Reuters: Korean leaders hold historic summit, but pledges are short on detail
SEOUL (Reuters) - The leaders of North and South Korea embraced on Friday and pledged to work for the “complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula” on a day of smiles and handshakes at the first inter-Korean summit in more than a decade.
The two Koreas announced they would work with the United States and China this year to declare an official end to the 1950s Korean War and establish a permanent peace agreement, removing an important vestige of the conflict.
But their commitments were short on specifics and failed to clear up key questions about Pyongyang’s intentions over its nuclear arsenal ahead of an even more critical summit, with U.S. President Donald Trump, that is expected in coming weeks.
Trump, who has raised expectations that his meeting with Kim will deliver tangible results, hailed the results of the Korean summit but said he would not allow himself to be “played like a fiddle” by North Korea like past U.S. administrations.
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WNU Editor: Yes .... the final declaration was short on specifics .... Panmunjom Declaration for Peace, Prosperity and Unification of the Korean Peninsula (ABC News Online). But this was expected .... the diplomats will now work out the details. As for North Korea's nuclear arsenal .... I expect the same type of understanding will be reached when President Trump meets Kim Jong Un in June. The next step will be to formally end the Korean war, and (I predict) it will be signed by the leaders of China, U.S., South and North Korea at Panmunjom this fall. After that .... the slow process towards unification will begin.
Why reunify?
ReplyDeleteNorth Koreans will be as pigheaded as the Chinese about how the years of communism made them 'tough minded'!
Not that they want to go back to the misanthropy and misadventures of the bad old days of utopia/communism, but the silver lining is that it made them tough-minded.
the older South Koreans want unification. the younger ones do not
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