Unity events end smoothly

The joint celebration event of the Aug. 15 Liberation Day between the two Koreas, the first of its kind in Seoul, ended Friday; participants from the civic groups of the two Koreas attended nine small exchange conferences, a scholastic seminar and a closing ceremony.

Five hundred delegates from the two Koreas' civic groups attended the closing ceremony at the Seoul's Sheraton Walker Hill Hotel. In the afternoon, the group toured Seoul's Changdok palace.

"We have opened a new page of history and confirmed our nation's unity and desire for unification before the world," said Paik Do-woong, secretary general of the South Korea's National Council of Churches in Korea.

"Through this event, we confirmed that the hearts of the two Koreas are still connected as one," Jang Jae-on, chairman of the North's Korean Religionists' Council, replied.

Participants from the two Koreas and the Organizing Committee for 2002 Inter-Korean Joint Events deemed the hailed event as a success.

The smooth operation of the events in Seoul was largely owed to the restraint of Tongil Yeondae, one of the civic groups that arranged the event. The group, which visited Pyeongyang last year for the unprecedented event, stirred up controversy by participating in events that Seoul regarded as subversive. This year, the South Korean government banned 20 of Tongil Yeondae members from contacting North Korean visitors during the event, to which the group adhered. "We did try very hard to overcome last year's fiasco," said Han Sang-yeol, representing the Tongil Yeondae.

Some South Korean conservative groups that had organized protests against North Korea called off their plans as the joint celebration events proceeded quietly and peacefully.

The Unification Ministry and the National Intelligence Service provided transportation and security service as well as four direct phone lines connecting the two Koreas, an unusual support for a civilian event. Although there was earlier criticism of the government for limiting the number of participants from 5,000 to 500, the organizing committee official said, "It would have been impossible to hold the event without the government's support."

The North Koreans will return to the North via Goryeo Air on Saturday morning.

by Lee Young-jong