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South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un announce the “Panmunjeom Declaration” following their summit on Apr. 27.

On Apr. 27, South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un jointly released the Panmunjom Declaration for Peace, Prosperity and Unification of the Korean Peninsula, consisting of 13 points in 3 sections, in which “the two leaders solemnly declared before the [. . .] Korean people and the whole world that there will be no more war on the Korean Peninsula and thus a new era of peace has begun.”

After completing the summit at the House of Peace in Panmunjeom, the two leaders said that the Panmunjeom Declaration contained their “resolute determination” to end the confrontation and division that were a legacy of the Cold War; usher in a new era of peace, prosperity and national reconciliation; and actively improve and develop inter-Korean relations.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un embrace each other following their signing of the “Panmunjeom Declaration” on Apr. 27. (Photo Pool)

The two leaders agreed that Moon would visit Pyongyang this fall. This seems aimed at building on the results of the upcoming North Korea-US summit to check on the implementation of the Panmunjeom Declaration and to reach a further agreement. This would also mark the beginning of “shuttle meetings” that would make inter-Korean summits a regular occurrence. During the morning meeting, Kim said he was willing to visit the Blue House whenever Moon invited him, and Moon said he hoped that Panmunjeom would be the beginning of a series of meetings in Pyongyang, Seoul, Jeju Island and Mt. Baekdu.

The two leaders “agreed to bring forth the watershed moment for the improvement of inter-Korean relations by fully implementing all existing agreements and declarations adopted between the two sides thus far.” Moon said that “we will never go back,” while Kim promised that “the two of us will cooperate closely so that today’s agreement bears fruit and does not repeat the shameful history of previous agreements that have ended at their beginning.”

The shared attitude, direction and approach reached by the two leaders during the summit were fully reflected in the name of the Panmunjeom Declaration, which moves from peace to prosperity and then to unification. “Today, Kim Jong-un and I raised a signpost pointing the way toward the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, lasting peace and joint prosperity and unification of the Korean people,” Moon said.

“Chairman Kim

In regard to peace, which is a key challenge facing the two sides and would be the cornerstone of prosperity and unification, the two leaders said that “South and North Korea confirmed the common goal of realizing, through complete denuclearization, a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula.” Despite being a vague and generic remark, the fact that “complete denuclearization” and “a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula” were mentioned without any caveats or conditions is an important step toward improving the prospects of the North Korea-US summit.

There was also an agreement “during this year [. . .] to actively pursue trilateral meetings involving the two Koreas and the United States, or quadrilateral meetings involving the two Koreas, the United States and China with a view to declaring an end to the war, converting the armistice agreement into a peace treaty, and establishing a permanent and solid peace regime.” This lays the groundwork for moving ahead simultaneously with the denuclearization process and the establishment of a peace regime on the Korean Peninsula.

A peace treaty was also at the core of the Sept. 19 Joint Statement from the Six-Party Talks. During the unprecedented “open-air secret talk” that lasted for 40-minutes in the afternoon during a walk to a pedestrian bridge, the two leaders presumably had an in-depth discussion about ways to bring lasting peace to the Korean Peninsula, including denuclearization and the normalization of North Korea-US relations.

Furthermore, the two leaders agreed to fully suspend all hostile acts on the land, sea and air; reconfirm the agreement to refrain from aggression and the use of force; gradually move toward disarmament; seek to turn the DMZ into a genuine place of peace by halting all hostile acts of propaganda around the military demarcation line and removing the instruments of that propaganda; turn the waters around the Northern Limit Line (NLL) in the West Sea into a peace zone to ensure safe fishing and prevent unplanned military clashes; and hold frequent meetings between military officials, including defense ministers, beginning with a general-level meeting in May. This implies that the two sides will move forward on challenges in inter-Korean relations alongside international efforts for peace.

Two leaders agree to pursue measures for reconciliation and co-prosperity

Based on such efforts for peace, the two leaders also agreed to a variety of plans for reconciliation and co-prosperity. One of the more notable new steps toward co-prosperity was the agreement “to establish a joint liaison office with resident representatives of both sides in the Gaeseong [also written Kaesong] region.”

This step is rooted in the agreement to install a liaison office at Panmunjeom that appeared in the inter-Korean Basic Agreement and is designed to expand the duties of the Inter-Korean Economic Cooperation Consultation Office – at which South and North Korean officials worked together in one building in the Kaesong Industrial Complex between 2005 and 2010 – to all areas of inter-Korean relations and to increase the prestige of that office.

“When the right conditions are in place, we could take this further by having liaison offices in each other’s territory,” Moon added, hinting that this agreement was essentially made with diplomatic missions in mind. Along with this, South and North Korea agreed to “reconnect the blood relations of the people” and to “adopt practical steps towards the connection and modernization of the railways and roads on the eastern transportation corridor as well as between Seoul and Sinuiju.”

Implementation of the agreement to connect the roads and railways that would serve as the infrastructure for future inter-Korean economic cooperation, transportation and contact is expected to pick up speed when sanctions on North Korea are relaxed in line with progress toward denuclearization.

The two leaders also made considerable effort to move toward reconciliation so as to move the hearts of the 75 million people on both halves of the peninsula who have been divided by hostility and clashes during the nine years of the administrations of Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye. A prime example was the agreement to hold reunions for families divided by the Korean War on Liberation Day (Aug. 15), since these reunions have a major impact on public opinion in South Korea.

At every opportunity, the two leaders also emphasized the irreversible implementation of the agreement, which shows that they will work to make the main terms of the agreement permanent by having them ratified by South Korea’s National Assembly and North Korea’s Supreme People’s Assembly.

Unification was not discussed in detail at any point during the meeting. And aside from the mention of “unification” in its official title, the Panmunjeom Declaration only contains one generic reference to the idea, with the two sides promising to “bring forward the future of co-prosperity and unification led by Koreans.” The apparent attitude is that unification should be pursued, but that it is a long-term goal.

By Lee Je-hoon, senior staff writer

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