South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said Tuesday that North Korea should take advantage of a "good opportunity" for talks with South Korea and other nations, created after the latest U.S.-China summit, by averting the course of military brinkmanship, Yonhap reported.
If so, he added, another round of inter-Korean summits may be realized.
"(I) can hold a summit (with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il) if necessary," Lee said in a 90-minute talk show broadcast live on the eve of the Lunar New Year's holidays. "For North Korea, now is a good opportunity to show that it is willing to change. I have high expectations, as North Korea is facing the time for a change."
He was referring to regional security conditions, especially in the wake of a landmark summit between U.S. President Barack Obama and his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao last month.
Lee's comments were his first direct response to Pyongyang's recent peace overtures that followed years of threats and provocations highlighted by a deadly torpedo attack on a South Korean warship and artillery shelling of a border island.
The North has veered toward a peace offensive. The two sides are expected to hold a working-level military meeting next week to discuss whether to hold defense ministerial talks.
"(We) plan to start working-level dialogue and test (North Korea's) seriousness (about talks)," Lee said. "Whether it is the six-party talks or South-North talks, North Korea must first change its attitude."
When asked by a panel of experts about the possibility of replacing his North Korean policy team as a way to reset relations with Pyongyang, Lee said he has no such plans. He said the North must be the party that changes, not the South.
The conservative leader stressed the need to break the pattern of North Korea taking provocative steps and pursuing dialogue for rice and fertilizer aid.
On the economic front, Lee said inflation is a major obstacle.
"(The government) is reviewing whether to reduce taxes and import tariffs on a full scale to cover hikes in oil prices," he said.
South Korea, which imports all of its oil demands, has been struggling to deal with the surging cost of oil products. It aims to achieve 5 percent economic growth this year with inflation kept at the 3 percent level.
The president, meanwhile, threw his weight behind calls for the revision of the country's decades-old Constitution, one of the hottest political issues here.
Lee said South Korea needs to change the Constitution, written in 1987, to keep abreast with the country's changes in politics, economy and society over the past decades.
He said it is not too late to revise the Constitution within his tenure, which will end in early 2013, now that a relevant study has been under way for years.
But he said his office Cheong Wa Dae wants to stay away from related discussions as they fall under the National Assembly's responsibilities.
Talking about the controversy over where the government should create a science-business belt, Lee sowed the seed of fierce political debate.
Lee hinted that he may backtrack on his campaign pledge to build the lucrative town in the central province of Chungcheong.
"It is right for scientists to decide (the area)," Lee said.
When the panel asked if it means the government will be back to square one and reconsider the issue, Lee said, "Yes. It would be better to do so."
The rival political parties are at the loggerheads over the matter. The main opposition Democratic Party calls for the creation of the science-business belt in the Chungcheong Province as planned, while some ruling Grand National Party lawmakers demand it be constructed in the southeastern province of Gyeongsang.
Apparently seeking to stem political fallouts, presidential spokeswoman Kim Hee-jung told reporters later that the president was not well prepared to answer the impromptu question during the talk show.
"I asked the president what he actually meant. He said he intended to say the government will deal with the issue in a reasonable way, rather than scrapping the campaign pledge," she said.
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