‘STEP TOWARDS A NEW HISTORY’
Not since the 1950s had a North Korean leader set foot on South Korean soil — until Friday. Kim Jong Un of North Korea took that step and met his southern counterpart Moon Jae In for a historic meeting where they pledged to declare a formal end to the Korean War
BREAKTHROUGH
Key agreements between North and South
▪ Cease "hostile acts," reduce military arms and work towards denuclearisation
▪ Work with the United States and China to declare official end to the 1950s Korean War
▪ Open liaison office, stop propaganda broadcasts and leaflet drops along border and allow families divided by the border to meet
▪ Leaders to hold "regular meetings and direct telephone conversations"
I came here determined to send a starting signal at the threshold of a new history — KIM JONG UN, North Korean premier
Pyongyang and Seoul have been at each other's throats since the end of World War 2, with attacks ranging from being James Bond-esque to straight up war crimes
AUGUST 1945: At the end of World War 2, the US and Soviet Union agreed to divide the Korean peninsula after Japan, which ruled Korea, surrendered to the Allies
JUNE 1950: brutal war
that kills millions. China backed Pyongyang, while the US supported Seoul — alliances that have largely endured
The communist North invaded the capitalist South, sparking a
JULY 1953: The two sides reached a stalemate and hostilities ceased with an armistice rather than a formal peace treaty, leaving them technically still at war
JANUARY 1968: The North sent 31 of its highly trained commandos to Seoul in a botched attempt to assassinate then-President Park Chung-Hee
AUGUST 1976: North Korean soldiers attacked a work party trying to chop down a tree inside the Demilitarised Zone, killing two US Army officers
OCTOBER 1983: The North attempted to assassinate South Korean general-turned-president Chun Doo-hwan in Myanmar with a bomb. Chun survives but 21 people were killedd
NOVEMBER 1987: A bomb went off on a Korean Air flight over the Andaman Sea, killing all 115 people on board. Seoul accused Pyongyang, which denied involvement
SEPTEMBER 1996: A North Korean submarine ran aground off eastern South Korea, sparking a 45-day manhunt that ended with 24 crew members killed
JUNE 1999: South and North Korean naval ships clashed, resulting in the death of some 50 Northern soldiers
MARCH 2010: Seoul accused Pyongyang of torpedoing one of its corvette warships, killing 46 sailors — an allegation that the North denied
NOVEMBER 2010: The North attacked a civilian-populated area for the first time since 1953, firing 170 artillery shells at Yeonpyeong island and killing four people.