By Ryu Jin
Staff Reporter

President Roh Moo-hyun will hold a summit with President George W. Bush in Washington on Saturday (Korean Standard Time) on the North Korean nuclear program and other issues.

On arrival on Friday evening (KST), Roh will take a brief rest before a one-hour summit starting from around midnight, followed by a luncheon meeting, according to officials at Chong Wa Dae. He is accompanied by first lady Kwon Yang-suk and a small number of aides for the one-night, three-day ``working’’ visit.

Coming about seven months since they last met in Chile on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, this week’s summit will likely be an important meeting for the allied powers due to North Korea’s nuclear problem and other pending bilateral issues.

``The top leaders will have an in-depth, comprehensive discussion on the nuclear issue as well as the future of the bilateral alliance in the main session,’’ said an official. ``They will also talk about the general situation in Northeast Asia and the inter-Korean affairs over lunch.’’

A senior diplomat indicated that, although North Korea’s nuclear problem is also a vital issue, the upcoming summit might focus more on the problems regarding the South Korea-U.S. alliance, which has been in a rapid transitional phase over the past couple of years.

Bound in a blood-tied alliance for more than five decades since the 1950-53 Korean War, the two countries have recently faced some difficult challenges while reshaping the old alliance as both the sides have developed in their respective paths.

Officials from both sides say, despite some noisy course of negotiations, various problems related to the alliance have been resolved relatively smoothly. But, conservative forces here as well as some U.S. hardliners have often attacked the Roh administration for spoiling the alliance.

Among the latest controversies were the U.S. defense policy to give ``strategic flexibility’’ to its forces abroad, including the 32,000-strong troops in Korea, and a U.S.-proposed concept plan codenamed ``5029,’’ a contingency plan in case of internal turmoil in the North.

Working-level officials have been shuttling between the two countries to patch up the ``minor disagreements’’ ahead of the scheduled summit. But, a Chong Wa Dae official said the heads of state will not likely touch ``such concrete issues’’ at their summit.

In the meantime, a diplomatic source in Seoul said that Roh and Bush would anyhow send a message to North Korea through the summit, which it is believed will have a significant influence on the North’s decision whether to return to the six-party nuclear talks.

``The upcoming summit will anyhow affect the attitude of North Korea,’’ he said on condition of anonymity. ``North Korea is going to watch the outcome of the summit closely. And the two leaders will be keeping that in mind.’’

Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Ban Ki-moon, who is traveling to the U.S. with President Roh, described the Roh-Bush meeting earlier this week as the ``most important summit in a decade.’’

Roh will meet National Security Adviser Steven Hadley for about 30 minutes after the lunch with Bush, before returning home on Saturday night, according to the officials.

jinryu@koreatimes.co.kr