It has infused reconciliation into inter-Korean relations.
Chin Dong-soo, left, head of the South Korean government delegation, with his North Korean counterpart, Ju Dong-chan, at the last round of inter-Korean talks last month on economic cooperation between the two Koreas.
Since the introduction of the Sunshine Policy by former President Kim Dae-jung, inter-Korean cooperation has been on a steadier level compared to the past, but the relationship has still been like a roller-coaster ride.
Former President Park Chung Hee announced in August of 1970 the “Plan for Peaceful Reunification” that became the catalyst for an inter-Korean Red Cross meeting held a year later, on Aug. 20, 1971. That Red Cross meeting was the first inter-Korean talk since the Korean War. The following year, the two Koreas adopted the July 4 Joint Declaration and established an inter-Korean coordination committee.
While those developments indicated a change from the confrontational nature of bilateral relations that had been shaped largely by the Cold War, in practical terms, no significant progress was made on the economic front. Nor did the two sides make much effort to use the opportunity to establish trust building. The measures taken since then have taken on more symbolic meaning.
In the 1980s, then-President Chun Doo-hwan also tried to break the ice. In a state address on Jan. 22, 1982, he announced measures for national reconciliation and democratic reunification. Nonetheless, tension on the peninsula escalated in 1983 with the downing of a Korean Air passenger plane by a Soviet jet fighter on Sept. 1 that killed 115 people, and a terrorist attack in Rangoon, Burma on Oct. 9 that killed 17, including several South Korean cabinet members. There was also an infiltration attempt by North Korean commandos in December along the coast of Dadaepo.
In 1984, Pyongyang proposed an inter-Korean sports meeting to discuss the possibility of a joint Korean delegation for the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. The following year, another inter-Korean Red Cross meeting took place to discuss the delivery of relief items to North Korean flood victims. Through the 1980s, both Koreas put out feelers and tried to engage each other more actively, but mistrust prevailed, preventing any serious exchange.
The 1990s saw an improvement between the two sides. The end of the Cold War, coupled with the “northern policy” launched by the Roh Tae-woo administration, led to contact between the two sides. Roh called for new efforts to promote inter-Korean exchanges, family reunification, inter-Korean trade and contacts at international forums.
Eight rounds of inter-Korean meetings between prime ministers from both sides ― the first of their kind ― were held in the 1990s. That culminated in the signing of the Agreement on Reconciliation, Non-aggression, Exchanges and Cooperation between North and South Korea (the Inter-Korean Basic Agreement), as well as the Joint Declaration on the Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, which came into force on Feb. 19, 1992.
The Joint Declaration on denuclearization forbids both sides to test, manufacture, produce, receive, possess, store, deploy, or use nuclear weapons. The possession of nuclear reprocessing and uranium enrichment facilities were also prohibited.
The two Koreas tried to use various venues to improve their relationship, including inter-Korean teams participating in the 41st World Table Tennis Tournament in 1991 and the 6th World Youth Football Tournament. These advances notwithstanding, the relationship still went up and down. The first North Korean nuclear crisis, which began in early 1993, raised tensions on the peninsula through the summer of 1994. But it was defused in October with the signing of the 1994 Framework Agreement between North Korea and the United States.
Earlier in 1994, during former U.S. President Jimmy Carter’s historic visit to Pyongyang, North Korea’s leader, Kim Il Sung, agreed to a first-ever North-South summit. The two sides went ahead with plans for a meeting in July, but Kim’s sudden death in June shelved the summit for several years.
In 1998, the Kim Dae-jung administration come to power and actively pursued an engagement policy toward North Korea, known as the Sunshine Policy, with aims of reconciliation and increased cooperation with Pyongyang. The first inter-Korean summit between former President Kim Dae-jung and the North’s leader, Kim Jong-il, took place in 2000, when both sides discussed the easing of tensions and further cooperation.
After the summit meeting, the momentum for reconciliation picked up pace as inter-Korean talks became more frequent. According to the Unification Ministry, Seoul and Pyongyang met 75 times from 2000 until the end of the Kim Dae-jung administration in 2003, and 51 agreements were signed.
The reconciliation mood set off by the Sunshine Policy rubbed off on the public. The Mount Kumgang tours that took place for the first time in 1998 saw about 15,000 South Korean tourists that year.
In 2000 that number stood at 213,000. In June of 2005, Hyundai Asan, which established and manages the tour, announced the 1 millionth South Korean to visit the area.
The Kaesong Industrial Complex, in which South Korean companies operate factories employing North Korean workers, opened in December of 2004 and continues to expand. Along with the Mount Kumgang tours, the complex is viewed by Seoul as a key pillar of inter-Korean cooperation.
Today, the inter-Korean dialogue is centered around ministerial-level talks that are held for each sector, including the Economic Cooperation Promotion Committee, talks between defense ministers and military generals, and the Red Cross.
The first three years of the Roh administration saw a total of 90 rounds of meetings in which 66 agreements were adopted.
Trade volume between the two sides reached $1.35 billion in 2006, an increase of 27.8 percent from the previous year.
How the current North Korean nuclear talks fare is likely to determine whether cooperation between the two sides can reach the next level.
In February of 2007, Pyongyang agreed to take initial steps to denuclearize, but it has yet to start implementing its part of the agreed measures.
Seoul and Pyongyang held the 13th meeting of the Inter-Korean Economic Cooperation Promotion Committee in Pyongyang in April with an agreement to send 400,000 tons of rice aid to the North, provided there is progress in the nuclear talks.
They also agreed to hold the first test run of an inter-Korean railroad system this month.
by Brian Lee Staff Writer africanu@joongang.co.kr
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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