Koreas mark 'Sunshine' summit anniversary

U.S. policy toward North Korea affected reunification efforts with the South

By staff and wire reports

SEOUL, South Korea -- South Korean President Kim Dae-jung has called on his counterpart Kim Jong-il to keep a pledge to visit Seoul, marking the first anniversary of their historic reunification summit.

"Kim Jong Il's visit must be realized at the earliest possible date," Kim Dae-jung said on Friday at a ceremony held by his ruling Millennium Democratic Party to mark the summit anniversary.

There was no immediate response from the Pyongyang government.

Relations between the two Koreas cooled in March after talks in Washington between Kim Dae-jung and U.S. President George W. Bush.

Turning point

Before then, regular reunions between families separated by a heavily guarded border since the 1950-53 Korean War became a symbol of warming relations under Kim's "Sunshine Policy."

But Bush's declared distrust for North Korea's military plans, including naming it among a handful of 'rogue states' that pose a possible nuclear threat in Asia, has strained relations.

North Korea protested what Kim called "strengthened ties" with the United States, promptly canceling a diplomatic trip and joint naval exercises with the Seoul government.

An expected round of family reunions was stalled and workers at a cross-border railway set to be re-launched in August were pulled out.

Last year's three-day summit in Pyongyang was the first top-level meeting since the end of the Korean War.

It was a diplomatic breakthrough that helped win Kim Dae-jung the Nobel Peace Prize.

Subdued celebrations

Hardly any festivities were observed on Thursday, reflecting the lost luster of last year's breakthrough meeting.

South Korea's lawmakers flank a map of a Korean peninsula without a border

But civic group organizers hung a large photo showing the two Korean leaders shaking hands during last year's summit and displayed dolls of their images to prepare for a song festival scheduled for Friday.

Some 400 South Korean civic and religious leaders departed on a cruise ship for a three-day celebration at North Korea's famed Diamond Mountain, officials at the Unification Ministry in Seoul said.

Two hundred North Koreans were to join them for festivities that include a reunification symposium.

No South Korean government official was among them. The North did not want any to attend, officials in Seoul said.

Seoul officials denied a former student activist and five others permission to attend the North Korean symposium.

The six had been accused in the past of breaking South Korea's anti-communist national security law.

The refusal triggered a protest that delayed the cruise ship's departure to Diamond Mountain by two hours.

In the North Korean capital of Pyongyang, communist party officials held a meeting to mark the anniversary with a eulogy to their totalitarian leader.

"All the developments in the last one year represent a laudable feat Kim Jong Il performed on behalf of the country and the nation," Yang Hyong Sub, a senior communist official, told the meeting, according to the North's official news agency, KCNA.

New warmth

Kim Dae-jung said Thursday the Bush administration's recent decision to open security talks with the Pyongyang regime after an extensive policy review will encourage North Korea to resume dialogue with the South.

"Things have begun moving ahead slowly," he said.

State Department envoy Jack Pritchard met in New York with North Korea's U.N. representative, Li Hyong Chol, on Wednesday to arrange for the resumption of talks.

On Thursday, Seoul's Defense Ministry said that North Korean workers returned to a front-line construction site, erecting tents to resume work on reconnecting a cross-border railway, which is part of the summit agreement.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.