North Korea pledged to detail its nuclear programs and disable all activities at its main reactor complex by year’s end, then signed a wide-ranging reconciliation pact with South Korea Thursday promising to finally seek a peace treaty to replace the 1953 cease-fire that ended the Korean War.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun also said they would open regular links across their heavily fortified border under the deal struck a day after the North made its firmest commitment yet to nuclear disarmament.
Kim and Roh signed the wide-ranging agreement promising cooperation for peace after three days of summit meetings in Pyongyang, the second such meeting between the countries.
They shook hands and posed for the cameras. Roh then took Kim’s right hand in his left and raised both their arms in the air like champion prizefighters before the two shared a champagne toast.
“The South and North shared the view that they should end the current armistice regime and establish a permanent peace regime,” the pact said.
They also “agreed to cooperate to push for the issue of declaring the end” of the Korean War by staging a meeting of the “three or four heads of related states.”
U.S. pledge depends on nuclear deal
The United States has already pledged to discuss peace, but insisted that any final settlement would be contingent on Pyongyang’s total nuclear disarmament.
Under a separate multination agreement reached in February, Pyongyang was required to shut down and seal its sole operating reactor at its main nuclear complex, which it did in July after the United States reversed its hard-line policy against the regime. The second phase required it to disable the reactor and provide a full description of all its nuclear programs. Wednesday’s agreement at talks in China called for that to happen by the end of the year.
The North said it would allow the United States to lead a group of experts to Pyongyang within two weeks “to prepare for disablement” of its nuclear facilities, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei said in Beijing. The United States wants the dismantling process to be so thorough that a nuclear facility could not be made operational for at least 12 months.
President Bush hailed the nuclear deal and said it reflected the “common commitment” of the talks to shut down North Korea’s atomic weapons program. But the United States was secretive about what it promised in return.
The United States has agreed to lead disablement activities and provide the initial funding for them. Washington also reiterated its willingness to remove North Korea from a list of countries that sponsor terrorism, a key demand of Pyongyang.
No timetable was set for this action, but a joint statement said it will happen “in parallel with” the North Korean government following through on its commitment.
“The two sides will increase bilateral exchanges and enhance mutual trust,” the statement says.
Six-way talks
Besides the United States and China, three other countries — Russia, South Korea and Japan — participated in the talks with the North.
The five countries reiterated a commitment to deliver aid under the February disarmament deal granting the North the equivalent of 1 million tons of fuel oil. On Friday, in anticipation of the new agreement, the United States also announced it would spend up to $25 million to pay for 50,000 tons of heavy fuel oil for North Korea.
This is not the first nuclear deal Washington has struck with the reclusive, communist regime. In a previous U.S. attempt to halt the North’s nuclear weapons development, Pyongyang simply froze its arms programs under a 1994 deal.
The latest nuclear standoff began in 2002, after Washington accused the North of a secret uranium enrichment program — in addition to its known plutonium-based facilities. Either material enriched to a sufficient extent can be used to make bombs.
The North then quickly restarted production of weapons-grade plutonium at its main nuclear complex, leading to its first-ever test nuclear explosion in October 2006. Experts say the North may have produced more than a dozen nuclear bombs.
Wednesday’s agreement commits the North to make a “complete and correct declaration of all its nuclear programs” — which the United States has said would include the uranium issue.
The agreement Thursday from the summit between the Koreas only mentioned the nuclear issue in a single sentence, saying the North and South would make “joint efforts to ensure the smooth implementation” of previous accords from the six-nation arms talks “for the solution of the nuclear issue on the Korean peninsula.”
The two Koreas also “agreed to closely cooperate to end military hostility and ensure peace and easing of tension on the Korean peninsula.”
But substantive progress on any peace treaty would require the participation of the United States and China, which also fought in the conflict. South Korea never signed the 1953 armistice ending the war.
Boost to economic ties
The North and South also pledged to boost economic ties between the longtime foes, open regular cargo railway service along restored tracks crossing their heavily armed border and create a joint fishing zone on their disputed sea frontier.
And they will open an air corridor between Seoul and North Korea’s tallest peak, Mount Paektu, a site sacred to all Koreans because it is the origin for the nation in its creation myth.
The two countries also said they would hold “frequent” summits, although no timing for such a meeting was given. Instead, the Koreas scheduled meetings between their defense and prime ministers in the coming months to build on progress from this week’s summit.
Also Thursday, the North and South agreed that a joint cheering squad for the Koreas would travel to next year’s Beijing Olympics via train. The countries have sought to field a joint team at international sporting events, but have differed over how athletes would be chosen.
In an issue deeply emotional for many aging Koreans, the sides also agreed to increase reunions between relatives separated by the border and hold such meetings “constantly.” Since the first summit between the Koreas in June 2000, some 18,000 Koreans from separated families have met through face-to-face or video reunions.
Kim Kwang-yong, a North Korea expert at Seoul’s Hanyang University, asserted the summit agreement skirted the key nuclear issue and said Pyongyang did not “show any clear will” to disarm.
But Koh Yu-hwan, a professor at Seoul’s Dongguk University, said the agreement marked a big step in relations between the rivals.
“It laid a foundation to end the Cold War and establish a peace regime,” he said.