South Koreans express mixed feelings over summit

By Sohn Jie-Ae
Seoul Bureau Chief

The demilitarized zone separates North and South Korea. Even the most optimistic hold little hope that the barbed wire will come down soon.

SEOUL, South Korea (CNN) -- North Korean children sang and danced for South Korean audiences in late May. The South Koreans clapped, cheered and gave the children a standing ovation. And everyone joined in for the final chorus of the song, "Our Hope Is Unification."

But while the sentiment in South Korea toward the North may have softened, pundits point out that the two sides have far to go.

Only 10 days after the first-ever summit of the leaders of the two countries, Koreans commemorated the 50th anniversary of the start of the Korean War, a devastating three-year battle that left deep scars across the peninsula.

The fight between the Soviet-backed North and the U.S.-backed South pitted brother against brother, father against son. The battle lines moved from one end of the peninsula to the other several times. Seoul alone exchanged hands four times during the course of the war. No one was left unscathed.

The legacy of that war lives on.

Tens of thousands of people in the South have relatives in the North -- parents, children, sisters and brothers -- that they have not seen for decades.

It's common to find many of these Koreans, called "silhyang-min," or "those who lost their hometowns," at the few observation posts where South Koreans can, through high-powered binoculars, glimpse at North Korea scenery through the demilitarized zone that divides the peninsula. One man we talked to recently said he could see his hometown, where he left behind his wife and children.

"I can almost touch it," he said. But he has been unable to go back. And at the age of 72, he does not know if he will ever see his family again.

The issue of reuniting such families is an important one for the South, which has been busy rebuilding an economy out of the shambles of the war. Today South Korea is a global player in world markets, roaring back from the Asian economic crisis. It is one of the leading Internet markets and an innovator on many electronic fronts.

Attempts at reconciliation have taken many forms. In 1998, the founder of the South Korean conglomerate Hyundai sent hundreds of cows northward to help ease the effects of North Korea's famine.

But in the area of easing tensions with the North, little progress has been made. Analysts often refer to the tentative exchanges between the two as the "Korean shuffle" -- every step forward is accompanied by two steps back. The two sides hammered out an agreement on improving relations, then North Korean leader Kim Il Sung died. The South started to provide aid to famine victims in the North, then a North Korean spy ship was found on southern shores.

Many South Koreans have conflicting feelings about the summit. One elderly man we met on the street said he thought a successful summit was the greatest legacy this generation could give to the next. But a young woman said she did not yet trust the North. "Maybe in a hundred years from now," she said.

For others, the fact that the North and South Korean leaders are sitting across the table from one another for the first time is seen as a major positive development.

The Korean War and the division of the peninsula may have been instigated by outsiders. But Koreans know that achieving real peace will be the responsibility of the Korean people.

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