South Korea, North Korea push for eventual unification
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-06-15 16:17

North Korean and South Korean officials pledged to cooperate and pursue eventual unification as they celebrated the fifth anniversary of a summit between their leaders under the shadow of the standoff over the North's nuclear ambitions.

South Korea's delegation in Pyongyang will use the opportunity to push the North to return to six-nation nuclear talks, stalled for nearly a year, the South's Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon said Wednesday in Seoul.

The South "will make active use of inter-Korean dialogue opportunities ... to urge the North to return to the six-party talks so as to work for harmonious progress in (resolving) the North Korean nuclear program and for inter-Korean relations," Ban said.

Baek Nak-cheong (front), the head of a South Korean civic group delegation, speaks at 'National Unification Rally' in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang June 15, 2005. North and South Koreans celebrated in Pyongyang on Wednesday the fifth anniversary of a historic inter-Korean summit, but the North's pursuit of nuclear weapons overshadowed prospects for reunifying the divided peninsula.[Reuters]

The two Koreas are also set to hold cabinet-level talks next week in Seoul.

This week's celebrations in the North's capital mark the June 15, 2000, joint declaration of the unprecedented meeting between North Korea's Kim Jong Il and then-South Korean President Kim Dae-jung in Pyongyang, the first and only such talks since the Korean War ended in a 1953 cease-fire.

On Wednesday, both sides called for peace — with the North insistent on holding a position of strength.

"Growing our people's own strength is the only choice we have to preserve peace," An Kyong Ho, head of North Korea's civilian delegation, said as festivities began, according to pool reports from Pyongyang.

"We will continue to energetically put forward a campaign for unification to crush war provocations by warlike forces at home and abroad," An said.

The head of the South's civic delegation, Baek Nak-cheong, said, "We should make this year a new turning point for the country's peace and unification."

Unification Minister Chung Dong-young, the South's top official on dealings with Pyongyang, was scheduled to meet Thursday with Kim Yong Nam, the North's ceremonial head of state. The nuclear standoff was expected to be a main discussion topic.

North Korean Premier Pak Pong Ju said Tuesday that each government should carry out its "duty and responsibility" to realize Korean reunification.

But the many obstacles to meeting the commitments made at the 2000 summit show that both Koreas' goal of unification remains a far-off dream.

The latest crisis over Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions that erupted in late 2002 has hampered the cooperation that both countries envisioned after the 2000 summit. Although some joint economic projects continue, Seoul has said any larger plans will have to wait until the nuclear standoff is resolved.

North Korea has boycotted six-nation nuclear talks — which also include China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States — since June 2004, citing "hostile" U.S. policies.

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