THE division of Korea was a result of the Cold War between the USSR and the United States, with North Korea being supported by Russia and China while South Korea had the United States as ally. When North Korea invaded South Korea on June 25, 1950, a shooting war ensued that ended in a truce in 1953. This meant that from that time until the present, the two countries remain at war.
While South Korea progressed economically, North Korea became a hermit kingdom. South Korea had its share of dictators, but has since become a democracy, whereas North Korea remains to be a military garrison with Kim Jong-un as warden.
As depicted by the West, North Korea is a God-forsaken country that does not observe human rights, is ruled with an iron hand and is underdeveloped. With Osama Bin Laden, Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi eliminated, the United States has put Kim Jong-un as the “contrabida numero uno” of the world. He was even made the subject of the comedy film. In real life, the Supreme Leader has taken the villain role seriously, testing missiles directed at the US and exchanging barbs with US President Donald Trump, who has put the US in a war mode.
It is, therefore, a welcome news that the inter-Korea summit will happen on April 27. Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in are meeting in an atmosphere of cordiality after the warm reception given to Kim Yo Jong, a sister of the North Korean leader, during the recent Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
Subsequently, we have come to learn that CIA Director Mike Pompeo secretly met the North Korea strongman and, according to President Trump, the two “got along really well.” The US president has given his “blessing to discuss the end of the war.” If this whole exercise will attain its objective of peace in Korea, the Don will have an ace in his sleeve come next US presidential election.
Unlike the conflict in the Middle East that is primarily about religion and territory, the war between the two Koreas is about capitalism vs. communism as it is about autocracy vs. democracy. It is similar to the walls that divided Germany in the past, where families were linked, yet the systems collided. And who would ever have thought that an East German, Angela Merkel, would lead the nation in the new millennium?
If Communist China can exist side by side with capitalist United States, it should not be difficult for the two Koreas to co-exist peacefully. The world needs this peace process to succeed, more so the people of Korea divided by the Military Demarcation Line that runs near the 38th parallel.