The leaders of South and North Korea have agreed to hold a summit, the second ever between presidents of the two countries. Any dialogue among Korean heads of state is to be welcomed, but the timing of this meeting is suspicious. It is tempting to dismiss the summit as a political stunt to shore up the image of the two men in South Korea, but it could have serious consequences.
Pictures of then South Korean President Kim Dae Jung meeting his North Korean rival, Mr. Kim Jong Il, in 2000, captivated the world and prompted an emotional outpouring in both Koreas. Since South Korean law banned most contacts with the North, and the Pyongyang government had steadfastly refused to recognize the legitimacy of its counterpart in Seoul, the first summit between South and North Korea signaled a transformation in relations on the divided Peninsula and dramatized hopes that the Cold War might finally be ending in Northeast Asia. The two Mr. Kims held warm and friendly discussions and concluded that they could do business with each other. South Korean compatriots took that sentiment to heart, commencing an unprecedented period of aid and economic interchange. Mr. Kim Dae Jung's much debated "Sunshine Policy" had produced its biggest dividend.
It quickly became clear that rhetoric outpaced reality. While South Koreans, their capital and their aid traveled north, there were few return visits. Inter-Korean dialogue continued to be frustrating, with promises made, broken, repeated and grudgingly implemented — if at all. The culprit was invariably North Korea, which was slow to reciprocate Southern gestures. Most tellingly, North Korea's Mr. Kim never returned the visit of Mr. Kim Dae Jung, despite promising at the summit to do so. When pressed, North Korean officials would point out that "the time was not right."