FACTBOX: Items on, and off, Korean summit agenda

Mon Oct 1, 2007 10:51pm EDT
 
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(Reuters) - The leaders of the two Koreas hold only their second summit from October 2 to October 4. The first was in June, 2000.

The following are issues officials and analysts say may be discussed by South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il and those Seoul is expected to skirt around to avoid upsetting the North.

Up for discussion:

* PEACE - The two sides may come up with a peace regime for the peninsula to replace the armistice that ended the 1950-53 Korean War. Any deal would need U.S. approval because it was a party to the truce, but South Korea was not.

* AID/INVESTMENT - South Korea is likely to propose massive infrastructure projects for North Korea such as rebuilding ports and setting up factory parks.

* BORDERS - North Korea wants to redraw a maritime border off the west coast set by the United Nations after the war.

* SEPARATED FAMILIES - After their first summit, the two sides arranged for meetings of the hundreds of thousands of families separated by the war. More than 10,000 have been reunited but pressure is on to speed up meetings to allow elderly Koreans to see long-lost relatives.

* TOURISM - South Koreans can visit a mountain resort in the North run by an affiliate of the South's Hyundai Group. South Korea has been pressing to open more sites in North for tourists.

* MINING - North Korea is rich in resources but lacks the equipment or funds to exploit its mineral deposits. The two Koreas have agreed to a few, small-scale joint mining projects.

* RAIL LINKS - After the first summit, two Koreas agreed to connect railways. The South built two links. The two Koreas sent their first trains across the border since the war earlier this year in a one-off run. South Korea wants regular runs.

Troublesome topics most likely avoided

* NUCLEAR WEAPONS - South Korea has said it does not want to press Pyongyang beyond what it has already agreed on denuclearization with regional powers.

* HUMAN RIGHTS - North Korea has one of the world's worst human rights records and bristles at any criticism of how it treats its citizens. South Korea officials have said they will not force the issue.

* ABDUCTEES AND POWs - The South Korean government has so far resisted pressure that it demand the North send back prisoners captured during the Korean War still thought to be alive as well as hundreds of its citizens the North kidnapped after the war.

 

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