2007年VOA标准英语-Pyongyang Still Safer Bet For North Korea's Lea

Leaders from North and South Korea plan to meet this month in the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, despite hints at a summit seven years ago that the next one would take place in Seoul. As VOA Seoul correspondent Kurt Achin reports, the idea of visiting the South Korean capital is enough to make North Korea's leader, and those who protect him, lose sleep.

After the first summit between North and South Korea in Pyongyang in 2000, then-President Kim Dae Jung said he had invited North Korean leader Kim Jong Il to visit Seoul. And Mr. Kim replied he would do so "at an appropriate time."

However, South Korean Chief of National Intelligence Kim Man-bok, who arranged this month's summit, says it will again be in Pyongyang. When asked why not Seoul, he gave a polite response.

erected1 on Mansu Hill in Pyongyang, North Korea, 05 Aug 2007<br />" hspace="2" src="http://www.tingroom.com/upimg/allimg/070817/1029500.jpg" width="210" vspace="2" border="0" />

North Koreans bow before the statue of the late North Korean leader Kim Il Sung erected on Mansu Hill in Pyongyang, North Korea, 05 Aug 2007

But many experts say it is more than elegance³ than motivated the decision - namely, fears of a security and public relations debacle.

The first summit featured hundreds of North Koreans in matching outfits⁴, waving bouquets⁵ of flowers in unison⁶. That display was made possible by North Korea's totalitarian system, in which thousands are mobilized for choreographed⁷ displays of reverence⁸ for the Kim family.

Here in South Korea, there is a tradition of boisterous⁹ - and occasionally violent - public protest. Political science professor Lee Ki-tak, at Seoul's Yonsei University, says coming to South would be a rude awakening¹⁰ for Kim Jong Il.

He says Kim Jong Il is used to being treated as a god in the North, and North Korean propaganda portrays¹¹ many South Koreans as feeling the same way. Imagine the surprise, he says, when the "god" finds his motorcade pelted¹² with stones on a visit to the South.

Even in North Korea, Kim Jong Il's movements are kept secret. Because virtually all state power is concentrated in his hands, experts say any danger to Kim Jong Il is a threat to the entire North Korean system.

Hong Jun-pyo, a South Korean presidential candidate, says North Korean authorities are aware of the risk.

He says no matter how much effort South Korea puts into guarding Kim Jong Il, it cannot provide a 100 percent guarantee of his safety.

Simply put, he says, the North Korean leader is afraid he could be assassinated¹³.

There is no shortage of South Koreans unhappy with Mr. Kim. About 10,000 North Korean defectors live here, most of whom made a dangerous journey to escape starvation and repression¹⁴.

In addition, about 500 South Korean prisoners of the 1950s Korean War are believed to be alive in the North, along with about 500 southerners the North abducted¹⁵ since the war. Relatives of those individuals are among the most vocal¹⁶ critics of South Korean engagement with the North.

Other South Koreans are angry over its test of a nuclear device and its record of human rights abuses.