SOUTH KOREA:South and North Korea have agreed to postpone a planned summit until early October after North Korea asked for a delay because of floods that have devastated its southern regions.
South Korean president Roh Moo Hyun was originally scheduled to visit Pyongyang to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-il on August 28th-30th for what would have been only the second summit between the two countries, which are still technically at war.
South Korean spokesman Cheon Ho Seon said North Korea had notified Seoul at the weekend that it wanted to delay the summit because of the floods. The postponement of the summit until October 2nd-4th was later confirmed by the North's official Korean Central News Agency.
In a sign of how difficult communications between the two Koreas are, the request came in a call from Kim Yang Gon, director of the United Front of the North's Workers' Party of Korea to Kim Man Bok, director of the National Intelligence Service in South Korea.
Kim Yang Gon said recent torrential rain has caused extensive damage and priority must be given to recovering from the damage and normalising people's lives. The Red Cross says North Korea's southern areas have been battered by rain since August 7th, with over 78,000 people displaced by flooding and at least 221 people dead.
On Friday, Seoul said it would send aid worth 7.1 billion won (€5.6 million) to help North Korea recover from the flooding, while Washington is sending $100,000 in humanitarian aid and emergency assistance.
The second inter-Korean summit will follow one held in Pyongyang in June 2000 between then South Korean president Kim Dae Jung and Kim Jong-il. South Korea's main opposition party, the GNP, said the North's sudden request for the summit postponement was suspicious, with the rescheduled summit date and the South's presidential election merely two months apart. The GNP believe the talks are a "political gambit" designed to tip the presidential election in favour of the pro-government camp.