South Korean President Lee Myung-bak urged China to do more to prod North Korea towards reforms, but added that his real hope for change inside the ultranationalist, hardline state lay with the North's public.
Lee is gearing up to host the high-profile Nuclear Security Summit in Seoul next week. At the summit, more than 50 world leaders including President Hu Jintao, US President Barack Obama, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, together with heads of organisations including the UN and Interpol, will be discussing how to make nuclear materials and facilities safe from accidents and terrorism.
Although proliferation is not on the summit's official agenda, North Korea is likely to dominate sideline discussions.
Lee (pictured) said yesterday that when he met Chinese and Vietnamese leaders, he always urged them to engage a reform-resistant Pyongyang leadership. 'If they meet North Korean officials they can show them and say, 'look how much change we are going through,' and convince them that opening up can lead to positive change,' he said.
However, he noted that due to the inflexibility of the North Korean state, Pyongyang's policymakers might be caught in a trap of their own making. 'Perhaps they feel the need to change and open up, but because of the nature of power within North Korea, they may not be able to do so.'
Unlike some US figures, however, Lee did not criticise Beijing for its alleged refusal to use leverage against the North Korean regime.