By Ryu Jin
Staff Reporter

President Roh Moo-hyun may visit the United States in as early as June to meet President George W. Bush in a summit, which will likely be a crucial turning point for the North Korean nuclear standoff, according to officials on Thursday.

South Korean Ambassador to the U.S. Hong Seok-hyun announced in Washington that South Korea and the U.S. have made ``considerable progress’’ in talks to arrange a summit meeting, possibly in the first half of this year.



Lee Jong-seok, deputy chief of the National Security Council (NSC) who is currently visiting the U.S., also told reporters that an official announcement on the details of the summit will be made soon by both sides.
``May will be too early, but you cannot expect it as late as autumn,’’ he said after talks with his American counterpart, U.S. National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley, and other ranking officials on Tuesday.

Lee said the top agenda of the Roh-Bush summit would be the North Korean nuclear problems and the South Korea-U.S. alliance.

Experts said Bush and Roh could discuss ``bold approaches’’ if the six-party talks aimed at ending the nuclear disputes went well before the summit. Otherwise, they predicted, the top leaders would have to map out some other measures to punish the North.

``South Korea will play a leading role in negotiations once the six-party talks are resumed,’’ Lee, Roh’s point man on security and unification affairs, told reporters. ``The U.S. is also ready to show flexibility if the North returns to the table. That’s what we’ve talked about.’’

However, he added that, if Pyongyang shows no intention of giving up its nuclear programs, there will be no choice but to act based on the firm principle that a nuclear-North Korea cannot be tolerated.

Roh, who took office in February 2003, visited Washington in May that year for his first summit with Bush and held another round of summit talks last November on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in Chile.

Bush visited South Korea in February 2002 to hold summit talks with then President Kim Dae-jung, but he has not yet paid a return visit for Roh.

A Roh-Bush summit in South Korea has been envisioned in November as Bush is scheduled to attend the annual APEC summit, which will be hosted by Pusan, South Korea’s largest port city. Officials also view September as a good opportunity to arrange another summit as Roh is to attend the United Nations General Assembly.

jinryu@koreatimes.co.kr