Inter-Korean summits explained

Inter-Korean summits
Skhangul:	남북정상회담
Skhanja:	南北頂上會談
Skrr:	Nambuk Jeongsang Hoedam
Skmr:	Nambuk Chŏngsang Hoedam
Nkhangul:	북남수뇌상봉
Nkhanja:	北南首腦相逢
Nkrr:	Bungnam Sunoe Sangbong
Nkmr:	Pungnam Sunoe Sangbong
Ibox-Order:	ko1, ko4, ko3

Inter-Korean summits are meetings between the leaders of North and South Korea. To date, there have been five such meetings so far (2000, 2007, April 2018, May 2018, and September 2018), three of them being in Pyongyang, with another two in Panmunjom. The importance of these summits lies in the 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 1950-53 war (currently there is an armistice in force), the massive deployment of troops at the DMZ (approximately two million in total),^[1] the development of nuclear weapons by North Korea, and human rights issues.^{[2] [3] [4]}

Originally, the first inter-Korean summit was planned to take place on 25 July 1994 but the death of Kim-Il Sung on 8 July, just 17 days prior to the scheduled meeting, meant these plans were abandoned.^[5]

2000 summit

See main article: 2000 inter-Korean summit. In 2000, the representatives of the two governments met for the first time since the division of the Korean peninsula. Kim Dae-jung, the President of South Korea, who arrived at Pyongyang Sunan International Airport, met Kim Jong Il, Supreme Leader of North Korea, directly under the trap of the airport, and the rallies and divisions of the People's Army Corps were held.^[2]

• Participants: Kim Dae-jung, President of South Korea, and Kim Jong Il, Supreme Leader of North Korea
• Place of meeting: Pyongyang, North Korea
• Date of the meeting: June 13–15, 2000
• Results of talks: June 15th North–South Joint Declaration

2007 summit

See main article: 2007 inter-Korean summit. In June 2007, a summit declaration was adopted, which included the realization of the June 15 Joint Declaration, the promotion of a three-party or four-party summit meeting to resolve the nuclear issue on the Korean peninsula, and active promotion of inter-Korean economic cooperation projects.^{[3] [4]}

• Participants: Roh Moo-hyun, President of South Korea, and Kim Jong Il, Supreme Leader of North Korea
• Place of meeting: Pyongyang, North Korea
• Date of the meeting: October 2–4, 2007
• Results of talks: 2007 North–South Summit Declaration

April 2018 summit

See main article: April 2018 inter-Korean summit. A summit was held on 27 April 2018 in South Korea's portion of the Joint Security Area. It was the third summit between South and North Korea, agreed by South Korea's president, Moon Jae-in, and North Korea's Supreme Leader, Kim Jong Un.^[6]

• Participants: Moon Jae-in, President of South Korea, and Kim Jong Un, Supreme Leader of North Korea
• Place of meeting: Joint Security Area, South Korea
• Date of the meeting: April 27, 2018^[7]
• Results of talks: Panmunjom Declaration

May 2018 summit

See main article: May 2018 inter-Korean summit.

On 26 May 2018, Kim and Moon met again in the Joint Security Area.^[8] The meeting took two hours, and unlike other summits it had not been publicly announced beforehand.^[9]

September 2018 summit

See main article: September 2018 inter-Korean summit. On 13 August, Blue House announced that South Korea's president attended the third inter-Korean summit with leader Kim Jong-un in Pyongyang on 18–20 September. The agenda would be finding the strategy of the breakthrough in its hampered talks with U.S. and solution for the denuclearization on the Korean peninsula.^{[10] [11] [12]}

• Participants: Moon Jae-in, President of South Korea, and Kim Jong Un, Supreme Leader of North Korea
• Place of meeting: Pyongyang, North Korea
• Date of the meeting: September 18–20, 2018
• Results of talks: along with a commitment for a future summit meeting in Seoul.^[13]

See also

• 2018–19 Korean peace process
• Sunshine Policy
• Northern Limit Line
• Peace Treaty on Korean Peninsula
• 2018 North Korea–United States Singapore Summit
• 2019 North Korea–United States Hanoi Summit
• 2019 Koreas–United States DMZ Summit

