KOREAS COMMIT TO PEACE
North’s Kim crosses frontier into South, embraces Moon
I came here determined to send a starting signal at the threshold of a new history.
KIM JONG-UN NORTH KOREAN PRESIDENT
The moment [Kim] crossed the military demarcation line, Panmunjom became a symbol of peace, not a symbol of division. MOON JAE-IN SOUTH KOREAN PRESIDENT
GOYANG: The leaders of North and South Korea agreed yesterday to pursue a permanent peace and complete the denuclearisation of the divided peninsula, as they embraced after an 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.
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.
South Korean President
Moon Jae-in would visit
Pyongyang in “the 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 nuclear-armed North carried out a series of missile launches and its sixth atomic blast.
North Korean President Kim Jong-un 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.
“The moment [Kim] crossed the military demarcation line, Panmunjom became a symbol of peace, not a symbol of division,” Mr Moon said, according to Yonhap News.
At Mr 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.
“I came here determined to send a starting signal at the threshold of a new history,” said Mr Kim.
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 after beginning”.
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, Mr Moon 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 Mr Kim and US President Donald Trump.
Last year Pyongyang carried out its sixth nuclear blast and launched missiles capable of reaching the US mainland. Its actions sent tensions soaring as Mr Kim and Mr Trump traded personal insults and threats of war.
The White House said it hoped the summit would “achieve progress toward a future of peace and prosperity for the entire Korean Peninsula”. Mr Trump has demanded the North give up its weapons in a complete, verifiable and irreversible way.
Thailand yesterday welcome the historic summit. “Thailand hopes that the outcomes of this summit and further efforts, particularly the planned meeting between the President of the United States and the Leader of the DPRK in the near future, will pave the way for the eventual realisation of the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula, thereby helping to greatly enhance peace, stability and an atmosphere of cooperation in the region, for the benefits of the Korean peoples and the region as a whole.
“Thailand stands ready to contribute towards these shared goals,” a Foreign Ministry statement said.