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The summits between North and South Korea also facilitated positive relationships between North Korea and the United States. However, the negotiations stalled in 2020 and relations deteriorated, particularly during the presidency of Yoon Suk Yeol, with an increase in military tensions.
- Overview
- The rise and rule of Kim Jong-Un
After the death of Kim Il-Sung and through the early years of the Kim Jong Il regime, the situation between North and South remained fairly static, although the countries participated in multiparty negotiations on nuclear issues and South Korea supplied aid to the North. Hopes were high at the turn of the 21st century that the issues dividing the two Koreas might soon be resolved. As part of his policy of reconciliation with the North, which he termed the “sunshine policy,” South Korean Pres. Kim Dae-Jung visited North Korea in June 2000—the first time any Korean head of state had traveled to the other side—and the two leaders worked out a five-point joint declaration that specified steps to be taken toward the ultimate goal of national unification. A select number of North and South Koreans were permitted to attend cross-border family reunions. Later that year, at the Summer Olympic Games in Sydney, North and South Korean athletes marched together (though they competed as separate teams) under a single flag showing a silhouette of the Korean peninsula. (The countries also made a joint appearance—with separate teams—at the 2004 Summer Olympic Games in Athens but failed to reach an agreement to do likewise at Beijing in 2008.) Kim Jong Il’s government reestablished diplomatic relations with several Western countries and pledged to continue its moratorium on missile testing.
Efforts to restore a North-South dialogue continued. In May 2007 trains from both the North and the South crossed the demilitarized zone to the other side, the first such travel since the Korean War. Later, in October, the two Koreas held a second summit, in which Roh Moo Hyun, the South Korean president, traveled to P’yŏngyang to meet with Kim Jong Il.
The December 2007 election of Lee Myung-Bak as South Korean president began another period of coolness in inter-Korean relations as Lee took a more hard-line position toward P’yŏngyang. Tensions increased when the North Korean government announced in January 2009 that it was nullifying all military and political agreements with South Korea. In May of that year it announced the cancellation of all business contracts with South Korea that pertained to the joint-venture Kaesŏng Industrial Complex, although, in practice, little changed there. In March 2010 a South Korean warship, the Ch’ŏnan (Cheonan), exploded and sank in the waters of the Yellow Sea near Paengnyŏng (Baengnyeong) Island, close to the maritime border with North Korea. An international team of investigators concluded in May that the explosion had been caused by a torpedo fired from a North Korean submarine. South Korea soon ended all trade relations with its northern neighbour and declared its intention to resume propaganda broadcasts along the border. The North Korean government, denying responsibility for the attack, severed all ties with South Korea.
Relations between the two countries continued to be mixed. A cross-border reunion for hundreds of North and South Korean family members took place in late October 2010. However, one month later, as South Korea was conducting a military exercise off the country’s northwestern coast, North Korean artillery shells bombarded the South Korean border island of Yŏnp’yŏng (Yeonpyeong), which also has been the scene of offshore naval skirmishes in 1999 and 2002. The shells hit a military base and civilian homes, and there were several casualties. South Korean forces returned fire and raised the level of military preparedness on the island. The incident was considered one of the most serious episodes of belligerence between North and South in years.
Coinciding with the missile launches and nuclear test in 2009, Kim Jong Il’s youngest son, Kim Jong-Un (Kim Jong-Eun), began to be mentioned as his possible successor, a status that was solidified over the following two years. After the death of his father in December 2011, Kim Jong-Un was declared North Korea’s “supreme leader,” continuing the Kim...
North-South relations appeared to reach a milestone when a pact of reconciliation and nonaggression was signed in December 1991. Earlier that year, North Korea had retreated from its insistence on a single Korean membership in the United Nations, and the two states were separately admitted to the UN on September 17.
World News. Analysis: North Korea’s rejection of the South is both a shock, and inevitable. 1 of 6 |. FILE - In this photo provided by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un speaks at the Supreme People’s Assembly in Pyongyang, North Korea, on Jan. 15, 2024.
Feb 9, 2024 · Overall, in the last year, both North and South Korea have taken a less compromising position, shored up alliances, and ramped up military provocations and readiness. More on The North...
North and South Korea, the US, and China agree in principle to declare a formal end to the Korean War which ended in an armistice, says the South's President Moon Jae-in. But talks have...
Kim Jong Un rules out any chance of unification and scraps agencies focused on relations with the South. All the latest content about North Korea–South Korea relations from the BBC.
![A History Of Meetings Between North And South Korea [Infographic]](https://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images?p=north+and+south+korea+relations&ei=UTF-8&age=1m&th=96.9&tw=136.4&imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fblogs-images.forbes.com%2Fniallmccarthy%2Ffiles%2F2018%2F04%2F20180427_Korea_Meeting.jpg&rurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.forbes.com%2Fsites%2Fniallmccarthy%2F2018%2F04%2F27%2Fa-history-of-meetings-between-north-and-south-korea-infographic%2F&size=68KB&name=A+History+Of+Meetings+Between+North+And+South+Korea+%5BInfographic%5D&oid=2&h=684&w=960&turl=https%3A%2F%2Ftse1.mm.bing.net%2Fth%3Fid%3DOIP.o2T9qHz6mmOG_VosSyOVpQHaFR%26pid%3DApi%26rs%3D1%26c%3D1%26qlt%3D95%26w%3D136%26h%3D96&tt=A+History+Of+Meetings+Between+North+And+South+Korea+%5BInfographic%5D&sigr=UiU3ryog2HaU&sigit=Ij24lvvXJ1we&sigi=SMVcmvrf6UOH&sign=BdbG4Nb1ce.a&sigt=BdbG4Nb1ce.a "A History Of Meetings Between North And South Korea [Infographic]")
