A historic summit | Daily News

A historic summit

History was made on the Korean peninsula when North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un stepped across a concrete slab on the 38th Parallel to South Korea on Friday to shake hands with its President Moon Jae-in. Jong-un became the first North Korean leader to set foot in South Korea since the end of the 1950-53 Korean war and moments later, the two leaders stepped back across the line briefly and symbolically to North Korea.

This is a remarkable development, given that Jong-un had ordered nuclear missile tests just a few months earlier and threatened to annihilate his country’s enemies. He also had an ongoing spat with US President Donald Trump, with both sides not backing down. But extensive behind-the-scenes diplomacy by the US, South Korea and perhaps China has since softened his stance and just last week, he promised an end to missile tests. In fact, in early accounts of the closed morning session given by South Korean officials, Kim told Moon that he “won’t interrupt your early morning sleep any more” with ballistic missile tests. He promised a “new beginning” to the strained relationship between the two nations, writing in the guest book that “new history starts from now, at the historic starting point of an era of peace.”

It is hard to predict the exact outcome(s) of the closed-door meetings of the two Korean leaders, but there could be several immediate as well as long term results. A nuclear weapon equipped North Korea would have posed a great risk not just to South Korea, but to the whole of Asia. Although Asia has at least three other nuclear powers (official and unofficial), they did not conduct any nuclear exercises in recent times. Now, if Jong-un holds onto his words, the rest of Asia will indeed be able to sleep well. A nuclear war in the Korean peninsula would have brought untold misery to all Asians. Thus a North Korean denuclearization should very much be on the agenda, as Jong-un himself has promised.

Another positive outcome of the Summit was an agreement by the two leaders to formally declare an end to the Korean War and sign a Peace Treaty later this year. Although it has been 65 years since armed hostilities ended, the two countries have been technically at war. Just a few weeks back, North Korean soldieries tried to shoot down one of their colleagues who successfully managed to defect to the South. There have been many such skirmishes between the two countries at the DMZ (De Militarized Zone) marking the border.

However, the ultimate prize will be reunification. Korea was divided at the end of World War II with the intervention of the victorious Allied Powers, just like Germany. North Korea became a strictly one-party rule communist State under the leadership of Kim ll Sung, the present leader’s grandfather. Mirroring East Germany, North Korea too suffered from lack of development and became an impoverished state while South Korea, one of the poorest countries in Asia in 1945, progressed by leaps and bounds. It is now second only to Japan in Asia in terms of development. Heartbreakingly, the division led to some families ending up in the two countries and some people never saw each other again.

Germany became a single country in 1990 and today, East Germany is only a distant memory. Gone are the Trabants, replaced by the BMWs, Mercs and Audis. The citizens of what used to be East Germany now enjoy the same high standards of living experienced by those who lived in West Germany. The same story can be repeated in North Korea if unification takes place. South Korea, which has always had a reunification Ministry will no doubt wish to expedite the process. There is no reason why North Koreans should not be allowed to share the South’s prosperity. A single, united Korea will also lead to peace in the region.

The one country in the region that can influence North Korea to keep its promises is China, whose leader Xi Jinping is among the few world leaders who have met Jong-un face to face. China did not object to harsh economic sanctions being imposed on North Korea and in fact stopped many vital supplies to its neighbour to put pressure on it. There is no doubt that China will work closely with both North Korea and South Korea to pave the way for peace and stability in the region.

The world is also waiting eagerly to see the proposed meeting between Jong-un and President Trump slated for June. The stage for this breakthrough summit was set by a secret meeting between Jong-un and CIA Director Mike Pompeo, President Trump’s nominee for next Secretary of State. Given that the two men were trading barbs on the respective sizes of their nuclear arsenals just a few months ago, the summit should be a historic opportunity for the US to engage constructively with North Korea, along with China and South Korea. All roads from now on must lead to lasting peace (and reunification) in the Korean peninsula. 


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