The world watched in awe as leaders of North and South Korea held a historic summit on Friday and pledged to rid the Korean peninsula of nuclear weapons. Also this was the first time that international audience got an unfettered glimpse of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and his personality. The two sides also agreed to push towards turning the armistice that ended the Korean War in 1953 into a peace treaty this year. The summit came just months after warlike rhetoric from North Korea. Series of nuclear and missiles tests by North, which was followed by equally provocative military drills by South and its ally US had almost pushed Korean peninsula into war..
This kind of talks was unthinkable at that time. But things have drastically changed in the last few months. What made North Korea to suddenly change its policy is still a mystery. The historic summit has given ray of hope to the people of Korean peninsula. Though it is early days, the summit has rekindle hope of permanent peace in the region. Kim Jong-un’s pledge to end nuclear test has been especially hailed by international communities. Previous inter-Korean agreements have included similar pledge but were later abandoned after the North resorted to nuclear and missile tests and the South elected more conservative presidents. As the two Koreans are making efforts to end hostility, the role of countries like US and Japan will be crucial. North Korea is wary of US and doubts its intention. Therefore US will have to walk extra mile to end trust deficit to bring permanent peace in the Korean peninsula. A good beginning has been made and hopefully this process will continue until it achieves desired results.