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Editorial: Unification is harder than it looks

South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun yesterday walked through Panmunjeom in the Demilitarized Zone as he headed toward Pyongyang to attend the second Inter-Korea summit. It was also the first meeting of South and North Korean leaders in seven years. Apparently it was Roh's last big political stunt before leaving office, but it remains to be seen what achievement the summit will deliver.

The governments of both sides had extensively promoted the summit's historical significance before it convened: It would establish a peace mechanism on the Korean Peninsula, start an era of common prosperity and help realize the eventual reunification of Korea, they said.

Instead of striving for the improvement of North-South relations, Roh seemed to be taking advantage of the summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il to boost sagging support for his presidency and to stimulate the ruling party's support base ahead of the presidential election in December. Of course, if the summit could gain as much international attention as the Inter-Korea summit did in 2000 -- for which former South Korean president Kim Dae-jung won the Nobel Peace Prize -- it could help wipe all Roh's domestic and diplomatic failures from the public's memory.

Kim Jong-il, of course, counts on the wishful thinking of Kim Dae-jung or Roh Moo-hyun. Being visited by a lame-duck president has no meaning for the future. But when the fat sheep comes knocking at the door, the lion would be crazy not to open its mouth. So Kim Jong-il agreed to talk, but he didn't want to talk about nuclear weapons or human rights. What he wanted to talk about was economic cooperation and aid. He managed to squeeze major economic benefits from his opponents who are desperate for a summit to scoop up political benefits.

Stability on the Korean Peninsula and unification of the two Koreas is only propaganda to fool the public and the international community. After the first summit between Kim Dae-jung and Kim Jong-il, the situation on the Korean peninsula did not become safer. North Korea was still working hard on the development of missiles and nuclear weapons, which was why six-party talks followed between North Korea, South Korea, China, Japan, Russia and the US.

The process of halting the six-party talks was manipulated by Kim Jong-il. Although Pyongyang agreed to close down its nuclear reactors, it is highly unlikely that the paranoid North Koreans will follow up on the promises they made during the talks and give up their nuclear aspirations.

If North Korea were to sincerely lay a foundation for peaceful unification in the Korean Peninsula and honor the international community's demands to shut down its nuclear facilities, then it should have already reached an agreement with other states in the six-party talks.

Unfortunately, it has all turned out to be the other way around. As a result, there are no high expectations for the summit. It is being held because South Korea needs something from North Korea. But this is just Roh's wishful thinking, and Kim does not expect much from Roh's North Korea visit.

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said at an event a few days ago that he planned to open direct cross-strait links within a year. The pressure to carry out this policy is not unlike the unbalanced roles in the Korean summit. If Ma were elected president, his pandering to China would take its toll.
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