By Ryu Jin
Staff Reporter

South Korea is trying to arrange an early summit between President Roh Moo-hyun and U.S. President George W. Bush to find a breakthrough in the regional standoff over North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, according to sources Friday.

``Working-level officials from the two countries are in contact with each other for a summit and we hope the outline of the negotiations will come out as early as next week,’’ a high-level government official said. ``We have high hopes for a summit, though nothing has been fixed yet.’’



Roh and Bush had summit talks in Chile last November and are scheduled to have a one-on-one meeting again when the U.S. president visits South Korea for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in November. The two leaders will both be in Moscow next month, but a summit is not likely to happen there, according to officials.
The nuclear dispute has gained a new sense of urgency as North Korea was found to have recently suspended a key reactor, a move which nuclear scientists say could earn the Stalinist nation more fissile material to build atomic bombs.

Since the third round of six-party talks last June, the North has been refusing to attend a new round of negotiations that were originally set for the following September, citing what it called the U.S. ``hostile’’ policies against it.

Despite denials by government officials both in Seoul and Washington, some news reports had it that U.S. patience has been running out and considers taking the case to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) unless the North returns to the bargaining table before June.

South Korea voiced opposition to ``other options’’ such as a referral to the UNSC for the present and two other parties in the six-way talks, China and Russia, which have veto power in the top U.N. decision-making body, also opposed any sanctions on the North.

The talk on punitive measures came amid speculations that Chinese President Hu Jintao will make a visit to Pyongyang around May 9 to attend the ceremony marking the 60th anniversary of World War II victory in Moscow. Having hosted the three rounds of six-party talks, Beijing is regarded as having the strongest influence over Pyongyang.

A viable scenario, according to the sources, is that Roh, who is scheduled to hold a summit with Hu in Moscow, will fly to Washington in June, before a possible visit by the Chinese president to Pyongyang to meet Kim Jong-il. They say the crossing summits will be last-minute efforts to avoid further deterioration of the nuclear impasse.

In response to a Korea Times reporter’s question on the possibility, Chong Wa Dae said that it couldn’t officially confirm the early Roh-Bush summit, but offered a basic position that the two heads of state could ``meet anytime’’ to discuss pending issues.

Lee Jong-seok, deputy chief of the National Security Council, is set to visit Washington from April 26-28 and experts expect he might play a role in arranging the Roh-Bush summit. A North Korea expert, Lee is one of Roh’s closest aides on security affairs.

In addition to the imminent nuclear threat from the North, the South Korea-U.S. summit _ if realized _ would also provide an opportunity for Roh to explain to Bush what he meant by South Korea’s ``balancing’’ role in Northeast Asia.

Roh recently put forth the idea of South Korea playing a role as a balancer between China and Japan to prevent conflict and clashes in the region. He said that although the balancer strategy will be firmly based on the South Korea-U.S. alliance, conservative forces here and in America launched fierce criticism at Roh, accusing him of weakening the traditional alliance.

Kim Sook, a high-ranking diplomat who made a trip to the U.S. last week, said the U.S. has fully accepted the balancer strategy, although there are still some experts in private sectors who worry about the negative impact it might have on the two nations’ alliance.

jinryu@koreatimes.co.kr