The main opposition Grand National Party says that President Roh Moo-hyun should not rush into a peace treaty with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il at next month's inter-Korean summit merely for the sake of scoring a win at the end of his term.

GNP Chairman Kang Jae-sup told a meeting of the party’s supreme leadership committee that such a peace treaty and the redrawing of the West Sea border with North Korea should not be placed on the front burner at the summit. The party chief placed greater priority on the North Korean nuclear issue and the abductions of South Koreans by the North, some of which date back to the Korean War.

Leadership committee member Chung Hyung-keun said that Seoul should be recognized as a concerned party in the signing of any peace treaty. He went to say that military trust building and easing hostilities are prerequisites for a permanent peace mechanism on the Korean Peninsula, adding that a simple declaration cannot bring lasting peace.

Fellow committee member Lee Jae-oh said that the current government cannot seal a peace treaty in the brief time it has left, adding that such a task should be handled by the next government.