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Landmark Korean Summit Deal Brings Hope, Wins Applause
The leaders of North and South Korea end a historic summit on Thursday basking in the glow of a wide-ranging pact aimed at replacing decades of Cold War hostility with the trust to work toward reunification of their fractured peninsula.
The agreement, toasted with champagne shortly before midnight on Wednesday, was hailed in Seoul as potentially setting the stage for the socialist North to emerge from its self-imposed isolation to rebuild its backward economy.
"They've made history in laying groundwork for reunification," the Korea Economic Daily declared.
With banner headlines, all the papers hailed the pact signed by South Korean President Kim Dae-jung and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il which will make possible reunions of families torn apart when the Korean War broke out 50 years ago.
The war ended in an armed truce that the two Koreas now hope will be replaced, at some point, by a permanent peace.
"The Korean Peninsula has just escaped from the threat of war and is heading for true peace and prosperity," The Kyunghyang Shinmun said.
The family reunions will take place around August 15 when both countries mark the liberation of Korea from Japanese occupation at the end of World War II.
There were no details of how many of the more than one million families who have relatives or ancestors across the 38 Parallel would be allowed to make the emotional trip across the last Cold War border, where a million soldiers face off.
Kim Dae-jung, the first leader of the South to set foot in the North, had been expected to cross the border by car later today on a 180 km (110 mile) drive back to Seoul. But unconfirmed reports said he would in fact return by air.
"I'm very pleased by this and I think the communique is hopeful," US President Bill Clinton said.
"Now they've got a lot of work to do, and it's just the first step. But it's clearly a move in the right direction and everyone else in the world should be encouraged by this, this is a good thing," he said.
The United States has 37,000 troops stationed in South Korea now. North Korea deems the US forces there are the biggest obstacle to any eventual peace talks on the Korean Peninsula.
However, South Korea has insisted that the US forces are necessary, defending it against any intrusion from the north.
The pact came at the end of the second day of an extraordinary summit that has shown North Korean top leader Kim Jong-il to be confident, relaxed and endowed with a sense of humor.
Kim Jong-il's wife did not attend Wednesday's banquet, prompting him to joke that they too should be counted among Korea's divided families. The banquet hall erupted with laughter.
After the signing ceremony, television showed the two Kims clasping hands and then raising them in triumph above their heads.
Kim Jong-il, who accepted an invitation to a return summit in Seoul "at the appropriate time", then drained his champagne in one gulp, savouring the triumph and the television spotlight.
The South Korean leader, in an impassioned plea to Kim Jong-il to join him and "chase away the fear of war from our land", said the summit marked a new beginning.
"For the first time, the Korean people can see a bright future, as a dawn of hope for reconciliation, cooperation and unification is breaking," Kim said.
The two Kims pledged to work towards those very goals and to step up economic, cultural and sports exchanges. Government-level talks on these issues as soon as possible.
The two Koreas also agreed to resolve as soon as possible humanitarian issues such as the repatriation of long-term political prisoners "without outside interference."
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