South Korea' Foreign Minister Lee Joung-Binn warned Thursday of a diplomatic war between the United States and other big powers to gain influence over the reconciliation on the Korean peninsula.
"I believe the Korean peninsula will be in a fluid situation due to a possible race by the four superpowers to expand their influence," Lee told a security seminar.
Lee's speech came ahead of a visit to Seoul next week by Russian President Vladimir Putin, amid a new diplomatic waltz surrounding the North-South thaw.
Putin made a diplomatic push to get engaged in inter-Korean affairs after his landmark visit to Pyongyang last July. He has invited North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il to visit Moscow probably in April.
Kim Dae-Jung is to hold a summit with US President George W. Bush next month in Washington.
The change in administration in Washington has led to greater fears in Seoul that the reconciliation will become difficult to underpin.
But Lee expressed confidence in the direction of North Korea's policy, promising to lure the impoverished country into peace talks.
"Our diplomatic priority this year would be given to dispelling concerns" over North Korean missile and nuclear programs, he said.
Lee also said South Korea would seek to secure renewed US support for its reconciliation with the North.
"We will work closely with the United States to resolve issues surrounding North Korea's production of weapons of mass destruction," he said.
A former leadin US policymaker also expressed optimism over detente on the Korean peninsula, saying North Korea would push ahead with its diplomatic march out of isolation.
"In my judgment, the threat of war has greatly diminished. This is not because of rhetorical changes but rather because (North Korea) now has a number of incentives to keep the peace," former US assistant secretary of state Stanley Roth told a Seoul seminar.
"The time is now to begin preparing for such changes and to contemplate what was previously unthinkable," he said.
"In looking at North Korean activity, one would have to say that over roughly the past two years the 'hermit' kingdom has become the 'hyperactive' kingdom.
"We've seen North Korea move from almost total isolation to an aggressive policy of normalizing relations with a series of countries."
Roth dismissed skepticism about the inter-Korean thaw, which started in June last year with a landmark summit between the leaders of the two Koreas, as "exaggerated."
The summit led to the first meeting of South and North Korean defense ministers, and emotional reunions of relatives torn apart by the 1950-53 Korean War.
But critics argue the process has so far been one-way, with the Stalinist North gaining more.
"To my mind, these concerns are serious but exaggerated. It is one thing to highlight what hasn't changed. It is another thing to miss what has. In my judgment, there have been staggering changes in (North Korea's) behavior," Roth said.
He urged the United States to be patient towards Pyongyang.
"We've also seen better North Korean behavior on several issues of extreme importance to the United States."
Roth highlighted the North's moratorium on missile launches. But his speech Thursday came as Pyongyang threatened to end its suspension of launches in protest at the policy of the new US administration – SEOUL (AFP)
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