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EDSummit preparations

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President Moon must not try to achieve too much in one meeting

Cheong Wa Dae established a committee led by Im Jong-seok, presidential chief of staff, on March 15 to prepare for an inter-Korean summit at the truce village of Panmunjeom.

The committee is made up of key officials in the Moon Jae-in administration in foreign affairs and national security, including Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon, National Security Office (NSO) chief Chung Eui-yong, presidential chief of staff for policy Jang Ha-sung, Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha, Defense Minister Song Young-moo, National Intelligence Service (NIS) Director Suh Hoon and Minister of the Office for Government Policy Coordination Hong Nam-ki.

The committee will convene regularly to make arrangements for the summit. Cho will serve as chief negotiator for high-level preparatory meetings with Pyongyang, set for later this month.

Cheong Wa Dae will also establish an advisory group of about 30 to 40 seasoned experts in inter-Korean affairs. The advisory group will be led by Lim Dong-won, a former unification minister and key architect of the late former President Kim Dae-jung's Sunshine Policy of engagement with North Korea.

The third inter-Korean summit is expected to be different from previous ones. First, it should be noted that the preparatory committee does not include economic officials. This means that Cheong Wa Dae's focus will be on denuclearization rather than inter-Korean economic cooperation, which had been a crucial element in the inter-Korean summits in 2000 and 2007.

Second, the third inter-Korean summit will take place in Panmunjeom, not in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang. Also, it is likely to be a one-day event, unlike previous ones where the South Korean president and his entourage spent a few days in Pyongyang. A meeting at Panmunjeom could be effective for facilitating security issues for the two leaders. It could emerge as a new model of inter-Korean summits.

While there are high hopes for a breakthrough in inter-Korean relations, the committee must be mindful of the failures of past summits to put the two Koreas on a consistent path toward reconciliation despite producing roadmaps for peace. Moon's predecessors tried to achieve too much in one summit, and the path to reconciliation were only derailed by North Korea's continued provocations.

The outcome of the inter-Korean summit will have a huge impact on the summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and U.S. President Donald Trump, which is expected to take place in May to discuss denuclearization.

Therefore, the Moon-Kim summit should focus solely on the immediate aim of easing military tension and denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula.





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