Two Korea Times columnists ― Emanuel Pastreich, director of the Asia Institute, and Stephen Costello, Washington-based Korea watcher ― talk about what has led to Friday's inter-Korean summit and what should be expected from it. ― ED.
Today's summit between President Moon Jae-in of the Republic of Korea and Kim Jung-un of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea is not a single event, but rather the culmination of a long historical process of tremendous efforts on both sides for reconciliation in the face of inflexible thinking and institutional barriers.
Although the history of North-South dialogue goes back a long way, this is the third inter-Korean summit between leaders and the first in South Korea.
The first summit was between South Korea's then President Kim Dae-jung and North Korea's then leader Kim Jong-il in Pyongyang, June 13-15, 2000. That remarkable encounter produced a “Peace Declaration” that set the stage for closer economic cooperation, reunions for separated families and government-government talks. Those efforts laid the foundation for the Gaeseong Industrial Region, opening in 2002, which allowed direct investment by the South in the North.
That breakthrough summit, however, suffered tremendous setbacks after the George W. Bush administration came to power in the United States. It declared that North Korea could not be trusted and then refused to follow through with American commitments in accord with the Agreed Framework of 1994. Talk of regime change and the “Axis of Evil” in Washington ended prospects for real progress.
The second summit was held between President Roh Moo-hyun and Kim Jong-il, Oct. 2-4, 2007, also in Pyongyang. They discussed economic and cultural cooperation and signed a peace declaration that called for an end to the Korean War and a peace treaty.
There was little time left in Roh's term to follow up on the peace declaration and the following two conservative administrations of Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye showed open hostility to North Korea and raised tensions and distrust immediately. The Park administration went so far as to shut down the Gaeseong Industrial Region.
So this inter-Korean summit follows that legacy, but after a decade of neglect on the American side (labeled by the Obama administration as “strategic patience”) and open hostility on the part of the South Korean conservatives.
This time, however, President Moon is in the driver's seat as the Trump administration lacks the expertise and focus to make policy for the Korean Peninsula. Korea has emerged as a cultural and economic power in the region and the candlelight demonstrations against the Park administration suggest a vital political culture. Perhaps a more profound geopolitical shift will result this time from the summit.