North and South Korea agreed in early October to press their superpower allies for a peace treaty to end the world’s oldest and bloodiest cold war conflict, as the leaders of the divided peninsula ended their second summit in more than 50 years. Kim Jong-il and Roh Moo-hyun, said they would urge China and the United States to negotiate a formal end to the 1950-53 Korean war. That conflict, which cost 4 million lives, was merely halted by an armistice that has left the nation divided, militarised and tense ever since.
While this reconciliation is long overdue, one may be justifiably sceptical that real progress will be made. The North’s Kim has a reputation as a wily negotiator and may just be using the proclamations as a lever to gain concessions from US and west in their nuclear programme or food aid. Nevertheless we can applaud the South’s extension of a friendly hand and hope that ties between the Koreas will strengthen.
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