Possible third Inter-Korean summit in 11 years?

역대 남북 정상회담 정리

Speculation and anticipation mounts regarding the possibility of an inter-Korean summit or high level talks during the Olympic season.
Reflecting on past meetings is one good way of finding out what to expect if such events take place.
Our Cha Sang-mi help us look back at the noteworthy inter-Korean exchanges.
The year 2000.
The first ever inter-Korean summit since the Korean War takes place in Pyongyang.
Then-South Korean President Kim Dae-jung and then-North Korean leader Kim Jong-il shake hands,... and sign the June 15th Joint Declaration.
The two leaders pledged to consolidate mutual trust and promised economic cooperation in various fields.
The declaration led to numbers of separated families and relatives from the two Koreas meeting twice the same year, and to Kim Dae-jung being awarded a Nobel Peace Prize.

7 years later,... the second summit takes place.
This time between Kim Jong-il and the next South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun, a former democracy activist.
And a historic moment took place when President Roh became the first South Korean leader to cross the heavily fortified Demilitarized Zone on foot, hoping for a (quote) "peace settlement together with economic development".
The three-day summit in Pyongyang led to the two leaders vowing to end the armistice agreement signed in 1953, and forge a permanent peace treaty between the two Koreas.

Eleven years have passed since. But now a third inter-Korean summit may possibly happen during the Winter Olympics, with the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's younger sister Kim Yo-jong joining the Olympics VIP guest list.

Yet some experts say any bilateral summit is merely a formality.

"What people are getting wrong about the inter-Korean summits is that they are not the most essential thing. The bottom line for the South Korean government is to bring the North to the table to talk about nuclear disarmament - denuclearization."

Mere formality or not, if a summit does take place, it will be a historic moment.
Cha Sang-mi, Arirang News.

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