Significant gestures set in motion

SEOUL, JUNE 16. North and South Korea today embarked on a new era of reconciliation with small but significant gestures following this week's summit in Pyongyang.

The North allowed a southern fishing boat that had strayed across the disputed Yellow Sea border to sail back to its home port at Paengnyongdo island with its two crew members.

A year ago on Thursday, North and South Korean naval vessels clashed on the yellow sea border in their worst naval firefight since the 1950-53 Korean war.

Another cold war fixture that was the highlight of any trip to Korea's demilitarized zone (DMZ) passed into history today when Seoul turned off its propaganda speakers.

For decades, public address systems on both sides of the four km wide no-man's land that cuts a 242-km swath across the Korean peninsula have blasted insults and pleas for soldiers to defect.

The South Korean President, Mr. Kim Dae-jung, basking in the acclaim of global leaders and his own people, ordered his Cabinet to find ways of implementing a summit accord with the North's Mr. Kim Jong-Il, that would coax the Stalinist state out of its self- imposed isolation and help rebuild its economy.

An early priority for the President is to restore the 25-km rail link between the two countries, severed at the start of the Korean war in 1950.

When restored, the line would link the strategic peninsula to the Asian mainland and Europe. Mr. Kim called it ``a silk road in the new millennium''. The two Korean leaders made considerable headway on a reunification proposal, Mr. Kim said.

Pyongyang has now accepted Seoul's confederation idea of ``two governments and two systems'' in which North and South Korea would exercise their own diplomacy and defence, Mr. Kim said.

North Korea's heretofore enigmatic and reclusive leader, Mr. Kim Jong-Il made a huge splash at the summit, raising expectations the secretive regime was ready to end its isolation.

The unpredictable North Korean leader even gave a thumbs up to the idea of a visit by Pope John Paul, Mr. Kim Dae-jung's spokesman said today.

Mr. Kim said he told the U.S. President, Mr. Bill Clinton, by telephone that he had urged Pyongyang to cooperate in missile talks with Washington because that would further peace and cooperation between the two Koreas.

- Reuters

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