Still at war - but two Koreas agree to meet

The presidents of South and North Korea took the world by surprise yesterday by simultaneously announcing that they would soon hold their first summit in seven years in the North Korean capital, Pyongyang.

But while stockbrokers opened champagne, opposition politicians smelt a rat. Conservatives denounced the summit as a stunt to boost the prospects of liberal candidates in the South Korean presidential elections, which are due to take place in December.

In Seoul, conservative protesters and military veterans greeted the summit by burning North Korean flags outside City Hall. They accused President Roh Moo-hyun of treason.

The planned three-day meeting between Mr Roh and the North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il, scheduled to begin on 28 August, will be only the second of its kind in 54 years. Technically, North and South Korea remain at war, the 1950-53 conflict between the two having been halted by a truce, not a peace accord.

It follows last month's United Nations confirmation that the North Koreans had shut down their weapons-making nuclear reactor at Yongbyon.

In a statement, Mr Roh's office said: "The second inter-Korean summit is expected to contribute to peace and prosperity on the Korean peninsula. The talks will also provide momentum to settle the North Korean nuclear problem."

The first summit took place in June 2000, between Mr Kim and the South Korean president Kim Dae-jung. That led to the South Korean leader winning the Nobel Peace Prize the following December.

The summit was agreed after top-secret talks masterminded by South Korea's intelligence chief, Kim Man-bok. Just last week North and South Korean troops were involved in a short exchange of gunfire across their heavily-fortified border.

Although the summit was welcomed in Washington, White House staff said they did not know about the North-South meeting until a few hours before it was announced.

The relationship between North and South Korea hit a new low last October when Pyongyang conducted an underground test of a primitive nuclear device. Since then, North Korea, facing intense diplomatic pressure and debilitating economic sanctions, has participated in six-party denuclearisation talks with South Korea, Japan, Russia, China and the US.

Officials from these countries were participating in a session of the six-party talks at the inter-Korean border village of Panmunjon yesterday to discuss further steps in North Korea's denuclearisation and all welcomed the prospect of a North-South summit. An official from the US State Department said: "We hope that this meeting will help promote peace and security on the Korean peninsula, fulfilling the goals of the six-party talks."

Opposition Grand National Party (GNP) candidates and conservative newspapers claim the summit has been orchestrated by the North as a way of intervening in the South's presidential election. Party officials in Pyongyang recently described the GNP as "a treacherous pro-US conservative force".

In an official statement, the GNP said the summit "will end up as a backroom deal and result in ridiculously generous aid to pamper the North". Privately, GNP politicians have been alleging that Mr Roh's government may have paid the cash-strapped North Korean dictator a huge bribe so he would agree to a summit which, previously, he had seemed against. In 2000, South Korea made a secret transfer of $500m to North Korea before the Kim Dae-jung summit.

Mr Roh cannot stand for re-election in December and must leave office by January 2008. He has told aides close to him that a meeting with Kim Jong Il would help secure his legacy.

The North is expected to push for more aid and the rapid withdrawal of US troops from the South, while Seoul's main goal will be to lay the ground work for a formal peace treaty between the two countries that would enable greater economic co-operation and some opening of the border.