A senior South Korean official has urged China to serve as a 'catalyst' for the peaceful reunification of the two Koreas. But the same official could not rule out US troops retaining a presence in a future combined state.
Kim Chun-sig, South Korea's deputy unification minister, said Seoul was sticking to its long-term goal of peaceful and gradual integration with the North following the rise of Kim Jong-un after the death of his father, Kim Jong-il, in December.
'As to China's role in Korean unification ... first of all peace must be maintained on the Korean Peninsula, and the homogeneity of the Koreas must be promoted through exchanges and co-operation. I hope China can serve as a catalyst to this process,' he said. 'And a unified Korean Peninsula will be better able to maintain peace and stability in the East and Northeast Asian region, which is conducive and serves the interests, I believe, of China.'
Kim Chun-sig's remarks, in a recent, wide-ranging interview, underscore Seoul's enduring dilemma. On the one hand, it must prepare to absorb the world's most isolated - and now one of its poorest - states, while on the other, the North remains hostile to its old enemy, with tensions rising in recent years.
Seoul is eagerly watching Pyongyang-Washington talks this week following last week's deal for the US to provide food aid while North Korea halts nuclear work and military provocations - the most significant move in three years.
While Kim Chun-sig said that, realistically, war was unlikely on the Korean Peninsula, North Korea had never ruled out the use of force to unite the two Koreas and 'there was always a possibility of war'.