North and South Korea recently held their first summit in seven years, agreeing to work toward a formal peace treaty and increasing reunions for families separated since the Korean War.
Among other deals, the South will take on development projects in the North including a special economic zone in Haeju, a railway linking the existing Kaesong industrial complex to Sinuiju and Pyongyang, and a shipbuilding complex in Nampo. The North agreed to make efforts towards nuclear disarmament.
Growing relations between the Koreas fly in the face of the Bush administration, which has made all efforts to completely isolate the North. The summit is being viewed as an important step toward normal relations and, ultimately, reunification of the Korean peninsula free of U.S. occupation.
