SEOUL -- One year after the historic Pyongyang summit, euphoria has disappeared on both sides of the 38th Parallel. Following the news of the past weeks, one gets the impression that with North-South relations having returned once more to a climate of confrontation and accusation, the two Koreas are back to square one.
The government in Seoul is endeavoring to make 2001 "a year in which peace and cooperation between the two Koreas will be expanded in earnest," writes South Korean Minister of Unification Lim Dong Won in the preface to the official white paper on Korean unification. "By further expanding exchanges and cooperation in cultural, athletic, news media and various other fields, we will recover national homogeneity between the two Koreas."
These optimistic lines were obviously put to paper before the breakdown of inter-Korean exchanges in March. Since then, little progress has been made in these exchanges, let alone in the process of national reconciliation.