Finding Peace on the Korean Peninsula

During a three day summit, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in advanced peace negotiations between their countries by agreeing to work towards denuclearizing the peninsula. This summit followed two other meetings this year, which both made progress in ending hostilities between North and South Korea.

On Wednesday, September 19, Kim and Moon met in Pyongyang, North Korea to discuss denuclearization of the Korean peninsula. Kim vowed to permanently disarm both the North Korean nuclear missile testing site in Tongchang-ri and the nuclear complex in Pyongyang as long as the United States took “similar measures” in working towards denuclearization. The two countries have had tense relations for the past sixty-five years with very little communication and travel, so Kim and Moon’s mutual agreement to begin the “era of no war” with a 17-page peace agreement is quite momentous.

During the summit, both countries discussed the possibility of creating a railroad connecting the two countries, which would allow citizens to travel between territories.

The summit that was held on April 27, 2018, was the first summit between North and South Korea in eleven years. That meeting took place on the South Korean side of the Peace House and was a symbolic turning point for the Korean peninsula. Prior to that meeting, Kim Jong Un and Moon Jae-in had never crossed paths, and their meeting made them the first Korean leaders to cross the border between the Koreas in sixty-five years.

The leaders signed the “Panmunjom Declaration for Peace, Prosperity and Unification of the Korean Peninsula”, with the goal of formally ending the Korean War. Although that battle only lasted from 1950-1953, an official treaty ending the war had never been signed before.

A few months later, on June 12, Kim Jong Un met with US President Donald Trump in Singapore to discuss denuclearization. Both parties signed a statement guaranteeing “peaceful relations” and a “reaffirmation of the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.”

In his address to the 73rd United Nations General Assembly, President Moon Jae-in said: “I would like to thank and salute President Trump and Chairman Kim’s courage and resolve as they usher in a new era on the Korean Peninsula as well as in U.S- North Korea relations.”

Great strides have been taken in East Asia to bring peace to the two Koreas. Kim and Moon also hope to collaborate in hosting the 2032 summer Olympics. While their bid to host the Olympic Games in 2032 has not been confirmed, the mutual eagerness from both North and South Korea is encouraging to hear.

  Article by Moco Student staff writer Logyn Beckwith of Damascus High School