SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un promised to ensure that the agreement reached with the South’s Moon Jae-in at a summit Friday would be implemented, unlike previous pledges.
The two Koreas will closely co-ordinate to ensure they do not “repeat the unfortunate history in which past inter-Korea agreements…fizzled out after beginning,” Kim said after a summit with the South’s President Moon Jae-in.
“There may be backlash, hardship, and frustration on our way,” he added, “but a victory cannot be achieved without pain”.
The nuclear-armed North’s pursuit of weapons of mass destruction has seen it become increasingly isolated, subject to a series of UN Security Council sanctions.
Panmunjom, where the summit was held in the Demilitarized Zone that divides the two Koreas, was a “symbol of heart-wrenching division”, Kim said.
But if it became “a symbol of peace, the North, and South that have one blood, one language, one history and one culture, will return to becoming one, and people of all generations will enjoy prosperity”, he added.
© Agence France-Presse