Korean leaders in new peace bid
Talk of ending nuclear threat in peninsula
THE leaders of North and South Korea agreed yesterday to pursue a permanent peace and the complete denuclearisation of the divided peninsula, as they embraced after a historic summit laden with symbolism.
In a day of bonhomie including a highly symbolic handshake over the Military Demarcation Line that divides the two countries, the pair issued a declaration on “the common goal of realising, through complete denuclearisation, a nuclear-free Korean peninsula”.
Upon signing the document, the two leaders shared a warm embrace, the culmination of a summit filled with smiles and displays of friendship in front of the world’s media. They also agreed that they would this year seek a permanent end to the Korean War, 65 years after the hostilities ended in an armistice rather than a peace treaty.
Moon would visit Pyongyang in autumn, the two leaders said, also agreeing to hold regular meetings and direct telephone conversations.
The so-called Panmunjom Declaration capped an extraordinary day unthinkable only months ago, as the nucleararmed North carried out a series of missile launches and its sixth atomic blast.
Kim said he was filled with emotion after stepping over the concrete blocks into the South, making him the first North Korean leader to set foot there since the shooting stopped in the Korean War.
At Kim’s impromptu invitation the two men briefly crossed hand-in-hand into the North before walking to the Peace House building on the southern side of the truce village of Panmunjom for the summit – only the third of its kind since hostilities ceased in 1953.
After the summit, he pledged that the two Koreas would ensure they did not repeat the unfortunate history in which past inter-Korea agreements fizzled out. The two previous Korean summits in 2000 and 2007, both of them in Pyongyang, also ended with displays of affection and similar pledges, but the agreements ultimately came to naught.
With the North’s atomic arsenal high on the agenda, South Korean President Moon Jae-in responded that the North’s announced moratorium on nuclear testing and long-range missile launches was very significant.
It was the highest-level encounter yet in a whirlwind of nuclear diplomacy, and intended to pave the way for a much-anticipated encounter between Kim and US President Donald Trump.
The White House said it hoped the summit would achieve progress toward a future of peace and prosperity for the entire Korean Peninsula.
Trump has demanded the North give up its weapons, and Washington is pressing for it to do so in a complete, verifiable and irreversible way.
Before the afternoon session, Moon and Kim held a symbolic tree-planting ceremony on the demarcation line.
After signing the agreement the leaders and their wives attended a banquet before Kim was to return to the North.