Pyongyang, a historic handshake between the Korean leaders
Pyongyang (AsiaNews) –The South Korea President Roh Moo-hyun arrived this morning in North Korea and met for the first his North Korean counter part the dictator Kim Jong-il. According to South Korean state television the two were greeted by “of crowds who cheered and waved paper flowers in welcome”. This first encounter which took place in the North Korean capital was not on the official agenda.
Thus began the first of a 3 day state visit by the Presidential delegation from Seoul to the Northern part of the Island, the second in almost 60 years of separation. The first had taken place in 2000, when the then president of South Korea Kim Dae-jung landed in Pyongyang and spoke of an “imminent” re-unification of the country.
According to various experts, this meeting does not open the road to the nation’s re-unification but instead aims to nurture advantages to be earned from closet relations between the two countries. At least 5 official encounters between the two leaders are on the agenda, which should focus on the issues of humanitarian aid (to the North) and economic cooperation (with the South). Moreover, a meeting is set to focus on the nuclear question – also in view of the upcoming round of 6 party negotiations on nuclear disarmament, which will be held in Beijing immediately after the presidential meeting – as well as on human rights.
Despite this, many South Korean analysts underline the historic undertones of this visit, which could bring an end to the secessionist war of 1950, which is still formally in act. Moreover, it must be added that North Korea seems to be on the verge of an economic crises: if Seoul diplomacy succeeds in countering Kim Jong-il’s character (who has yet to appoint his successor), there may be renewed hopes in the real possibility of the peninsula’s re-unification.
In either case, a lot of controversy is also shadowing this encounter. The South Korean opposition has loudly protested at the presidential decision to attend the mass games of “Arirang”, but Roh’s staff immediately rebutted that it is “an act of courtesy which will be used in order to bring up the question of human rights abuses”. Seoul’s Parliament has asked the Head of State to “not allow himself to be overcome by emotion or duped into making needless concessions in the hopes of signing a significant deal”.
The North Korean media’s management of the encounter has been far more eloquent, in so far as they have almost completely ignored the event. On the daily release of the official state press agency in North Korea, the main focus is on the regime’s congratulations to the Guinean president “on the occasion of the 49th anniversary of his nation’s independence”. No sign of Roh’s visit.
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12/02/2016 15:14
17/06/2005
