"Same people, same blood, so we cannot be separated", Kim Jon Un
The statement of North Korean leader set the stage of what will now be the journey of the Korean peninsula.
Perhaps the day's biggest highlight was when Kim, wearing a black Mao suit, first appeared in the morning, walking from the North side of the DMZ to meet Moon at the border with the South.
Denuclearize is the best news for the world
North Korea and South Korea have agreed to denuclearize the peninsula and later this year formally end the war between the two nations that began in 1950.
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told reporters in Beijing that China hopes for "a new journey of long-term peace and stability on the peninsula."
Kim said to Moon with a smile: "I was told that you used to be unable to get a good night's sleep, being awakened … to attend the National Security Council meetings because of us."
In the first meeting between North and South leaders in a decade, Kim also said that he looks forward to "making the most of this opportunity so that we have the chance to heal the wounds between the North and the South.
Trump has something to celebrate finally
Many conservatives pointed to the development as proof that President Trump's approach to Kim has worked and some went as far to say that Trump deserves a Nobel Peace Prize. Although Trump is "crowing on Twitter" about the Korean peace summit, "he had little to nothing to do with the meeting and that the lasting nature of the peace itself is in question," wrote Salon's Matthew Rozsa. While the "optics" of hugging and hand-holding were captivating and "the world has a right to celebrate" the step back from the brink of nuclear war, Kazianis cautioned "the summit does nothing to change the facts on the ground" and that "Kim still has nuclear weapons."While he knows of no expert who believes North Korea give up its nuclear arsenal and thinks Trump's desire to tear up the Iran deal makes it even less likely, Kristof said, "It's possible now to envision a path away from war, and for that even we sceptics should be grateful."
Terrence K. Williams: North and South Korea is no longer beefing! Trump deserves the Nobel Peace Prize. Prove me Wrong! https://t.co/avcxp7jPyF - 3 hours ago (Twitter)
Korean leaders promise 'lasting peace' for the peninsula
We hope for a new era of peace, and we have reaffirmed our commitment to that." Speaking at the end of an extraordinary day that began with a lingering handshake across the demarcation line separating their countries, the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, and the South Korean president, Moon Jae-in, issued a joint statement that was short on detail but offered cause for optimism as the world looks ahead to a summit between Kim and Donald Trump. North and South Korea have been divided since the end of the Korean war (1950-53), and except for about a decade ending in 2008, relations between the two have remained frosty.
1953 Peace Deal is history now
The 1953 deal was signed between China, North Korea and the U.S.-led United Nations forces, and the two Koreas said Friday that they would work with Washington and Beijing to replace it with a "permanent and solid peace regime." A joint statement by the Korean leaders, called the Panmunjom Declaration, also calls for restarting reunions of families separated by the Korean war , and the establishment of an inter-Korean liaison office on the northern side.Peace has its casualties too
- Lockheed Martin fell 2.5% to a valuation of about $92.1 billion; Northrop Grumman slid 3.4% to $56 billion; General Dynamics shed 3.8% to $60.7 billion; Raytheon dropped 3.6% to $50.8 billion; and finally, Boeing slid a much lesser 1% to $200.2 billion.While stock markets in Asia are breathing a sigh of relief after North and South Korea's leaders shared a friendly handshake and vowed to work toward wiping away nuclear weapons from the Korean Peninsula Friday, once high-flying defense stocks are taking the hit.
Terrence K. Williams: North and South Korea is no longer beefing! Trump deserves the Nobel Peace Prize. Prove me Wrong! https://t.co/avcxp7jPyF - 3 hours ago (Twitter)
The leaders of North and South Korea agreed on Friday to work to remove all nuclear weapons from the Korean Peninsula and, within the year, pursue talks with the United States to declare an official end to the Korean war, which ravaged the peninsula from 1950 to 1953. The event, at the Peace House, a conference building on the South Korean side of Panmunjom, was closely watched because it could set the tone for the even more critical summit meeting between President Trump and Mr Kim, two leaders known for bold, if unpredictable, actions who put the world on edge last year with threats of a nuclear war. At a historic summit meeting, the first time a North Korean leader had ever set foot in the South, the leaders vowed to negotiate a treaty to replace a truce that has kept an uneasy peace on the divided Korean Peninsula for more than six decades. In their joint statement, the two Korean leaders said that within a year, they would push for a trilateral conference with the United States or a four-party forum that also included China, with the aim of "declaring an end to the Korean war" and intentions to "replace the armistice with a peace treaty."
Erik Solheim: I congratulate leaders of North and South Korea! Their determination has made the prospect of lasting peace a reali… https://t.co/FaAfkNISRq - 2 hours ago (Twitter)
It is a lighthouse moment
The the Korean leaders have shown to the world what is possible when leadership is willing to move beyond small gains. This peace accord may help other regions of the world suffering from violence and hostilities to move forward and embrace peace. Who would have thought it would be a leader who had been demonized for years deliver peace that has been elusive at the Korean peninsula since the 50's.
