North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and the South’s President Moon Jae-in sat down to a historic summit on April 27 after shaking hands over the Military Demarcation Line that divides their countries in a gesture laden with symbolism. / AFP PHOTO / Korea Summit Press Pool / Korea Summit Press Pool
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un promised to ensure that the agreement reached with the South’s Moon Jae-in at a summit Friday would be implemented, unlike previous pledges.
The two Koreas will closely co-ordinate to ensure they did not “repeat the unfortunate history in which past inter-Korea agreements…fizzled out after beginning,” Kim said after a summit with the South’s President Moon Jae-in.
“There may be backlash, hardship and frustration on our way,” he added, “but a victory cannot be achieved without pain”.
The leader of nuclear-armed North Korea Kim Jong Un and the South’s President Moon Jae-in said they were also committed to the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula after a historic summit Friday.
“South and North Korea confirmed the common goal of realizing, through complete denuclearization, a nuclear-free Korean peninsula,” they said in a joint statement.
North and South Korea also agreed to hold a reunion in August of families left divided when the Korean War ended 65 years ago, they said Friday after a summit.
Around 57,000 families in the South still have members in the North, one of the most emotive issues remaining from the conflict.
“South and North Korea agreed to proceed with reunion programs for the separated families on the occasion of the National Liberation Day of August 15 this year,” they said in a statement, referring to Japan’s surrender at the end of World War II.
After the summit, the two Koreas also agreed to seek a permanent end to the Korean War this year, 65 years after the hostilities ended in an armistice, rather than a peace treaty.
The two Koreas will seek meetings with the US and possibly China — both of them parties to the ceasefire — “with a view to declaring an end to the War and establishing a permanent and solid peace regime”, they said in a joint statement.
Moon would visit Pyongyang “in the fall”, the two leaders said, agreeing also to hold “regular meetings and direct telephone conversations”.
(Agence France Presse)
