Korea meeting Korea

For only the second time since the Korean War, the leaders of North Korea and South Korea have planned a summit in Pongyang, North Korea. President Roh Moo-Hyun of South Korea appeared in the Korean capital welcomed by a cheering crowd after his lengthy 3 1/2 hour drive from state capital to state capital.

In his travel, Roh stopped in a demilitarized zone between the two countries and walked across it, making history as the first leader to cross the border by foot. Stepping across the plastic tape labeled "peace and prosperity," Roh commented that he hoped that the "line will gradually be erased and the wall will fall." Roh's ideas suggest that such a summit may work towards a long-lasting peaceful solution and eventually the recombining of North and South Korea.

Meanwhile, Kim Jong Il has not been portrayed as having the same goals towards peace. Quoting the article from BBC, Kim Jong Il had previously promised that he would "make the return journey to Seoul" after Korea's first summit, but "that has never happened." Even so, after the previous meeting between Kim Jong Il and former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung led to a reconnection of the railroad systems between countries and families "have been granted reunions, if only briefly." Progress has been made, but a correspondent from BBC argues that Kim Jong Il "prefers to keep his military threat to coax further economic aid and other concessions from the nervous South." In addition, a CNN report asserts that in the 2000 summit "Kim Dae-jung paid hundreds of millions of dollars to secure the meeting." Some predict that such advancements and peace agreements may only be made with a financial deal to help North Korea's economy.

Even so, this second summit has some serious issues on the table regarding the relationship between the Koreas, addressing possible negotiation about freeing Koreah prisoners of war, military tensions, sea borders, and economic issues.

What do you think about such a meeting? I think that it's kind of peculiar that such a meeting took so long to be organized. I realize that there are serious issues between the countries, but the railroads have been connected for years and the distance between the capitols is only 3.5 hours. Even so, I am happy that such an event is taking place and hope that this may lead to agreements between the countries. In addition, this meeting also coincides with another meeting regarding the denuclearisation of North Korea. I sincerely hope that progress may be made in that area as well.
Hillary

Here are the links to the articles for more information:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/10/01/koreas.summit/index.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7023079.stm