[SUMMIT] Expectations run high in S. Korea on truce cross-border rapprochement

By Lim Chang-won Posted : April 27, 2018, 09:47 Updated : April 27, 2018, 16:22

South Koreans watch the two leaders of Korea shake hands through a TV broadcast at Seoul Station. [Yonhap Photo]



SEOUL -- A historic summit took place on Friday in the truce village of Panmunjom, sparking high expectations on true rapprochement among South Koreans who have seen up and downs in cross-border relations for decades.

The third inter-Korean summit on Friday between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un followed Kim's sudden peace overture that sparked a flurry of inter-Korean dialogue and exchanges. Pyongyang sent a delegation to the Winter Olympics in South Korea, reopened cross-border hotlines and ceased nuclear and ballistic missile tests.

A direct hotline was set up between Moon and Kim, signaling an era of dialogue that would end the absence of high-level communication across the heavily armed border.

The direct hotline carried great symbolic meaning because the two Koreas can avoid accidental conflicts or discuss crucial security issues any time between their leaders. After a landmark 2000 summit between South Korea's late president Kim Dae-jung and North Korea's late leader Kim Jong-il, an inter-Korean hotline was set up at the offices of South Korea's spy agency and its North Korean counterpart, but it was never used.

Many people in South Korea hope the summit will open a new era of reconciliation on the two Koreas which have been technically at war since an armistice ended the 1950-53 conflict.

Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha has said South and North Korean leaders are expected to adopt a flexible agenda for frank talks on broad issues at their summit that would focus on how to achieve denuclearization, develop inter-Korean relations and establish peace on the Korean peninsula.

However, she said denuclearization will be an overriding issue as Seoul and Washington target a complete and irreversible dismantlement of the North's nuclear program.

Moon has raised the issue of discussing a peace treaty to replace an armistice accord which left the Korean peninsula in a status of war for more than six decades.

During the Korean War, troops from the United States and other countries fought alongside South Korea under a United Nations flag. The Demilitarized zone, a buffer zone which bisects the Korean peninsula, was set up under a truce accord signed by North Korea, China and the United States.

At previous talks, the two Koreas have discussed the same subject or signed accords on ending hostilities, but they were back to square one because Pyongyang always insisted on a separate non-aggression accord with Washington.

Moon's office stressed that various ways to establish a peace system such as an agreement to ban hostilities can be discussed at the inter-Korean summit, but an agreement between the two countries should be endorsed by other relevant countries including the United States.

North Korea has offered to stop nuclear and ballistic missile tests and close its nuclear test site. However, U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to walk away unless Pyongyang gives a firm pledge to completely abandon nuclear ambitions.

On the eve of the inter-Korean summit, Trump told "Fox and Friends" that he walk away if his meeting with Kim is unlikely to be fruitful. "So it could be that I walk out quickly -- with respect, but it could be," Trump said. "It could be that maybe the meeting doesn't even take place. Who knows? But I can tell you right now they want to meet."

"We're doing very well with North Korea and we'll see how it all comes out," Trump said. "Everybody said this guy's going to get us into nuclear war. Let me tell you. The nuclear war would have happened if you had weak people. We had weak people."

Referring to State Secretary Mike Pompeo's secret trip to Pyongyang for talks with Kim over Easter weekend, Trump said he has not given any concessions in return for the North's commitment to denuclearize. "I haven't given up anything. I haven't even talked about it," he said.
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