North & South Korea Come Together in Rare Meet on Denuclearisation

The few attempts at a truce made earlier by North and South Koreas weren’t successful. But will that change?

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, left, and South Korean President Moon Jae-in raise their hands after signing on a joint statement at the border village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone, South Korea, Friday, April 27, 2018.

(Photo: AP)

The meeting between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in the Panmunjom Summit, on Friday, 27 April, ended the decades-long conflict between the two countries.

This is Kim Jong Un's first visit to South Korea and the success of the summit largely depends on the whether there will be a consensual agreement on North Korea's nuclear disarmament.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in is eager to sign a "peace treaty" between the two countries which have been at conflict with each other for at least 70 years now. The few attempts at a truce made earlier did not lead to any concrete decision.

The Split and the Korean War

The two Koreas were last unified during Japanese colonial rule over the peninsula before World War II. When Japan conceded to the Allies in 1945, US forces moved into the South, while Soviet troops moved into the North. This split couldn't be healed especially because of the Cold War between Soviet and USA, which had competing political ideologies.

Kim Il-Sung became the head of North Korea when the Soviet troops withdrew, while Syngman Rhee became the first leader of South Korea.

In 1950, North Korea backed by China and the Soviet attempted to invade South Korea after a series of skirmishes at the 38th parallel. An armistice ended hostilities in the Korean War in 1953, with the help of the United Nations Command backed by the US after a two-year negotiation.

Reunification Talks and Inter-Korean Summit

In 1971, the leaders of the two countries delivered a joint statement on the reunification of the countries, but of course, complete integration wasn't likely.

Between 1974 - 2000, the two countries joined the United Nations and Kim Jong Il became the new leader of North Korea. The country was accused of violating the Nuclear Non-Proleferation Treaty.

In 2000, a historic inter-Korean summit took place in Pyongyang between Kim Jong-il and South Korean President Kim Dae-jung only for the countries to clash in a gun battle two years later in the Yellow sea.

Nuclearisation of North Korea

North Korea continued to advance its nuclear research as it withdrew from both the NPT and the 1992 agreement with South Korea to keep the peninsula free of nuclear weapons.

In 2007, yet another landmark summit took place in Pyongyang, but the relationship between the countries failed to make any headway.

Since Kim Jong Un's succession to leadership, North Korea has carried out several nuclear missile tests, much to the dismay of the US and South Korea.

Series of Startling Events

In 2015, US imposed new sanctions on North Korea over weapons proliferation. After Donald Trump's election to the US Presidency, Kim and the US President have been engaged in a egotistic tiff – each threatening the other with nuclear attack.

2018 began with a series of startling events. First Kim boasted about his nuclear button, which instigated Trump to boast about his “bigger” nuclear button. Un surprised everybody with the announcement of North Korea’s desire to participate in the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea. A month after the Olympics, the two countries held a summit, ending a decade of cold-shouldering.