The start of the historic summit between North and South Korea has been delayed by one day until tomorrow, the office of South Korea's President Kim Dae-jung said yesterday.
An official press statement said the postponement was requested on Saturday evening by the North, citing "unavoidable technical reasons" in pushing back the original date.
South Korea accepted the 24 hour delay, the statement said.
"We have waited for the summit for 55 years, why can't we wait one more day?" spokesman Park Jun-young quoted President Kim Dae-jung as saying in a reference to the Korean peninsula, divided into communist North and capitalist South after World War II.
No further details were released, but political analysts say the North initiated the delay out of anger over media reports in the South on summit preparations.
Paik Jin-hyun, an international law professor at Seoul National University, told the Taipei Times that the delay may be a case of stage fright before the media.
"Maybe Pyongyang is uneasy about all the international media attention it is getting given its usual secretive ways" Paik said.
He said the delay may not bode well for the summit "The Seoul government tried to discount the delay, but this is such an extraordinary event that I don't think the situation is as easy as they make it out to be," Paik said. "When you are dealing with North Korea, nothing is for sure until the two Kims [Kim Dae-jung and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il] walk into the room and shake hands."
Pyongyang has a long record of backing out of agreements with Seoul. It failed to honor an agreement made last June to exchange fertilizer from the South in exchange for a meeting scheduled in Beijing to discuss the reunification of families.
Moon Chun-in, director of the Institute for Korean Unification Studies at Yonsei University and an advisor to Kim Dae-jung who will be part of the delegation traveling to Pyongyang tomorrow, told the Taipei Times: "The North Korean government told the South they had technical problems, which may be interpreted as security issues. South Korean media came up with all kinds of speculation on Kim Dae-jung's schedule in Pyongyang; perhaps they are worried that the schedule has been exposed and [this] could pose a security threat to the South Korean president."
The two Kims are to hold two private meetings and one general meeting with ministers and officials during the first two days of the trip.
Few other details have been officially released but most major South Korean dailies have published details including the route Kim will take from Pyongyang airport into the North's capital.
The presidential spokesman reaffirmed a warning over what he called "speculative reports on venues, routes and participants during Kim's stay in the North that could negatively affect the summit." North Korean officials have already complained about the media reports. The South's official news agency suggested security might be a reason for Pyongyang's sudden request.
"North Korea seems to need a thorough review of its security measures for Kim Dae-jung," it said.
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