The 2007 inter-Korean summit was a meeting between South Korean president Roh Moo-hyun and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il held between 2 October and 4 October 2007, in Pyongyang. It is the second inter-Korean summit following the 2000 inter-Korean summit. It is also called the 10.4 Inter-Korean summit. Before the meeting, Roh Moo-hyun and his wife Kwon Yang-sook crossed the 38th parallel on foot, becoming the first South Korean president to cross the inter-Korean military demarcation line into North Korea. After the meeting, the two countries signed the Declaration on the Development of North-South Relations and Peace and Prosperity, agreeing to hold a summit, sign a peace treaty to formally end the Korean War, hold inter-Korean summits at any time, and develop economic cooperation projects.
Background
Proposals for talks
Since the 2000 inter-Korean summit, South Korea had hoped to meet with North Korea again. In December 2004, South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun said at a press conference at the Blue House that if talks could be held, "we would accept them at any time and place". However, North Korea’s renewed development of nuclear weapons in 2003, coupled with stalemate in the six-party talks, made inter-Korean talks seem a long way off. However, with North Korea’s initial agreement on denuclearization in 2006, talks were able to get back on track. In January 2007, South Korean Foreign Minister Song Min-soon indicated that there was a "great chance" of a North-South summit meeting being held within the year. A month later, the two countries held a ministerial meeting. During the meeting, Kim Man-bok, director of the National Intelligence Service of South Korea, submitted a letter to North Korean officials requesting secret contact. On 29 July, Kim Yang-gon, director of the United Front Department of the Workers' Party of Korea, replied to the Blue House, requesting Kim Man-bok to secretly visit Pyongyang on 2 and 3 August. Kim Man-bok then visited North Korea as a special envoy of the president to discuss the summit meeting. After returning home, Kim Man-bok informed Roh Moo-hyun of the results of the discussion, who was satisfied with the outcome and considered it the right time to hold the meeting. He also expressed his agreement to hold the meeting to Pyongyang.
Subsequently, on 8 August 2007, the Blue House announced that Roh Moo-hyun and Kim Jong Il would hold talks in Pyongyang from 28 to 30 August. On the same day, the Korean Central News Agency also made the same report. On 18 August, North Korea experienced severe flooding, and Pyongyang requested that the talks be postponed, with the timing to be decided by the Blue House. Ultimately, the talks were rescheduled for 2 to 4 October. On 7 September, the Blue House announced the official list of accompanying personnel for the talks.
- Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance and Economy Kwon O-kyu
- Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Science and Technology Kim Woo-sik
- Minister of Unification Lee Jae-joung
- Minister of Defense Kim Jang-soo
- Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Lim Sang-kyu
- Minister of Health and Welfare Lee Byung-gyu
- National Intelligence Service Director Kim Man-bok
- Presidential Policy Chief Byun Yang-kyun
- Presidential Security Advisor Paik Jong-cheon
- Presidential Security Service Chief of Staff Yeom Sang-guk
- Presidential Spokesperson Cheon Ho-seon
- Presidential Protocol Secretary Oh Sang-ho
- Presidential Security Policy Secretary Cho Myong-kyun
Compared to the previous meeting, South Korea had three more official accompanying personnel and twice as many ministerial-level personnel. In addition, 49 special accompanying personnel were appointed, who came from the business, religious, cultural and women's fields.
Preparations before the talks
To facilitate Roh Moo-hyun's visit to Pyongyang, North Korea agreed to allow South Korea to visit by land. During the 2000 summit, South Korean President Kim Dae-jung had to avoid flying over the North Korean military demarcation line, which required the aircraft to detour over the sea west of the Korean Peninsula. In addition, to ensure the smooth running of the talks, the Blue House sent a 35-person advance team to Pyongyang on 18 and 27 September to conduct on-site inspections and determine the hotels, meeting venues, and places to visit during the formal talks. In addition, the inspection team also watched the large-scale cultural performance Arirang to decide whether Roh Moo-hyun would be allowed to watch the politically propaganda-oriented performance during the formal talks. At the same time, considering the working needs of the South Korean delegation, North Korea would lend the delegation 30 mobile phones, but only for use within Pyongyang. The press center for the summit was located at the Seoul Hilton Hotel, where news of the summit was released. In addition, North Korea paved roads in and around Pyongyang and made preparations in the capital in preparation for the summit.
The summit
2 October
The talks were held from 2 to 4 October 2007, lasting three days. Roh Moo-hyun led a 300-person delegation to Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea. The delegation included 13 official staff, 49 special staff, 88 ordinary staff, 50 journalists, 98 staff members and live broadcast technicians. At 7:46 a.m. Seoul time on 2 October, Roh Moo-hyun delivered a speech at the Blue House, stating that the focus of the talks was "to achieve peace, stability and economic development," and that he believed the talks could contribute to peace on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia. Subsequently, Roh Moo-hyun arrived at the 38th parallel in his car. He got out of the car in front of the military demarcation line and gave a short speech, stating that the demarcation line divides the Korean Peninsula in two, bringing endless suffering to the people of both countries and hindering the development of the peninsula. Therefore, as the president of South Korea, he would cross this dividing line. After he returned from Pyongyang, more people would be able to cross this dividing line and travel between the two countries, eventually causing the dividing line to disappear. After speaking, he and his first wife, Kwon Yang-sook, walked across the 38th parallel into North Korea, becoming the first South Korean president to cross this dividing line. Roh Moo-hyun was greeted by Choe Seong-chol, the vice minister of the United Front Department of the Workers' Party of Korea, and then boarded his special car again to go to Pyongyang.
