him.
Would you be up for that? The idea has appeal for me... maybe I could even get away with it. Who's gonna come after me, the Korean keystone cops? |
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caniff
Joined: 03 Feb 2004
Location: All over the map
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| Posted: Sun Jan 13, 2008 11:05 pm Post subject: |
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| mateomiguel wrote: |
maybe I could give my life more meaning by assassinating him.
Would you be up for that? The idea has appeal for me... maybe I could even get away with it. Who's gonna come after me, the Korean keystone cops? |
Just watch out for these guys:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=3jM9Qzs9isY |
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Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994
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| Posted: Sun Jan 13, 2008 11:32 pm Post subject: |
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Were you here when the Nork sub grounded itself in Sokcho?
Must have been interesting times. |
Yes, I was. I later taught the guy who was the first one to open the sub hatch and go inside. He said he was angry at the time because his partner didn't follow SOP. He said seeing all those dead bodies was 'awful'.
My 'favorite' infiltrator story happened when I was working in Taejon. Two armed infiltrators were on the mountain between Taejon and Puyo. All the young men at my company were in the reserves, so got their rifles out of the basement and had to check cars coming in to work and leaving. They slept in the building. I came in for my morning class, unlocked my office door and flipped on the light. Mr. Lee leaped out of my chair where he had been sleeping with his rifle and aimed it at me. I aged considerably in those few seconds. |
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catman
Joined: 18 Jul 2004
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| Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2008 8:26 am Post subject: |
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| My 'favorite' infiltrator story happened when I was working in Taejon. Two armed infiltrators were on the mountain between Taejon and Puyo. All the young men at my company were in the reserves, so got their rifles out of the basement and had to check cars coming in to work and leaving. They slept in the building. I came in for my morning class, unlocked my office door and flipped on the light. Mr. Lee leaped out of my chair where he had been sleeping with his rifle and aimed it at me. I aged considerably in those few seconds. |
Wow. Never heard of that incident. What was the outcome? |
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On the other hand
Joined: 19 Apr 2003
Location: I walk along the avenue
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| Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2008 10:13 am Post subject: |
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There was an article in either the Herald or the JoongAng Daily a few days ago saying that reps from the soon-to-be-outgoing Roh administration had met with their Nork counterparts before the election, to ensure the Norks that, even though the liberals would probably lose the vote, the GNP would still be amenable to ongoing contact. There was speculation that this accounted for the North's muted reaction to the GNP win.
I predict that, when the story of North/South relations is written by future historians, the Sunshine Policy will be viewed as part of an ongoing policy of rapprochement undertaken by both conservative and liberal presidents, albeit one that did not have the instant effects originally promised by the liberals. |
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Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994
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| Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2008 1:00 pm Post subject: |
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| Wow. Never heard of that incident. What was the outcome? |
Bunches of soldiers were sent to comb the mountain and they shot and killed both infiltrators. It seems to me it took 3 days, but it might have been 2 days or 4 days.
A much bigger incident happened in '98 or '99 where 18 infiltrators were in the mountains on the east coast. They were also killed, but not before the infiltrators had killed 2 or 3 civilians.
I think OTOH is right. The Sunshine Policy is kind of an updated version of a general rapproachment policy both liberals and conservatives have had. There have been improvements over the last 10 years, so I hope we don't revert to either a confrontational style which gets no one anywhere or just 5 years of stalemate.
I've believed for a long time that if a president of the South had the guts to say publically, "Well, reunification is over-rated. It doesn't look like it's going to happen in our lifetime and in fact, that's not a bad thing. We're doing just fine without the North. Let them buddy up to China." I'm sure that within 45 minutes of that going public, the Norks would surrender en masse and the division would end. |
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Kuros
Joined: 27 Apr 2004
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| Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2008 2:50 pm Post subject: |
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| mateomiguel wrote: |
maybe I could give my life more meaning by assassinating him.
Would you be up for that? The idea has appeal for me... maybe I could even get away with it. Who's gonna come after me, the Korean keystone cops? |
Just make sure you use a gun, preferably a sniper rifle. Its the (North) American way. |
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mateomiguel
Joined: 16 May 2005
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| Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2008 4:44 pm Post subject: |
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| Kuros wrote: |
| mateomiguel wrote: |
maybe I could give my life more meaning by assassinating him.
Would you be up for that? The idea has appeal for me... maybe I could even get away with it. Who's gonna come after me, the Korean keystone cops? |
Just make sure you use a gun, preferably a sniper rifle. Its the (North) American way. |
Yes, exactly! We have a long history of successful assassinations of famous political figures, I figure I can put it to good use. |
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jvalmer
Joined: 06 Jun 2003
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| Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2008 5:38 pm Post subject: |
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| Ya-ta Boy wrote: |
I've believed for a long time that if a president of the South had the guts to say publically, "Well, reunification is over-rated. It doesn't look like it's going to happen in our lifetime and in fact, that's not a bad thing. We're doing just fine without the North. Let them buddy up to China." I'm sure that within 45 minutes of that going public, the Norks would surrender en masse and the division would end. |
That or the opposition would brand the president a traitor and demand his/her resignation. |
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