Sunday, Jun 15, 2003
Sunday, Jun 15, 2003 |
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By P. S. Suyanarayana
A solemn ceremony, laced with rich symbolism and mutual outpourings of sentimental bonhomie, marked the re-linking of the two Koreas through a rail connection across the heavily fortified demilitarised zone that still separates them. Forgotten was the legal technicality that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DRPK or the North) and South Korea "are still at war'' in the absence of a peace treaty. Forgotten, too, was the growing diplomatic showdown between the two Koreas over the North's nuclear weapons programme. The DPRK has only very recently acknowledged that it was well on its way towards developing a "nuclear deterrent force'' that was designed to checkmate the U.S., the South's steadfast military ally despite some recent undertones of unease in the ties between Washington and Seoul. Dominant at the ceremony was an effusion of sentiments of goodwill. The function, held near the armistice village along the demilitarised zone, was attended by officials directly concerned with the railroad re-link project and not any top political leaders. Nonetheless, the speeches delivered on the occasion were rich in political fare of the unexceptionable kind about the shared theme of re-unification of the Korean peninsula through a negation of the Cold War logic. South Korea's representative remarked that the new rail connectivity, which might become operational only by the end of this year, was akin to the `re-linking' of the Korean nation's `artery'. This profusion of sentiment was in tune with the sustained political folklore in both Koreas that the people of the two countries, belonging to the same ethnic stock, were but one nation despite their present separation. The North Korean representative, echoing such feelings, said that today's event was a matter of "true unification'', whatever the current political realities, and would create a ambience favourable to the "flow of affection'' between the two sides. The re-linking of the railroad connection marks the realisation of one of several objectives that the DPRK and South Korea had set for themselves at the time of their historic summit in Pyongyang in mid-2000. This project has not been derailed, even if slightly delayed, by the continual diplomatic skirmishes for the past year or so over the North's nuclear weapons programme. In a related diplomatic development, South Korea as also the U.S. and Japan have decided, at one of their regular security-related meetings held in Honolulu on Friday, that both Tokyo and Seoul should be directly associated with the "multilateral talks'' on the peaceful resolution of the issues arising out of the DPRK's nuclear weapons programme. For the present, these talks are confined to the DPRK as also the U.S. and China, with Beijing being the prime mover. The DPRK says it is willing to enlarge this group only after discussing certain key security issues directly with the U.S.
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