South-North Korean Summit

The meetings between the leaders of North Korea and South Korea is the back ground of the summit. The summit was mainly organized to serve as an occasion to normalize inter-Korean relations, which have been strained by the North’s nuclear program.

The main aim of the summit will be to contribute peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula while advancing towards South-North prosperity. In short it aims for the substantive progress rather than merely exchange views or make declarations. The summit aimed to Reduce Military Tension and Build Trust between groups. Expansion and Advancement of Inter-Korean Economic Cooperation and Creation of a Special Peace and Cooperation Zone in the West Sea was made possible through the summit. Such co-operation between the North and South made possible for the ultimate promotion of mutual growth of Inter Korean Economic Co-operation. The meeting is also expected to help the Six-Party Talks, while facilitating development of multilateral ties beneficial for the future of Northeast Asia.

Since the last decade the major meetings are happening. The first meeting happened in the year 2000 followed by the second in the year 2007. The summit failed due to lack of formal communication between North and South Korea, which makes discussing political and economic issues difficult. The summits’ agendas have included topics such as the ending of the 1953 war, the massive deployment of troops at the DMZ, the development of nuclear weapons by North Korea and human rights issues.

The first Summit was held June 13-15, 2000 in Pyongyang. Kim Jong-il, the North Korean leader, met with the Kim Dae-jung, the South Korean President at the time, who received the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts as this summit occurred seemingly as a result of his Sunshine Policy, which South Korea maintains to this day. However, it was later discovered that South Korea had secretly paid the North Korean Government $500 million to attend. This news caused a major political scandal when it came out.

The second Summit was held October 2-4, 2007, also in Pyongyang, between Kim Jong-ill and Roh Moo-hyun, the current President of the Republic of Korea. This Summit has occurred in the light of the recent partially successful detonation of a nuclear device by North Korea, the development of which violated a range of guarantees, given in exchange for aid, that North Korea would cease nuclear weapon development. This Summit has probably occurred due to concerted political and economic pressure from a number of major states (America, South Korea, Japan) and in particular from China, which is the nearest state North Korea has to an ally, and who provides North Korea with the oil and food supplies which keep the country from totally collapsing.

Source:http://www.korea.net/news/issues/issueView.asp?issue_no=106