Former President Kim Dae-jung, right, shakes hands with the leader of the Uri Party, Lee Bu-young, at his presidential library in Tongkyo-dong, Seoul, Wednesday.
/ Korea Times

By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
Former President Kim Dae-jung on Wednesday expressed his willingness to support the government’s efforts to find a breakthrough in the ongoing standoff over North Korea’s nuclear programs, hinting at his future role as a peace envoy to Pyongyang.

During the meeting with the leader of the Uri Party at his presidential library in Seoul, the former head of state gave a positive response to the repeated proposal by the governing party to take up the role of special envoy to the communist nation. ``I am doing my best, and I will do my best to help the government resolve the North’s nuclear crisis,’’ Kim said.

The 79-year-old political icon, however, reiterated his intention to play a supporting role, stressing the pending government’s leading role in dealing with the issue, according to Uri Party spokesperson Kim Hyun-mi.

``The thing is that the pending Seoul government positively engages with the Pyongyang government,’’ the Nobel Peace laureate noted. ``By doing so, the two Koreas can carry out mutual promises in a responsible manner.’’

During an interview with a local daily early this month, the ex-president said he is willing to visit the North in a personal capacity, not as a government representative, to seek a solution to the stalled nuclear talks and revive the inter-Korean relations.

Meanwhile, the former president wanted to get the two messages across to the United States as part of efforts to peacefully resolve the ongoing impasse surrounding the Korean peninsula.

``Maintaining peace and security on the peninsula should be the first priority, and it could be achieved based on the solid Korea-U.S. military alliance,’’ Kim emphasized. ``Regardless of the ongoing six-way talks, the two main players of Pyongyang and Washington should take one step back from its current positions.’’

``North Korea must give up its nuclear ambitions, and the U.S. must also guarantee the communist regime’s security as well as lift the economic sanctions on North Korea,’’ he added.

With the multilateral talks aimed at resolving Pyongyang’s illegal weapons programs currently in a stalemate, the speculation over whether Kim will travel to the North in order to negotiate a second summit meeting has recently been rising.

Uri Party chairman Lee Bu-young expressed his official support for appointing the former president as a peace envoy to the North at a forum for senior journalists on Tuesday.

Lee also said that the former president’s possible visit to Pyongyang would be the last step in resolving North Korea’s two-year-long nuclear impasse. ``I hope former President Kim Dae-jung will play a decisive role at the most crucial moment in ending the dispute over Pyongyang’s weapons programs.’’

Seoul, however, doesn’t yet have a plan to dispatch representatives to neighboring countries including Kim, a government official said. ``The government hasn’t yet reviewed and prepared to send special peace envoys to other countries,’’ presidential spokesman Kim Jong-min told to reporters, reiterating that there also haven’t been discussions regarding the issue at a government level.

gallantjung@koreatimes.co.kr