Koreas Stop Propaganda Broadcasts

By Paul Shin, AP, 17 June 2000

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- Responding to an olive branch from North Korea, South Korea ordered the suspension Friday of all anti-Pyongyang propaganda broadcasts and promised swift action on agreements reached at their historic summit.

Relations have been warming since this week's meeting, when the nations' leaders pledged to work together to end half a century of hostilities and unite families separated by the Korean War. North Korean leader Kim Jong Il even promised to visit South Korea.

The danger of war on the Korean peninsula has disappeared, South Korean President Kim Dae-jung said, briefing Cabinet members on the three-day meeting that ended Thursday. The summit opened a new chapter for national unification.

Throwing a warm and elaborate welcome for the South Korean leader, Kim Jong Il surprised the world by agreeing to take measures to build peace on the Korean peninsula, the world's last Cold War frontier. He ordered his state-controlled media and military to stop all anti-Seoul propaganda.

On Friday, South Korea reciprocated by ordering its military to stop anti-Pyongyang propaganda broadcasts at the border.

Finance Minister Lee Hun-jai also said the two nations were expected to hold Cabinet-level talks in July to follow up on the summit agreement.

One tangible outcome of the summit was North Korea's agreement to an August exchange of an unspecified number of the millions of families separated by the 1945 national division of Korea and the 1950-53 Korean War.

South Korea plans to propose holding Red Cross talks with North Korea later this month to arrange the reunions.

In another sign of progress, a South Korean fishing boat that disappeared in heavy fog after crossing the border with North Korea reappeared Friday and was on its way home, South Korean military officials said.

The 3.75-ton Gyulsung-ho, with two crewmen aboard, disappeared Thursday into North Korean waters near the island of Paekryong, the office of the chairman of joint chiefs of staff said. The boat crossed back into South Korea on Friday morning, it said.

Exactly a year ago Thursday, the North and South Korean navies exchanged gunfire in the area in a dispute over fishing rights. One North Korean warship sank and about 30 communist sailors were believed to have died.

Also Friday, South Korea's Defense Ministry said it will reconsider a $40 million program to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War.

We are looking for ways to commemorate the anniversary in compliance with the spirit of the agreement reached at the summit, ministry spokesman Yoon Il-young said.

This week's summit was the latest move by the impoverished North to end its long isolation. Desperate for food aid, it has opened relations with Italy and Australia and has been trying to improve ties with the United States, Japan and the Philippines.

In a 20-minute telephone conversation with President Clinton on Friday, the South Korean president said he raised Pyongyang's nuclear and missile programs in talks with Kim Jong Il.

I told him that the missile and nuclear problems do not help regional and world peace as well as inter-Korean cooperation, the presidential Blue House quoted Kim Dae-jung as telling Clinton.

The presence of 37,000 U.S. troops in South Korea was also discussed, Kim Dae-jung told Clinton. The South Korean leader's position is that the U.S. military is needed for regional security even after the unification of the Korean peninsula.

Clinton thanked Kim Dae-jung for raising the North's nuclear and missile issues, saying that those issues are important for all of us, the South Korean president's office said.

Kim Jong Il even expressed a willingness to invite Pope John Paul II to visit the communist country, President Kim said Friday. He asked the North Korean leader to issue an invitation, presidential spokesman Park Joon-young said.

He (Kim Jong Il) inquired about the pope's age and then said, Let him come and visit, the spokesman quoted the president as telling Cabinet members.

During a visit with the pope in the Vatican in March, Kim Dae-jung, a Catholic, suggested a papal visit to the North, saying that it would enhance peace on the divided Korean peninsula. At the time, Kim said the pope showed an interest. He quoted John Paul as saying that if he can go to North Korea, it would be a miracle.

North Korea does not encourage religion among its tightly controlled population of 22 million. South Korea, with a population of 46 million, has some 4 million Roman Catholics.