President Park Geun-hye said Wednesday that she would unveil her vision for peace and cooperation in Northeast Asia during her visit to the U.S. early next month.

“Northeast Asian countries and the U.S. can build trust first in non-political areas such as climate change, anti-terrorism and nuclear energy and forge a greater multilateral confidence based in it,” she said during a meeting with managing editors of local media outlets at Cheong Wa Dae.

“North Korea can also participate in it,” she added.

Park is scheduled to visit the U.S. from May 5-10 and hold summit talks with U.S. President Barack Obama on May 7.

During her election campaign late last year, Park proposed a regional peace plan to resolve what she calls the “Asia paradox,” which refers to the region’s deepening economic interdependence and escalating territorial rows and historical animosities.

At the time, Park floated the idea of creating a peace process similar to the Helsinki process ― a European peace initiative that provided the momentum to encourage an enduring peace in a divided Europe during the Cold War.

On the summit agenda are current security conditions that were destabilized by North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats and ways to strengthen the six-decade-old alliance between Seoul and Washington, Park said during the meeting.

Regarding Tokyo’s rightward political shift, Park called on Japanese politicians to take more caution not to further aggravate the bilateral relationship.

“The relationship between South Korea and Japan is very crucial in terms of security and the economy,” she said. “But if there is a discrepancy in the historical perceptions and past scars keep festering, it will be difficult for the two nations to move in a future-oriented direction.”

As for the stalled operation of the inter-Korean industrial complex in Gaeseong, she reiterated that there would no longer be any “unprincipled” offer of assistance to the North or half-hearted negotiations.

“An inappropriate way to deal with the issue could result in a greater crisis. We will not make such a mistake,” she said.

By Song Sang-ho (sshluck@heraldcorp.com)