Lee Myung-bak says ready to meet with DPRK leader

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(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-11-28 01:15

SEOUL: South Korean president Lee Myung-bak said Friday that he is ready to meet with his DPRK counterpart Kim Jong-il "anytime and anywhere" to resolve the nuclear issue.

In a live television town hall meeting that began late Friday, the president said he would meet him at any time to convince the DPRK to withdraw its nuclear programs and vowed to arrange the meeting schedule transparently.

"Although I have no political reason to hold a summit (with Kim Jong-il), I will meet with him, if necessary," Lee said.

Lee also said he could meet the DPRK leader out of the South Korean territory though he thought it was South Korea's turn to demand a visit by Kim, with the first two rounds of inter-Korean summits in 2000 and 2007 were both held in Pyongyang.

"I can have the meeting at anytime and anywhere for the sake of the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, considering the gravity of the issue," Lee said.

The remarks came amid a nationally televised meeting, of which the main purpose was to explain the reason and rationale behind his decision to withdraw the plan to move parts of the government out of Seoul to a new administrative town now under construction, seeking to convince his citizens.

Calling the old plan 'administratively inefficient," the president said the government will finalize an alternative plan which would better benefit people in the region.

Asking for an apology for social conflicts and confusion created, the South Korean president said he would maintain the revised plan "at any political risk."

Immediately after the TV program, the opposition Liberty Forward Party (LFP) announced that all of its 17 lawmakers would resign from their legislator positions in a bid to protest against the president's decision, proving the sensitivity of the issue in the nation.

The president's meeting also dealt with diverse controversial issues, including the Four-River Construction Project, over which the government is facing backlash led by environmentalists and opposition lawmakers.