Koreas Sign Landmark Peace Agreement

MISNA

The promotion of peace and economic growth in a peninsula divided for over 50 years: this was the pledge signed today by South Korean President Roh Moohyun and North Korean President Kim Jong-Il, on the third and final day of the landmark summit hosted in Pyongyang. “The South and North shared the view that they should end the current armistice regime and establish a permanent peace regime”, reads a passage of the eight-point accord signed by the two Korean leaders, who agreed to establish a "special area for peace and cooperation in West Sea" covering the Haeju island area, near the inter-Korean border. Among the initiatives to promote reconciliation between the two nations – begun in the late 90’s and developing into the “sunshine policy” particularly after the June 2000 bilateral summit in Pyongyang – is also the launching of cross-border freight transportation via an inter-Korean railway, already resumed last May after half a century (road links were reopened two years ago). The accord, which aims to replace an armistice that on 27 July 1953 ended the Korean War – with a death toll of over 2.5-million (including 150,000 Chinese and 50,000 US soldiers) and the division of the peninsula along the 38th parallel – was preceded yesterday by the announcement that Pyongyang is ready to dismantle facilities at its main Yongbyon nuclear reactor complex by December 31. After the signing of the agreement, a statement was released announcing a ‘four-way summit’ with the US and China.