Inter-Korean Summit

Inter-Korean Summit
Korean name
Chosŏn'gŭl	남북정상회담
Hancha	南北頂上會談
Transcriptions Revised Romanization Nambuk Jeongsang-hoedam McCune–Reischauer Nampuk Ch'ŏngsang-hoedam
North Korean name
Hangul	북남수뇌상봉
Hanja	北南首腦相逢
Transcriptions Revised Romanization Bungnam Sunoe-sangbong McCune–Reischauer Pungnam Sunoe-sangbong

Transcriptions
Revised Romanization	Nambuk Jeongsang-hoedam
McCune–Reischauer	Nampuk Ch'ŏngsang-hoedam

Transcriptions
Revised Romanization	Bungnam Sunoe-sangbong
McCune–Reischauer	Pungnam Sunoe-sangbong

Inter-Korean Summits (In North Korea: 북남수뇌상봉 "North-South Leader Meeting"; in South Korea: 남북정상회담 "South-North Summit Talks") are meetings between the leaders of North Korea and South Korea. There have been two major meetings, the first in 2000 and the second in 2007. The importance of these summits lies in the lack of formal communication between North and South Korea, which makes discussing political and economic issues difficult. The summits' agendas have included topics such as the ending of the 1953 war (currently there is an in force), the massive deployment of troops at the DMZ (approximately two million in total), the development of nuclear weapons by North Korea and human rights issues.

The first Summit was held June 13–15, 2000, in Pyongyang. Kim Jong-il, the North Korean leader, met with Kim Dae-jung, the South Korean President at the time, who received the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts as this summit occurred seemingly as a result of his Sunshine Policy, which South Korea maintained until President Lee Myung Bak adopted a more hardline position against North Korea. However, it was later discovered that South Korea had secretly paid the North Korean Government $200 million to attend, which resulted in the cash-for-summit scandal of 2003, in which 6 South Korean businessmen and officials were convicted.

The second Summit was held October 2–4, 2007, also in Pyongyang, between Kim Jong-il and Roh Moo-hyun, at the time President of the Republic of Korea. This summit occurred in light of the recent partially successful detonation of a nuclear device by North Korea, the development of which violated a range of guarantees, given in exchange for aid, that North Korea would cease nuclear weapon development. This summit probably occurred due to concerted political and economic pressure from a number of major states (such as the United States, South Korea, and Japan) and in particular from China, which is the nearest state North Korea has as an ally, and which provides North Korea with the oil and food supplies that keep the country from totally collapsing.

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Wikipedia