Press releases

• Two Koreas to hold summit (CNN, Aug 7, 2007)
• New hope of inter-Korean detente (UPI, Aug 10, 2007)
• Inter-Korean summit (chinaview, Aug 8, 2007)
• Korean summit postponed by floods (CNN, Aug 18, 2007)

References

• The Second inter-Korean summit: Four Arguments Against and Why They Could Be Wrong (quoted by nautilus.org)
• Ban Ki-moon welcomes forthcoming inter-Korean summit
• Inter-Korean summit welcome
• Looking forward to new aspect of inter-Korean summit
• the eight-point agreement by the leaders of the two Koreas at the end of their summit (quoted by koreanblog.com)
• 2nd South-North Korean Summit Joint Statement, The Institute for Far Eastern Studies, Kyungnam University
• Inter-Korean Liaison Office bombing

External links

• The inter-Korean summit:Evaluation and Tasks Ahead
• The inter-Korean summit and Unification Formulae
• Landmark inter-Korean summit begins with unification pledge
• The official homepage of 2007 inter-Korean summit
• The official website of the Republic of Korea
• Inter-Korean dialogue

Notes and References

1. News: Kim's War Machine . 2003-02-24. https://web.archive.org/web/20030218122743/http://www.time.com/time/asia/covers/501030224/army.html . dead . 18 February 2003 . Time. 2007-11-04 .
2. Web site: The Maritime boundary between North & South Korea in the Yellow (West) Sea . Jon Van Dyke . . U.S.-Korea Institute, Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies . July 29, 2010 . 28 November 2010 . 10 May 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220510012027/https://www.38north.org/2010/07/the-maritime-boundary-between-north-south-korea-in-the-yellow-west-sea/ . live .
3. News: Korean leaders in historic talks . 2 October 2007 . 2 October 2007 . https://web.archive.org/web/20071016062235/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7023079.stm . 16 October 2007 . bot: unknown ., BBC, Tuesday, 2 October 2007, 10:14 GMT
4. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/7023270.stm In pictures: Historic crossing
5. Web site: Unfulfilled Inter-Korean Summit in 1994 . 2024-03-11 . world.kbs.co.kr . en.
6. Web site: Kim, Moon meet at start of historic inter-Korean summit - Channel NewsAsia . www.channelnewsasia.com . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20180427023014/https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asia/north-korea-kim-jong-un-south-moon-jae-in-meet-summit-10180506 . 2018-04-27.
7. Web site: North, South Korea Fix April Date for 1st Summit in Years - Other Media news. 3 April 2018. 4 April 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180404134514/https://www.tasnimnews.com/en/news/2018/03/29/1689519/north-south-korea-fix-april-date-for-1st-summit-in-years. live.
8. Web site: North, South Korea meet for surprise second summit. syracuse.com. 26 May 2018. 28 May 2018. 12 June 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180612210531/https://www.syracuse.com/politics/index.ssf/2018/05/north_south_korea_meet_for_surprise_second_summit.html. live.
9. Web site: North and South Korean leaders hold surprise meeting. CNN. 26 May 2018. 28 May 2018. 28 April 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190428133250/https://edition.cnn.com/2018/05/26/politics/north-and-south-korean-leaders-meet-again/index.html. live.
10. Web site: Koreas to hold Pyongyang summit in September. Aug 13, 2018. 23 August 2018. 14 August 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180814114955/https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asia/koreas-to-hold-pyongyang-summit-in-september-10612404. live.
11. News: Kim's new look as Pyongyang summit confirmed. News.com.au. Aug 13, 2018. 23 August 2018. 4 May 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190504170617/https://www.news.com.au/finance/work/leaders/kims-new-look-as-pyongyang-summit-confirmed/news-story/f5e80c3d9e6dae4499038976250636b6. live.
12. Web site: South Korean leader to meet Kim Jong Un on his turf. CBS News. Aug 13, 2018. 23 August 2018. 14 May 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190514015808/https://www.cbsnews.com/news/north-korea-kim-jong-un-summit-pyongyang-south-korea-president-moon-jae-in/. live.
13. News: Johnson . Jesse . Kim Jong Un planning to visit Seoul in December: report . 25 September 2018 . . 22 September 2018 . 26 September 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180926014109/https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2018/09/22/asia-pacific/politics-diplomacy-asia-pacific/kim-jong-un-planning-visit-seoul-december-report/ . live .