Anchor: Former President Lee Myung-bak has revealed in his soon-to-be-released memoir that North Korea proposed holding inter-Korean summits several times during his tenure, but the plans never came to fruition due to the North’s excessive demands.
Our Bae Joo-yon has more on the former South Korean president's accounts on inter-Korean relations behind the curtain.
 
Report: Former President Lee Myung-bak revealed the two Koreas' unsuccessful attempts to hold an inter-Korean summit during his term in office.
 
In a memoir of his presidency until 2013, Lee wrote that Pyongyang made the initial offer in the summer of 2009 during the funeral period of late former President Kim Dae-jung .
 
The visiting North Korean delegation to the funeral delivered to Lee then-North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's offer for a summit.
 
Lee wrote that he sent his Labor Minister Yim Tae-hee, who later became the Presidential Chief of Staff, to sit down with key North Korean officials in Singapore but Pyongyang laid out unacceptable conditions for the talks. On top of 400-thousand tons of rice and 300-thousand tons of fertilizer, the North, he said, also asked for 10 billion dollars to establish a national development bank. 
 
Months after the North's deadly sinking of the South's naval corvette Cheonan in 2010, the two sides met again in North Korea to discuss a possible summit. Lee said he refused Pyongyang's terms seeking 500-thousand tons of rice in exchange for a promise to prevent another attack. 
 
While denying responsibility, the North also wanted to take a third country stance and insisted on addressing the sinking only as "unfortunate."
 
In his memoir, Lee also touched on the 2008 massive candlelight protests that took place over his administration's resumption of American beef imports and the financial crisis that followed the collapse of Lehman Brothers.
 
While discussing tough times that he said caused him to suffer lung problems, the former president also defended his ambitious overseas energy development projects and his signature renovation of the nation's four major rivers. He dismissed ongoing doubts and criticisms about the projects, saying it is too early to determine the outcome of such work.
 
Dubbed "Time of President," the Korean memoir will be officially released on Monday.
Bae Joo-yon, KBS World Radio News.