North-South Korea Summit Meeting of 2000
North Korea has recently requested that South Korea send a group of representatives to the city of Gae-seung to receive a commemorative bouquet to pay their respects to the late former South Korean president Dae-jung (D.J.) Kim.
In an interview with Yonhap News, South Korean senator Jiwon Park announced that he and his party will be leaving for North Korea on the afternoon of the 17th. He announced that he has sought the advice of Dong-won Lim, former Minister of Reunification for he was an expert on North Korea.
Senator Park and his party will be crossing the MDL (Military Demarcation Line) at around 5 pm on the 17th to enter Gae-sung. Many experts have expressed that North Korea will be dispatching Yang-gun Kim, the former Secretary for South Korea affairs for the DPRK Labor Party. Senator Park will be crossing the border and returning to Paju, South Korea by 7 pm the same day.
Former President D.J. Kim was probably one of South Korea’s most popular presidents. He was known for his resistance against the military dictatorships of the 1970s and 1980s and was exiled from Korea during the reign of President Doohwan Chun, who came into office through a military coup de tat.
D.J. Kim was eventually elected president in 1998 and served until 2003. In 2000 he moved the hearts of people all around the world by visiting North Korea for the first North-South Korea Summit Meeting with Kim Jung-il. As a result of his fight for Democracy in Korea and peace with North Korea, the former president became the first Korean to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. D.J. Kim died in 2008 from sickness.
Meanwhile, Heeho Lee, President Kim’s First Lady expressed gratitude for North Korea for remembering her husband. It has been 5 years since Kim died, and right after his death North Korean representatives made a similar proposal but had decided to wait for tensions to decrease. Lady Lee also expressed that this brief meeting of representatives from North and South Korea will improve relations between the two governments.
The situation in the Korean peninsula is not looking all that positive. It is reported that North Korean forces have test-fired more rockets near the border only a few days before Pope Francis was scheduled to enter South Korea. A KPA insider however stated that North Korea has no interest in the Pope’s visit and that this was a mere training exercise.
