Signs of easing tension on Korean peninsula
Updated
The former South Korean president and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Kim Dae-jung, was honoured with a state funeral on Sunday as his celebrated Sunshine Policy - of engagement with North Korea - seemed to make a resurgence. Just before the funeral, a high level delegation from North Korea had a rare meeting with the South's current president, Lee Myung-bak. And the Northern envoys left with what one of them called a 'good feeling'.
Presenter: Brett Cole in Seoul, South Korea
Speakers: Kurt Campbell, US assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs; Lee Jong-joo, spokeswoman, South Korean unification ministry; Lee Su-hoon, director, Institute for Far Eastern Studies, Kyungnam University, Seoul; Kim Sang-woo, former South Korean ambassador for international and strategic affairs
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COLE: The Korean peninsula is nothing if not a place where tensions can almost disappear with a few smiles. Former US president Bill Clinton's meeting with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il on August 4, followed by an August 16 luncheon Mr Kim hosted for the chairwoman of the Hyundai Group, Hyun Jeong-eun, has raised hopes that diplomacy, rather than nuclear and missile tests, is back to the fore. A little over a month ago the chief American diplomat responsible for Asian affairs, Kurt Campbell, told reporters his government had no interest in engaging North Korea unless it gave up its nuclear weapons.
CAMPBELL: We are not the ardent suitor. And we're not going to chase after North Korea.
COLE: But chase North Korea the US had to do as the American public grew increasingly anxious about the fate of two of its citizens accused of illegally entering North Korea. Mr Clinton flew to Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, and probably opened a diplomatic back channel between Washington and the North Korean leader Kim Jong-il. Lee Su-hoon, director of the Institute of Far Eastern Studies at Seoul's Kyungnam University, says Mr Clinton's North Korean visit prompted South Korea to reexamine its inflexible stance toward North Korea.
LEE SU-HOON: President Clinton's visit, meeting with chairman Kim, gave a tremendous stir up in our government and therefore it provided some kind of momentum to seriously think about how to resume inter Korean dialogue.
COLE: Hyundai Group chairwoman Hyun Jeong-eun acted almost as South Korea's foreign minister in an extraordinary four hour luncheon with the North Korean dictator. She managed to wring from him a promise to allow families separated by the Korean War more than half a century ago to see each other again and to allow South Korean tourist groups back into North Korea. South Korea's unification ministry, which handles North Korean matters, had no choice but to welcome Ms Hyun's agreement with Kim Jong-il and pledge a meeting with North Korean officials as Lee Jong-joo, spokeswoman for South Korea's unification ministry, explains.
LEE JONG-JOO: Even that's a private agreement, the South Korean government welcomes that because we believe kind of starting point develop reconciliation between the two Koreas.
COLE: Kim Sang-woo, South Korea's former ambassador for international and strategic affairs during the government of Kim Dae-jung, says nothing would have pleased Kim Dae-jung more than the two Koreas talking to each other.
KIM SANG-WOO: This stage where the North Korean regime is in a very fragile state. Although it seems that it's very much in control of its affairs but to be quite honest we know that North Korea is crumbling in all senses. The suffering of the people will be even worse if we don't support or provide them with assistance.
