pyongyang Citizens Show Mixed Responses to Declaration
By Bae Ji-sook
Staff Reporter
Citizens waiting for a peace declaration in front of televisions and computers showed mixed responses to the agreement announced at the end of the inter-Korean summit: some welcomed it but others didn't.
People living near the border, concerned about safety and security, welcomed the announcement in general. They hoped the agreement would bring peace and ease tensions between South and North Korea.
The residents of Baengnyeong-do, an island on the western end of the country, which borders the Northern Limit Line (NLL), welcomed the basic agreement. There was a sensitive atmosphere around the town as many were concerned whether their rights to fish in the area safely would be guaranteed. But most showed trust in the leaders of South and North Korea. They said they will wait until more specific plans are made.
People living inside the military control zone adjacent to the demilitarized zone (DMZ) also supported the governments' decision. Residents of Daeseong-dong, the only residence located inside the joint security area, said the announcement of moves to terminate the Korean War would bring peace to their town.
Their movements are strictly controlled by the military for security reasons.
At Imjingak and the Unification Observatory in Gangwon Province, more than 2,500 people gathered hoping for good news.
``I bet it doesn't take an hour to get to my hometown,'' said a 76-year-old displaced man, who once lived in Gaepung, North Hwanghae Province in the North. ``Now I feel peace is close, I hope I can visit there soon and see if my relatives still live there.''
``I hope all these are not political gestures but real efforts,'' Chung Sun-ae, a graduate school student, said. ``Peace on the peninsula has been needed for a long time. People shouldn't give up, but must be patient," she said.
The Internet also saw mixed responses. While some people labeled it a ``historic moment,'' others said it favored the North.
``We should look at international trends, and what the government has concluded is more than what we expected,'' a netizen (ID: Npsycho) said.
``We should ask the North to put the first summit's declaration into action first,'' another netizen (ID: Dokdo) said on Daum.net. ``At this moment, there are still many people suffering from human rights infringements in the North,'' a netizen (ID: Neureupnamu) said.
Some people who opposed the summit, criticized the announcement. Members of a conservative association, who held a rally in front of the U.S. Embassy in Seoul Thursday, said they were opposed to the termination of the war and the special peace zone in the West Sea without any mention about prisoners of war or abductees.
``It was more of a political show at the end of President Roh Moo-hyun's term. We should not put too much meaning to it,'' Jhe Seong-ho, a spokesman of the New Right Network, said.
The Korea Progressive Network said new laws and systems are necessary to back the declaration. ``The announcement brought the fundamental idea of peace. The eight-point declaration will be a historic milestone for cooperation between the two Koreas,'' it said.