Koreas complete liberation celebrations
North Korean officials visited South Korea’s National Assembly for the first time today in a symbolic gesture of reconciliation with their democratic rivals during joint celebrations of the 60th anniversary of the Korean Peninsula’s liberation from Japanese colonial rule.
“Real and substantial co-operative relations between the South and the North start now,” said National Assembly Speaker Kim One-ki. “The South and the North should combine their strong points and complement each other’s shortcomings.”
Kim proposed talks between South and North Korean politicians that would provide a “most appropriate channel to deliver and raise understanding of the North’s views” for South Koreans, according to reports. He also promised to implement laws that would help Seoul and Pyongyang proceed with their joint projects.
The North Korean delegation was expected to later visit former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung, who was admitted to hospital last week with bacterial pneumonia. Kim held an historic summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il in 2000 that paved the way for closer contacts between the two Koreas, which remain technically at war.
The two Koreas were to wrap up their three-day celebrations this evening with a farewell dinner and football match between their national women’s teams. Their men’s soccer teams played an exhibition match on Sunday at the start of the joint events, where the South beat the North 3-0.
South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun will host a lunch tomorrow for the North Korean delegates before their departure, said Roh’s spokesman Kim Man-soo. However, Kim did not mention whether the North Koreans will deliver a message from Kim Jong Il as has been reported.
Some 200 North Koreans are in Seoul for the joint celebrations. Earlier, delegates called for greater unity and reconciliation between the two Koreas. North Korean head delegate Kim Ki Nam, vice chairman of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland, said Monday the two countries should “get rid of the tragic division as soon as possible.”
On Liberation Day on Monday, 40 families separated by the border held virtual reunions over the first-ever video link between the countries. Some 10,000 families have met since 2000 in face-to-face reunions, and another is planned for later this month.
South Korea has continued with its engagement with the North despite an ongoing international stand-off over the communist nation’s nuclear weapons program.
The latest round of talks aimed at ending the North’s nuclear ambitions is in recess after the six negotiating countries failed to reach an agreement earlier this month. The talks – among the two Koreas, US, China, Japan and Russia – are to resume in Beijing.
South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon will travel to Washington on Saturday to discuss the forthcoming talks with US officials, his ministry said today. Ban is to meet with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, the chief US envoy to the nuclear talks.
The two Koreas have remained separated by the world’s most heavily armed border since the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a cease-fire, not a peace treaty.
