By Ryu Jin
Staff Reporter

President Roh Moo-hyun will discuss North Korea’s nuclear issue and the South Korea-U.S. alliance in a summit with President George W. Bush, but a controversial military operation plan will not be included in the agenda of the summit, officials in Seoul said Wednesday.

``I don’t think such a concrete issue would be dealt with in the meeting,’’ a senior government official said, brushing off a Japanese news report that the operation plan, which has recently been averted by Seoul, will be an agenda of the summit in Washington June 10.

Codenamed OPLAN 5029, the plan has been sought as a scenario of war for the two allies’ combined forces to cope with ``contingency’’ situations in communist North Korea, such as natural disasters, mass defections and revolt.

It grabbed major local news headlines last month when it was found that Seoul had rejected Washington’s call to develop the plan beyond a ``concept’’ stage. And more recently, some newspapers said that the U.S. had been furious about the media leakage in South Korea.

Seoul plans to maintain the operation plan on a ``concept’’ level while closely consulting with Washington in consideration of the spirit of the half-century-old alliance, the official told reporters on condition of anonymity.

``The matter has been discussed between the military authorities of the two countries,’’ he said. ``And, as the National Security Council said last month, it will be resolved through close consultations between the two sides.’’

In the June 10 summit, Roh and Bush will discuss issues of mutual concern as well as international issues such as the North Korean nuclear standoff in the morning and then have lunch together, Chong Wa Dae spokesman Kim Man-soo said.

``We will place focus of Roh’s visit on consultations on substantive issues,’’ he said. ``We expect the talks to provide an important opportunity for the leaders to actively seek a peaceful solution as consultations among involved countries on the nuclear issue continue.’’

Since his inauguration in February 2003, Roh has met with Bush three times so far, the first time in Washington in May 2003, the second in Bangkok in October 2003 and most recently in Santiago in November 2004. Bush is scheduled to visit South Korea in November this year.

Experts say the fourth summit will also be a crucial meeting as the multilateral negotiations on the nuclear issue see a watershed next month, exactly one year after the last round of talks were held.

The two Koreas, U.S., China, Japan and Russia have met three times in Beijing for the six-party talks to try to persuade the North to give up its nuclear weapons program in return for economic and political benefits. But they have seen little progress with the North boycotting further talks.

South Korea and the U.S. have also experienced difficult challenges in the past couple of years, which critics say are largely caused by their different approaches toward the communist North, such as OPLAN 5029 and the North’s human rights and defector problems.

Japan’s Vice Foreign Minister Shotaro Yachi has recently said his country is cautious about sharing North Korea-related intelligence with South Korea since the U.S., a key intelligence provider for Japan, does not fully trust South Korea, which is also a key Asian ally of the U.S.

The senior South Korean government official, who is deeply involved in affairs related to the South Korea-U.S. alliance, said the two countries have been closely cooperating in many areas including the information sharing.

``It is very problematic that a high-level official of a neighboring country made such improper remarks on another nations’ alliance,’’ he said. ``What is more worrying is that they were incorrect. I’d say that South Korea and the U.S. are sharing intelligence on a satisfactory level.’’

jinryu@koreatimes.co.kr