Yudhoyono postpones Korea trip

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Tue, 05/30/2006 1:48 PM

Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono postponed his visit to South and North Korea following the deadly earthquake in Yogyakarta and Central Java that killed more than 5,000 people and left over 100,000 families homeless.

Presidential spokesman Dino Pati Djalal said that the President had rescheduled his official visit to be able to oversee the relief efforts.

""The President wants to be present on the field during the handling of the disaster but we are not canceling the visit. We have just postponed it. We have notified both Korean governments. Now, we are discussing with them when the visit can happen,"" Dino told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

This is the second time Yudhoyono has postponed his visit to the Korean Peninsula. He was initially scheduled to visit in April, but the visit was canceled due to scheduling problems.

Yudhoyono was scheduled to be in North Korea from June 5-7 to meet with Kim Jong-il and in South Korea from June 7-9 to hold official talks with South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun.

He had been expected to urge North Korean leader Kim to return to the six-nation talks aimed at resolving the international standoff over Pyongyang's nuclear program and strengthen the two countries' bilateral relations.

Six party talks -- between the Koreas, China, Japan, Russia, and the U.S. -- produced a breakthrough agreement in September last year, with North Korea pledging to abandon its nuclear program in exchange for aid and security assurances. The North, however, withdrew from the talks in November after Washington slapped sanctions on a Macau bank and North Korean companies for money laundering and counterfeiting dollars.

North Korea still insists that it will not go back to the negotiating table until the U.S. lifts the sanctions.

Jakarta has long-standing ties with North Korea, dating from the time of Indonesia's first president Sukarno, and even when Jakarta took a pro-Western course under his successor, Soeharto, the two countries maintained ties. The administration of Megawati Soekarnoputri, Sukarno's daughter, made a special effort to cultivate relations with North Korea and serve as a mediator between the two Koreas.

Indonesia's special envoy, Nana Sutresna, visited North Korea in February and delivered an invitation from Yudhoyono for Kim to visit Indonesia. The invitation has been accepted in principle, according to Jakarta.

In South Korea, Yudhoyono had been expected to meet with President Roh and sign bilateral agreements on nuclear energy and tourism.

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