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IAN WILLIAMS, ITN: Nobody had expected Kim Jong Il to turn up in person,
but there he was, the reclusive North Korean dictator, marching purposefully
across the tarmac. The crowd cheered on cue as the aircraft carrying
the South Korean President taxied to a halt. When President Kim Dae
Jung emerged, he scanned the horizon before an aide pointed out the
portly man in glasses standing smack at the bottom of the steps. And
thus, history was made. The two Kims acknowledged and applauded each
other. There was a warm handshake -- the first meeting of the leaders
of the two Koreas in 55 years. They'd agreed there'd be no national
anthems or flags.
The South Korean President had planned to give an emotional speech,
but the "Dear Leader," as Kim Jong Il likes to be known, asked
him not to. The two Kims traveled in the same car for the 40-minute
drive from the airport, chatting casually and sometimes holding hands,
according to officials. It seemed like the entire population of Pyongyang
had been mobilized for the occasion, lining the streets in national
dress and waving identical bunches of paper flowers. The agenda of this
three-day summit has been kept deliberately vague. At their first formal
meeting, Kim Jong Il promised "dialogue without reserve,"
while the southern Mr. Kim said he hoped for a new era, something he
elaborated on at a state dinner this evening.
PRESIDENT KIM DAE-JUNG, South Korea (Translated): It is my earnest
hope that through this half century of distrust and compensation will
turn into reconciliation and cooperation.
IAN WILLIAMS: There is an enormous divide to overcome. Up to two million
troops face each other across the heavily fortified border separating
the two Koreas-- the South backed by 37,000 Americans with nuclear weapons.
Little wonder President Clinton has called this border the "scariest
place on earth." There's been hardly any contact across it since
the end of the Korean War. This is as close as most South Koreans can
get to their cousins in the North. The buildings across the river here
are perhaps a mile away, but they are a world apart.
While the South has prospered, the economy of the North is crumbling
and can barely feed its people. There are few cars to be seen on the
streets of Pyongyang, just a traffic policewoman performing without
an audience. Cynics say the North is opening up to the South out of
economic desperation. Tightly controlled North Korean Television usually
heaps unadulterated abuse on South Korea. But today, they gave extensive
coverage to the summit, describing it as "an historic moment to
open the gate between North and South." The South's Mr. Kim was
afforded unusual respect. Tonight he was treated to a folk performance,
heavy on tradition rather than politics. Hopes have been raised and
dashed before. But the fact this summit is taking place at all is the
most hopeful event in 50 years of Cold War on the Korean Peninsula.
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