At noon, Roh Moo-hyun and his entourage arrived at the People's Palace of Culture in Pyongyang and met with Kim Yong-nam, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the Supreme People's Assembly of North Korea. They then transferred to an open-top car to attend the welcoming ceremony at the April 25 House of Culture. During the ceremony, they were greeted by hundreds of thousands of local people lining the streets. At the welcoming ceremony, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, together with Kim Yong-il, Premier of the Cabinet, Kim Il-chol, Minister of the People's Armed Forces, Choe Tae-bok, Chairman of the Supreme People's Assembly, Kim Ki-nam, Secretary of the Central Secretariat of the Workers' Party of Korea, Kang Sok-ju, First Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, Kim Yong-dae, Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the Supreme People's Assembly, and Park Soon-hee, Chairwoman of the Socialist Women's Union of Korea, greeted Roh Moo-hyun and Kwon Yang-sook. The two shook hands and expressed their pleasure at seeing each other. They then inspected the air force honor guard together. After the welcoming ceremony, Roh Moo-hyun and his wife stayed at the Paekhwawon Guest House and had lunch.
At 4 p.m., Roh Moo-hyun met with Kim Yong-nam at the Mansudae Assembly Hall. Before the meeting, Roh wrote on the assembly hall's register of names: "The happiness of the people is the temple of the people's sovereignty". Afterwards, the two countries officially began their talks. The South Korean representatives were Roh Moo-hyun, Kwon O-kyu, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance and Economy, Kim Woo-sik, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Science and Technology, Lee Jae-joung, Minister of Unification, Kim Jang-soo, Director of the National Intelligence Service, Kim Man-bok, Minister of Health and Welfare, Lee Byung-kyu, Minister of Agriculture and Forestry, and Kim Woo-sik, Director of the Blue House Policy Office. The North Korean representatives were Kim Jong Il; Kim Yong-il, Premier of the Cabinet; Roh Tu-chol, Vice Premier of the Cabinet; Kwon Ho-ong, Advisor to the Cabinet Secretariat; Choe Seong-chol, Vice Minister of the United Front Department of the Workers' Party of Korea; Choe Tae-bok, Chairman of the Supreme People's Assembly; Kim Yong-sam, Minister of Railways; Roh Dong-hwi, Minister of Land and Maritime Transport; Choe Chang-sik, Minister of Health; and Lee Kyong-sik, Minister of Agriculture. The two sides discussed the issues that had been prepared beforehand and exchanged views on the "solution to achieve reconciliation and unification". The talks were originally scheduled to last one hour, but ended at 5 p.m., which was too long. Therefore, the planned visit to the exhibition halls of the Three Revolutions Exhibition was cancelled.
At 7 p.m., Roh Moo-hyun attended a welcome banquet at the Mokran Hall. Kim Jong Il did not participate, and the task of entertaining was handed over to Kim Yong-nam. Kim Yong-nam told the attendees at the banquet that the two countries had demonstrated their determination to unify the nation to the world seven years ago, and that the June 15th North–South Joint Declaration was a "common monument" to national unity, unification and prosperity; and that to further improve relations between the two countries and resolve the unification issue, "today is the beginning". Roh Moo-hyun emphasized economic cooperation, saying that if the two countries could make good use of each other's advantages and gradually expand cooperation bases such as the Kaesong Industrial Region, it would become the interests of both North and South Korea, and could eventually develop into an economic community. The banquet lasted for 2 hours and 10 minutes, and Roh Moo-hyun then returned to the Paekhwawon State Guest House to rest.
3 October
Two rounds of summit talks will be held the day after the talks, with the theme of "common prosperity between North and South Korea, peace on the Korean Peninsula, reconciliation and unification". The first round of summit talks was originally scheduled to begin at 10:00 a.m. at the Paekhwawon State Guest House, but was eventually moved up by 26 minutes. In addition to Roh Moo-hyun, the South Korean representatives participating in the talks included Kwon O-kyu, Lee Jae-joung, Kim Man-bok and Paik Jong-cheon; the North Korean representatives were Kim Jong Il and Kim Yang-gon. The talks ended at 11:45 a.m., and at Pyongyang’s request, neither side was allowed to disclose the content of the talks. Nevertheless, Blue House spokesperson Chun Ho-sun said that the two leaders "had in-depth discussions". On the other hand, the 49 special entourage members selected by Roh Moo-hyun held special talks with North Korean officials at the People’s Palace of Culture and the Mansudae Assembly Hall in seven areas, including politics, economy, culture and academia. After the special talks, the special entourage visited the Kim Won-gyun Music University, the Mansudae Art Studio, and the Three Revolutions Exhibition in Pyongyang. As for the First Lady Kwon Yang-sook, she visited the Korean Central History Museum and the Korean Academy of Medical Sciences accompanied by North Korean officials.