Asia-Pacific
Viewpoints
The Korean Summit
SEOUL Korea Times (independent), June 16: The North-South summit has been a significant breakthrough in dismantling Cold War legacies on the peninsula....With the summit’s success, an elated sense of euphoria prevails in the South for a better chance of reducing tension and boosting economic deals with the North. However,...there are mountains of formidable tasks to be tackled which have accumulated over the past century. Composure is needed to steadily pursue the process of reconciliation and co-prosperity, beginning with the resolution of tractable issues, while guarding against follies that made previous inter-Korean agreements all but dead letters.
—Hong Soon Il
PYONGYANG Korean Central News Agency (government-owned), June 12: National reunification is the supreme desire of the Korean people....The Korean people, a homogenous nation, remains the only one nation on the Earth that suffers from the division of national territory, and the tragic division of the nation should be terminated without fail....Optimistic is the prospect of national reunification thanks to the guidance of Kim Jong Il.
LUCKNOW Hindustan (Hindi-language, centrist), June 16: There is no doubt that if the reunification comes about, the reunited Korea will be one of the biggest powers in Asia....On the international scene, the rapid advance of Asian power in China, Japan, and India makes reunited Korea an even more inviting prospect. This may not be to the liking of many other powers that be. But the fact is that there is no stopping the advance of Asian might in this technological and scientific age. There should not be scope for fear of any disruption in global balance of power.
AUCKLAND New Zealand Herald (conservative), June 16: Sooner or later, South Korea knows, the country will be united. And when it is, South Koreans would face a social cost very much greater than West Germans did after reunification. North Korea communism has been steadily subtracting value from the country’s resources, while the economy of the South has been expanding. The income of a South Korean today is nine or 10 times that of the North. When the barbed wire comes down...there could be a flood of impoverished people upon the farms and factories of the South.
HONG KONG South China Morning Post (centrist), June 15: If history is a guide, the practical results of this week’s summit will fall far short of stated goals. This is not the first time North Korea has promised better behavior, and those efforts led nowhere. But so much is changing so fast that some long-term gains now do seem likely. If so, these broader diplomatic questions will wait while the Korean people themselves enjoy the benefits of greater stability in their own neighborhood.
