[imText1]President Roh Moo Hyun invited former president Kim Dae Jung on the 9th of October to a luncheon at the Blue House and consulted with him regarding the results of the Inter-Korean Summit result and direction of subsequent policies. <\/p>\n
At the luncheon, both presidents were accompanied by First Lady Kwon Yang Sook; former First Lady Mrs. Kim; Park Ji Won, the former Chief Presidential Secretary of Kim Dae Jung; Chief Presidential Secretary Moon Jae In; and Security Advisor Baek Jong Chun. <\/p>\n
According to Blue House spokesperson Chun Ho Sun, former president Kim Dae Jung appreciated Roh\u2019s idea of the special peace and cooperation zone in the West Sea, a concept that avoided controversy over possible revision of the maritime Northern Limit Line (NLL). <\/p>\n
During the luncheon, President Roh said, \u201cIt was embarrassing when North Korea emphasized on self-reliance and rejection of foreign power, but things got better.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI had similar experience in 2000,\u201d former President Kim replied. <\/p>\n
On the special zone issue, President Roh told Kim, \u201cAt first, Chairman Kim Jong Il was negative, and I persuaded him by saying \u2018it takes at least ten years to build a industrial complex even in South Korea. Therefore, the North must accept investment from the South at once.\u201d Roh then said, \u201cChairman Kim seemed to understand my point and, from then on, talks on economic cooperation and building a special zone (in NK) went well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kim added, \u201cThat is good for the inter-Korean economy, and it should be that way.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the middle of the conversation, former president Kim applauded the 2007 Summit as \u201ca grown plant that was seeded during the first Summit, and a fortunate event for the Koreans.\u201d<\/p>\n
As lunch was served, President Roh and Kim started talking about the latest trip to Pyongyang, the road conditions from Kaesung to the North Korean capital, the electricity situation in Pyongyang and the Ryukyung Hotel. <\/p>\n
When asked about the road conditions, Roh replied \u201cAlthough it was satisfactory, paving looked slightly insufficient.\u201d
\nPresident Roh\u2019s conclusion: \u201cthe Pyongyang-Kaesung highway was much better than I expected.\u201d <\/p>\n
Then Kim asked Roh, \u201cHow about city-planning in Pyongyang?\u201d Roh responded, \u201cLights were on throughout Pyongyang. I am not sure if they did it because of the Summit or if it was normal.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kim\u2019s analysis: \u201cEven if North Koreans turned on electricity for show, it is a good sign of economic recovery.\u201d On North Korea\u2019s bizarre, 105-story-tall unfinished Ryukyung Hotel, Roh concluded that \u201cNorth Korea\u2019s technology should have been at a higher level.\u201d <\/p>\n
Both laughed when Kim, half-jokingly, said of the hotel, \u201cwhat large-scale thinking.\u201d However, Kim criticized that the building \u201cwas unable to be finished because of design flaw.\u201d <\/p>\n
To Roh\u2019s wondering on how the 105-story hotel could ever be filled with guests, Kim replied, \u201cSocialist countries do not calculate profit.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
[imText1]President Roh Moo Hyun invited former president Kim Dae Jung on the 9th of October to a luncheon at the Blue House and consulted with him regarding the results of the Inter-Korean Summit result and direction of subsequent policies. At the luncheon, both presidents were accompanied by First Lady Kwon Yang Sook; former First Lady […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":166,"featured_media":5279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wikipediapreview_detectlinks":true,"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5277","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n