DATE=6/14/2000
TYPE=U-S OPINION ROUNDUP
TITLE=THE TWO KOREAS SUMMIT
NUMBER=6-11872
BYLINE=ANDREW GUTHRIE
DATELINE=WASHINGTON
TELEPHONE=619-3335
INTERNET=YES
CONTENT=
INTRO: The eyes of much of the world have been
focused on the North Korean capital of Pyongyang this
week, where an historic summit is taking place between
the leaders of North and South Korea.
We get a sampling of U-S press comment on the summit
from ___________ in today's U-S Opinion Roundup.
TEXT: The meeting between North Korean leader Kim
Jong-Il and South Korean President Kim Dae-Jung could
spell the beginning of the end of the isolationist
stance long adhered to by Mr. Kim's father, Kim Il
Sung. The summit opened Tuesday as South Korean
President Kim received what the Los Angeles Times
described as "a hero's welcome" when he landed at
Sunan Airport in the North's capital.
TEXT: One veteran reporter watching with interest is
Holger Jensen, senior international affairs columnist
of Denver's Rocky Mountain News. Just before the
summit, he suggested guarded optimism, as he compares
the two nations, and reminds readers of their past
hostility.
VOICE: With American help, South Korea has become one
of the world's richest nations.... North Korea is one
of the world's poorest [nations] with a per capita
income of about one-dollar-fifty cents [U-S] a day.
Its economy has been devastated by the loss of Soviet
subsidies and shrinking barter trade with China, edged
out by the hard currency of South Korea. Crippling
fuel shortages cause repeated blackouts in the
northern capital of Pyongyang. Industries are running
at half speed if at all. Famine has killed an
estimated two million people in the past five years
and aid workers report seeing North Koreans eating
leaves and bark to survive. Yet despite all signs of
a looming collapse, North Korea maintains the world's
fourth-largest standing army and its 10-thousand
artillery pieces could turn the southern capital of
Seoul into a sea of fire. ... after a half century of
unremitting hostility between North and South Korea
... Washington is by no means hopeful of instant
rapprochement between North and South. And Seoul
expects no major breakthroughs.
TEXT: In Eastern Pennsylvania, Allentown's Morning
Call describes the conference as "momentous," and
suggests the "talks are [a] good start for [a] stable
future."
VOICE: The historic ... summit is unprecedented, the
first meeting between the leaders of the two countries
in the 55 years since the Korean Peninsula was divided
after World War Two, in the early days of the Cold
War. Certainly the enigmatic North Korean government
remains a serious concern, so the Clinton
administration is right to be cautiously optimistic as
the two Korean nations take [small] steps toward one
another. ///OPT /// ... North Korea has been reaching
out diplomatically in ways previously unimaginable,
trying to improve relations with Europe and Japan, in
addition to the United States and South Korea. Last
month, Kim Jong-Il met China's leaders in Beijing and
next month Vladimir Putin is expected to become the
first top Russian leader ever to visit North Korea.
Dialogue and engagement are critical if North Korea is
ever to change itself from the status of an untrusted
rogue nation. /// END OPT ///
TEXT: In the port city of Baltimore, The Sun
headlines its commentary "Destiny comes to Pyongyang,"
suggesting that the "Summit holds hopes of bringing
[the] tyrannical North out of desperate poverty and
isolation. While, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the
Star Tribune compares this unlikely event with another
historic first.
VOICE: South Koreans who watched their leader set foot
in North Korea Tuesday must have felt the way
Americans did when Neil Armstrong stepped onto the
surface of the moon. In fact, the event may have
carried more meaning because President Kim Dae-Jung
carried with him the emotions and hopes of families
divided for half a century. Through the lifetimes of
most in the South, North Korea has been, like the
moon, impossibly remote even when visible. /// OPT
/// ...The summit offers the best reason yet to hope
that North Korea will live up to its commitments to
rein in its weapons programs and join the world
community. Better still, it may hasten the day when
the name "Korea' requires no reference to the compass.
/// END OPT ///
TEXT: The Chicago Tribune is noting the long and
cordial handshake the two presidents exchanged at the
Pyongyang airport, before voicing cautious optimism on
the substance of the talks.
VOICE: Where they go from here will be difficult and
uncertain, but clearly the reclusive, Stalinist regime
of North Korean President Kim Jong Il is trying to
ease the isolation of his famine-ravaged hermit
kingdom and start a cautious process of reconciliation
with South Korean President Kim Dae-Jung. For
democratic South Korea, living across the 38th parallel
from one of the most dangerous and unpredictable
regimes in the world, it is also very much in Seoul's
interest to end the state of war that has existed
since the 1950-53 Korean War. ... It is too early to
talk of normalizing relations, but if North Korea's
conduct continues to improve, there may be hope for
ending one of the Cold War's last battles.
TEXT: The Miami Herald tries to explain why this
summit came about now, after such a long and hostile
history.
VOICE: North Korea President Kim Jong Il's willingness
to talk may reflect his desperation for an economic
stimulus, or it may represent recognition that
isolationism isn't working. President Kim Dae-Jung of
South Korea, whose country is a thriving example of
capitalism, wisely has dangled the carrot of economic
assistance. He also boldly has asserted his vision
for reconciliation and reunification of the two
countries. ... No one should expect these talks to
result in any dramatic new initiatives. If they only
set the stage for further discussions and contact,
much will have been accomplished. An entrenched and
belligerent adversary will have been persuaded to try
peaceful dialogue.
/// REST OPTIONAL ///
TEXT: In the southeastern United States,
Jacksonville's Florida Times-Union writes:
VOICE: ...there is reason for optimism because North
Korea seems to be shedding its "hermit kingdom" image.
Its participation in the summit alone is quite
remarkable since it refused until recently even to
talk with the South ... Also, Kim Jong-il's regime
recently opened diplomatic relations with Italy and
Australia -- and it may soon also exchange ambassadors
with traditional enemy Japan, which not long ago it
was threatening to obliterate with nuclear weapons.
TEXT: The New York Times, calling the meetings "an
encouraging change in ... relationship," is also
pleased, but cautious, noting:
VOICE: Never before have North and South Korea come
this close to a normal, peaceful relationship. ...
Unfortunately, North Korea's government remains one of
the world's most opaque and unpredictable.
Expectations for specific agreements coming out of the
meetings should not be set too high. South Korea's
main goals in these talks, which are scheduled to run
through Thursday ... include reaching agreement on
additional high-level meetings, expanding economic
exchanges and arranging for the reunification of
millions of families divided since the Korean War.
... North Korea's development of long-range missiles,
coupled with its diplomatic aloofness and
unpredictable behavior, was the leading reason behind
the Clinton administration's efforts to develop
defensive technologies capable of protecting the
United States from a limited missile attack. Those
concerns remain valid. But as North Korea begins to
reach out from its self-imposed isolation, there are
grounds for hoping that one day it may not longer need
to be treated as a dangerous rogue state.
TEXT: On that note, we conclude this sampling of
early U-S editorial reaction to the historic pan-
Korean summit underway this week in Pyongyang.
NEB/ANG/KL
14-Jun-2000 14:34 PM EDT (14-Jun-2000 1834 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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