Inter-Korean summits are meetings between the leaders of

North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''no ...

and

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

. To date, there have been five such meetings so far (

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto ...

, April 2018, May 2018, and September 2018), three of them being in

Pyongyang Pyongyang (, , ) is the capital and largest city of North Korea, where it is known as the "Capital of the Revolution". Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River about upstream from its mouth on the Yellow Sea. According to the 2008 populat ...

, with another two in

Panmunjom Panmunjom, also known as Panmunjeom, now located in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea or Kaesong, North Hwanghae Province, North Korea, was a village just north of the ''de facto'' border between North and South Korea, where the 1953 Korean ...

. The importance of these summits lies in the lack of formal communication between North and South Korea, which makes discussing political and economic issues difficult. The summits' agendas have included topics such as the ending of the 1950-53 war (currently there is an

armistice An armistice is a formal agreement of warring parties to stop fighting. It is not necessarily the end of a war, as it may constitute only a cessation of hostilities while an attempt is made to negotiate a lasting peace. It is derived from the ...

in force), the massive deployment of troops at the DMZ (approximately two million in total), the development of nuclear weapons by North Korea, and human rights issues., BBC, Tuesday, 2 October 2007, 10:14 GMTIn pictures: Historic crossing
, BBC, 2 October 2007, 10:15 GMT 2018 inter-Korean summit 01

2000 summit

In 2000, the representatives of the two governments met for the first time since the division of the Korean peninsula.

Kim Dae-jung Kim Dae-jung (; ; 6 January 192418 August 2009), was a South Korea, South Korean politician and activist who served as the eighth president of South Korea from 1998 to 2003. He was a 2000 Nobel Peace Prize recipient for his work for democra ...

, the

President of South Korea The president of the Republic of Korea (), also known as the president of South Korea (often abbreviated to POTROK or POSK; ), is the head of state and head of government of the Republic of Korea. The president leads the State Council, and is ...

, who arrived at Pyongyang Sunan International Airport, met Kim Jong-il, Supreme Leader of North Korea, directly under the trap of the airport, and the rallies and divisions of the People's Army Corps were held. * Participants:

, President of South Korea, and Kim Jong-il, Supreme Leader of North Korea * Place of meeting:

, North Korea * Date of the meeting: June 13–15, 2000 * Results of talks: June 15th North–South Joint Declaration

2007 summit

In June 2007, a summit declaration was adopted, which included the realization of the June 15 Joint Declaration, the promotion of a three-party or four-party summit meeting to resolve the nuclear issue on the Korean peninsula, and active promotion of inter-Korean economic cooperation projects. * Participants:

Roh Moo-hyun Roh Moo-hyun (; ; 1 September 1946 – 23 May 2009) was a South Korean politician and lawyer who served as the ninth president of South Korea between 2003 and 2008. Roh's pre-presidential political career was focused on human rights advocacy for ...

, President of South Korea, and Kim Jong-il, Supreme Leader of North Korea * Place of meeting: Pyongyang, North Korea * Date of the meeting: October 2–4, 2007 * Results of talks: 2007 North–South Summit Declaration

April 2018 summit

A summit was held on 27 April 2018 in South Korea's portion of the

Joint Security Area The Joint Security Area (JSA, often referred to as the Truce Village or Panmunjom) is the only portion of the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) where North and South Korean forces stand face-to-face. The JSA is used by the two Koreas for dipl ...

. It was the third summit between South and North Korea, agreed by South Korea's President,

Moon Jae-in Moon Jae-in (; ; born 24 January 1953) is a South Korean former politician, civil servant and lawyer who served as the 12th president of South Korea between 2017 and 2022. Prior to his presidency, he served as Senior Secretary for Civil Affairs an ...

, and North Korea's Supreme Leader,

Kim Jong-un Kim Jong-un (; , ; born 8 January 1982) is a North Korean politician who has been Supreme Leader of North Korea since 2011 and the leader of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) since 2012. He is a son of Kim Jong-il, who was North Korea's se ...

. * Participants:

, President of South Korea, and

, Supreme Leader of North Korea * Place of meeting:

, South Korea * Date of the meeting: April 27, 2018 * Results of talks: Panmunjom Declaration

May 2018 summit

On 26 May 2018, Kim and Moon met again in the Joint Security Area. The meeting took two hours, and unlike other summits it had not been publicly announced beforehand.

September 2018 summit

On 13 August,

Blue House Cheong Wa Dae ( ko, 청와대; Hanja: ; ), also known as the Blue House, is a public park that formerly served as the executive office and official residence of the president of South Korea from 1948 to 2022. It is located in the Jongno distr ...

announced that South Korea's President will be attending the third inter-Korean summit with leader Kim Jong-un at

on 18–20 September. The agenda would be finding the strategy of the breakthrough in its hampered talks with U.S and solution for the denuclearization on the Korean peninsula. * Participants:

, President of South Korea, and

, Supreme Leader of North Korea * Place of meeting:

, North Korea * Date of the meeting: September 18–20, 2018 * Results of talks: along with a commitment for a future summit meeting in Seoul.

Press releases

Two Koreas to hold summit (CNN, Aug 7, 2007)New hope of inter-Korean detente (UPI, Aug 10, 2007)

Footnotes

References

* ttps://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=23449 Ban Ki-moon welcomes forthcoming inter-Korean summitbr>Inter-Korean summit welcomeLooking forward to new aspect of inter-Korean summitthe eight-point agreement by the leaders of the two Koreas at the end of their summit (quoted by koreanblog.com)2nd South-North Korean Summit Joint Statement
The Institute for Far Eastern Studies, Kyungnam University

External links

The inter-Korean summit:Evaluation and Tasks AheadThe inter-Korean summit and Unification FormulaeThe official website of the Republic of KoreaInter-Korean dialogue
{{Foreign relations of North Korea Politics of Korea 2000 in North Korea 2007 in North Korea 2000 in South Korea 2007 in South Korea 2000 in international relations 2007 in international relations North Korea–South Korea relations