PYONGYANG — South and North Korea have agreed on nonaggression and refraining from making military threats against one another.
The agreement was reached during the second round of talks between President Kim Dae-jung and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il at the Paekhwawon State Guest House in Pyongyang June 14 night, it was learned June 15.
“This is tantamount to a declaration by the two Koreas that they will renounce war on the Korean peninsula and to pursue unification through dialogue. The two leaders clearly recognize the importance of preventing war and establishing peace on the peninsula,” reads a press release by the government on the summit.
In line with the accord, Seoul and Pyongyang and expected to open a military hotline for any emergency and suspend hostility and slander, presidential secretaries said.
President Kim reportedly asked Kim Jong-il during the June 14 summit to suspend the North’s nuclear and missile development program and normalize diplomatic ties with neighboring countries, including the United States and Japan.
Meanwhile, the Seoul government plans to open dialogue with the North to put into practice details of the five-point joint declaration the two Kims signed June 14 night.
The South will form a delegation to open government-level dialogue with the North. “Either the prime minister or a minister or vice minister will head the delegation,” a presidential secretary said.
The government plans to normalize the inter-Korean liaison office at the truce village of Panmunjom, he added.
As part of steps toward promoting economic cooperation, the government plans to reopen the severed railway between Seoul and Pyongyang, Seoul officials said.
To control flooding along the Imjin River on both sides of the two Koreas, the two will launch joint anti-flood projects, they said.
The government will call on the North to sign agreements o double taxation avoidance, investment protection guarantee and payment clearing system.
Meanwhile, President Kim June 15 returned to Seoul by plane after having lunch with North Korean leader Kim.
Kim Jong-il sent off the South Korean president at Sunan Airport in Pyongyang.