South Korean Prime Minister Kim Hwang-sik said Friday that his government "never" has considered reunification with North Korea through absorption despite protracted military tensions between the two sides.
"The North Korea policy of the Lee Myung-bak administration is coexistence and co-prosperity. It never regards North Korea as an object for reunification through absorption," he said during an interpellation session at the National Assembly.
Responding to calls by lawmakers for an inter-Korean summit, he said that his government agrees on its necessity but voiced objection to "talks for the sake of talks."
"For now, such a condition (for a summit) has not been created," he said.
He reaffirmed that the South Korean president is willing to hold a meeting with the North's leader Kim Jong-il if it is believed to be helpful in easing tensions and denuclearizing the secretive nation.
Kim, however, stressed that preparations should be made for "substantial progress, not talks for the sake of talks."
He refused to elaborate on whether the government was actually working to arrange an inter-Korean summit, saying it is a matter that "I can't openly reveal."
Won Sei-hoon, chief of South Korea's state spy agency, reportedly traveled to the U.S. earlier this month, sparking speculation that his trip might have been intended for consultations on what would be the third summit between the two Koreas following the two previous rounds in 2000 and 2007.
The prime minister made it clear that Seoul has no plan to bring U.S. tactical nuclear weapons onto its soil.
"The government thinks that the Korean Peninsula should be denuclearized for peace and stability," Kim said. "It is desirable to make North Korea denuclearize through international efforts, including the six-way talks rather than competitive nuclear development.
Rep. Chung Mong-joon, former leader of the ruling Grand National Party, earlier said time has come for South Korea to consider redeployment of U.S. tactical nuclear weapons on its territory to counter the unpredictable North's nuclear threats.
"(South Korea) should consider the re-introduction of tactical nuclear weapons as (we) can dismantle North Korean nukes with the U.S. nuclear umbrella alone," he said.
The U.S., who fought on the South Korean side against the invading North in the 1950-53 Korean War, had tactical nuclear weapons stationed in the South until their withdrawal in 1991 as part of its disarmament initiative, followed by a landmark inter-Korean deal to denuclearize the peninsula.
The persistent military stand-off on the peninsula has been a quagmire for the Lee administration as the president marked the third anniversary of his inauguration Friday.
Seoul demands Pyongyang's apology for the deadly torpedo attack on a South Korean warship and the shelling of a border island last year. The North, however, has not budged at all. Rare inter-Korean military talks early this month ended in rupture as the North's delegation unilaterally walked away from the table.
Several ruling and opposition lawmakers used the interpellation session to call on the conservative Lee administration to avert its hard-line approach on the impoverished communist neighbor.
"Rumors of a March crisis on the Korean Peninsula are coming out. It is attributable to the no-dialogue policy on North Korea," Rep. Jang Sae-hwan of the main opposition Democratic Party said.
Rep. Park Joo-sun, of the liberal opposition party, also pressed the president to "make a big decision to shift its tough policy on North Korea to pragmatic and balanced diplomacy."
Some lawmakers at the ruling party also raised the need for the government to soften its stance.
"We reacted passively to North Korea's repeated calls for dialogue this year. Don't we need a more active attitude?" Rep. Kimg Choong-hwan said.