SEOUL, June 16 (Xinhua) -- On occasion of the sixth anniversary of the historic Inter-Korean summit, South Korea and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) highlighted their will of reconciliation through an ongoing four-day joint celebration remarking the summit.
A DPRK's delegation of about 150 members, including both government officials and civic representatives, arrived in South Korea's Gwangju city, 330 km southwest of Seoul, on Wednesday to join a series of commemoration events with South Koreans.
The events, beginning with a massive gathering by more than 30,000 people in Gwangju, comprise a joint tribute to the National Cemetery to victims of the 5.18 Democratic Movement in 1980, government talks as well as exchanges between delegates from educational area, labor unions, women and other civic groups.
In a joint statement published on Thursday, the two sides appealed Korean people throughout the world join together to achieve unification of the peninsula.
"Now, we face the historic responsibility to open a new era toward unification, braving all kinds of challenges and adverse winds against the tide of unification by our own efforts," the statement said.
"The entire nation must trust and depend on each other regardless of how international conditions change to solve the issue of unification with our own hands," it added.
South Korean Unification Minister Lee Jong-seok, who led a 13-member government delegation to the events, said in Gwangju that the inter-Korean relations have improved significantly since the 2000 summit and urged the two governments "to play more active roles."
The events drew attentions as analysts are worrying that the stalemate of nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula and the latest reports of a possible DPRK missile launch might leave negative effect onto the cooperation between Seoul and Pyongyang.
However, South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun on Friday highly commended the Inter-Korean Summit as "a historic turning point" for inter-Korean reconciliation and cooperation, vowing to make continuing efforts to promote inter-Korean trust and seek peacefully resolution to the nuclear issue on the peninsula.
Roh expected the planned visit by former President Kim Dae-jungto the DPRK late this month will help boost momentum for the improvement of inter-Korean relations.
According an agreement between Seoul and Pyongyang, Kim Dae-jung will kick off a four-day visit to Pyongyang on June 27 and to meet with senior DPRK's officials including the top leader Kim Jong-il, whom Kim Dae-jung met during the Inter-Korean summit and signed the historic South-North Joint Declaration with.
The two Koreas have witnessed great changes in bilateral ties since the first-ever Inter-Korean Summit in June 2000. The two governments have carried out various exchanges and cooperation in the fields of politics, economy, culture and sports during the past six years, which efficiently prevented the two sides from escalating military tense and brought mutual benefits to them.
According to the Unification Ministry, the volume of inter-Korean trade exceeded 1 billion U.S. dollars last year for the first time since 1950s.
The number of inter-Korean travelers has also passed 87,000 last year, surpassing the total number of inter-Korean travelers over the half century, the ministry said. Enditem
