By Bae Ji-sook
Staff Reporter
Most citizens were calm and unemotional regarding the summit of the two Koreas Monday, a day before the historical event. Compared to the atmosphere in 2000 when the first summit was held, there was relatively little excitement.
According to Citizens United for a Better Society, 58.5 percent of 123 university students attending their meetings said they do not think the summit will lead to unification of the two Koreas.
Campuses were silent. Only Seoul National University and Hanyang University student councils held seminars and small festivals to celebrate the event. This is quite different from the scene back in 2000, when most campuses flew the national flags of the North and South, amid large celebratory events.
Many people said students' overall indifference to politics might have contributed to the atmosphere.
Families separated by the split between the two Koreas who had been very enthusiastic about the first summit, were not expecting much either. Shim Gu-cheol, a representative of the families' association said the first summit had not resulted in actual reunions or sensational changes in their status. Since then, a mere 200 people a year have been able to see their family members briefly although there are 100,000 in the country. Some family members showed concern that their situation might not be on the agenda for the summit.
A civic group member said society is now focusing on the substance of the talks rather than its flashy appearance.
``For the past seven years, the two Koreas have kept in touch and the summit itself is nothing especially different from this,'' Park Jung-eun of the People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy said. ``People are ready to talk about it after seeing what happens at the talks rather than assuming anything,'' she added.
So, what do ordinary people find most intriguing among many possible issues?
Whether Renate Hong, a 70 year-old German woman who was separated from her North Korean husband 45 years ago in East Germany, will be able to meet her husband Hong Ok-geun is drawing public attention. When she visited South Korea in August, more than 30 major media services around the world covered the story of the woman who kept her husband in her heart for all those years.
According to the daily JoongAng Ilbo, the government has not yet decided whether the issue will be presented on the agenda or as a conversational issue. Another official said Renete's story is touching and internationally known, and may well be brought up at the summit.
The paper also quoted a German official as saying the North Korean government is also in favor of solving the problem.
Another point is whether the Korean War prisoner matter or the adbuctee issue will be raised. They are considered highly sensitive, as the North has largely denied their existence.
According to Shin Jeong-ok, a relative of prisoner of war Han Man-taek, the Ministry of National Defense has collected Han's personal information ahead of the summit. Han escaped from the North in 2004 to northern China but was arrested by Chinese police and sent back to North Korea a day later.
The families of the prisoners assume there are some 1,000 war prisoners and abductees in the North. In 2000, the government returned 60 pro-North Korea prisoners, but no South Koreans came back in return.