THE UNIVERSITY DARLY KANSAN
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2007
NEWS
WORLD
5A
Short meeting begins summit
Leaders of North, South Korea meet to discuss conflict that dates back to war
ASSOCIATED PRESS
South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun, front left, waves as North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, front right, claps during a welcoming ceremony for Roh in Pyongyang, North Korea, Tuesday. The photo was taken by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency and released by Korea News Service in Tokyo Tuesday. The welcoming ceremony begins the first summit between the North and South Korean leaders since 2000.
BY BURT HERMAN
ASSOCIATED PRESS
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korean leader Kim Jong II showed scant enthusiasm for the visiting South Korean president on Tuesday, while orchestrated crowds of thousands cheered the start of the second summit between the divided Koreas since World War II.
The reception in Pyongyang contrasted with the first North-South summit in 2000, when Kim greeted then-South Korean President Kim Dae-jung with smiles and clasped both his hands tightly in an emotional moment that softened the North Korean strongman's image to South Koreans and the world.
This time, Kim appeared reserved and unemotional, walking slowly and occasionally clapping lightly to encourage the crowd at the outdoor welcome ceremony waving red and pink paper flowers. The North's official Korean Central News Agency reported that Kim was greeted by cheers from citizens "rocking the earth and sky."
South Korean President Rob Moo-hyun appeared to revel in the moment, waving and smiling broadly before reviewing a goose-stepping North Korean military honor guard welding rifles with bayonets — part of its million-strong forces that face the South across the world's most brave
heavily armed frontier.
The 12-minute encounter was the only known meeting Tuesday between the leaders, who were to begin formal talks Wednesday. According to South Korean pool reports, they
in February.
Both Roh and Kim also hope to keep the surging conservatives from winning South Korea's December presidential election, where they hold a commanding lead in opinion polls. The main opposition Grand National Party is more skeptical of relations with the North, insisting aid be conditional on progress on
"Our people have suffered from too many hardships,and development has been held up due to this wall."
ROH MOO-HYUN South Korean President
did not exchange any substantive words beyond simply telling each other, "I am glad to meet you."
Roh has said his goal at the summit is fostering peace and prosperity between the North and South, which remain technically at war since a 1953 cease-fire halted the Korean War despite seven years of warming ties since their first summit.
But Roh has not given any specifics about what he will propose or seeks in return, prompting criticism from conservatives at home that the summit is an ego trip for Roh, seeking to establish a legacy for his unpopular administration that ends
nuclear disarmament along with reforms to the country's centralized economy.
Roh's eager embrace of the North has also caused friction with Seoul's ally Washington, which believes
relations between the Koreas should only follow progress in Pyongyang's nuclear disarmament.
Earlier during the 125-mile journey by road from Seoul, Roh stepped out of his vehicle to walk across the border that divides the Koreas in the center of the Demilitarized Zone — the first time any Korean leader has crossed the land border. In the first summit between the Koreas in 2000, the South's Kim flew to Pyongyang.
"This line is a wall that has divided the nation for a half-century. Our people have suffered from too many hardships, and development has
been held up due to this wall," Roh said before crossing. "I will make efforts to make my walk across the border an occasion to remove the forbidden wall and move toward peace and prosperity."
Upon entering Pyongyang, Roh switched to an open-top car and was joined by the North's No. 2 leader, Kim Yong Nam. Both rode for some 20 minutes through the North's showcase capital, waving to hundreds of thousands of residents who chanted "Reunification of the Fatherland!" and "Welcome!
This week's summit, which runs through Thursday, comes a year after the North conducted its first test detonation of a nuclear bomb, catalyzing world opposition to the regime. However, the explosion soon led to a reversal of Washington's hard-line policy on the North that has lately seen relations improve between the long-time foes.
In July, North Korea shut down its sole operating nuclear reactor that produced material for bombs, and the country has tentatively agreed to disable its atomic facilities by year-end in a way that they cannot be easily restarted.
Before leaving the South Korean capital, Roh acknowledged that the two Koreas alone could not totally resolve the nuclear standoff or bring peace to the peninsula.
North Korea is involved in international talks, which include the U.S. and other regional powers, on
"Even if we do not reach an agreement in many areas, it would still be a meaningful achievement to narrow the gap in understanding and to enhance confidence in each other," Roh said of the meeting with Kim.
Washington was skeptical the summit would lead to tangible progress.
its nuclear weapons program. A peace settlement to the Korean War would require the participation of the U.S. and China, both of which also fought in that conflict.
"I certainly am not looking for those inter-korean discussions to change the basic facts on the ground," U.S. State Department spokesman Tom Casey said Monday.
Shares of Reston, Va.-based Sallie Mae fell 15 cents, or 0.3 percent, to $19.75 in afternoon trading.
In a letter to Sallie Mae's board, the head of the Flowers firm, J. Christopher Flowers, said the revised proposal represents "a significant premium to what the company's unaffected share price would likely be based on historical trading ranges and current market conditions."
Buyout firms like Flowers — which acquire public companies and take them private, restructure them and then sell them a few years later at a profit — had been riding a wave of easy credit but recently have found it harder to persuade their bankers to finance takeovers.
The new student loan legislation will cut about $20 billion in federal subsidies to companies like Sallie Mae that make student loans while halving the interest rate on government-backed student loans. According to Sallie Mae, the new student loan law will reduce its "core earnings" net income between 1.8 percent and
In a tense statement, Sallie Mae said it expects Bank of America Corp. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. "to honor that contract, not breach the contract," which calls for the deal to be closed later this month.
BY MARCY GORDON ASSOCIATED PRESS
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Under the terms of the deal, significant negative developments can nullify it. Sallie Mae says the anticipated reduction in earnings does not rise to that level of significance.
Cerberus Capital Management LP in July had to inject more equity into its takeover of Chrysler Group from German automaker Daimler. More recently, The Home Depot Inc. lowered the sale price on its wholesale supply unit by 17 percent to complete its sale to private-equity firms. And two private-equity firms backed out of their $8 billion buyout of upscale audio equipment maker Harman International Industries Inc.
2. 1 percent each year over the next five years.
Under the new offer, which is worth about $21 billion in cash, Sallie Mae has the potential to receive an additional payment of more than $7 a share if the company performs on track with its own projections. It could receive an extra $10 a share if the company exceeds those expectations.
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For months, the drama around what could be one of the world's largest private-equity takeover deals has been punctuated by rancor and disputed claims between the two sides. In the time since the original deal was struck in April, the once-booming private-equity industry has stumbled as an acute squeeze in credit markets has caused investors to balk at financing big deals.
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The group sent its revised offer to the board of the company, formally called SLM Corp., saying that $50 a share now "appropriately and fairly reflects the new economic and legislative environment that faces the company."
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If the deal were to fall through, the acquisition agreement between Sallie Mae and the investor group provides for a $900 million breakup fee payable by either side under certain conditions.
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The investor group, which is led by private equity firm J.C. Flowers & Co. and includes Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase, said the student-loan legislation signed into law by President Bush, and weaker economic conditions, made the $60-a share price negotiated in April unacceptable.
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WASHINGTON — After a group of investors reduced its cash offer for Sallie Mae by 17 percent on Tuesday, the nation's largest student lender insisted that the buyers honor their original $25 billion deal.
Investor group reduces bid to take over student lender