NORWAY: SOUTH KOREAN PRESIDENT KIM DAE-JUNG PREDICTS COLD WAR DIVISION OF KOREAN PENINSULA COULD EVENTUALLY END

Record ID: 208509

  • Title: NORWAY: SOUTH KOREAN PRESIDENT KIM DAE-JUNG PREDICTS COLD WAR DIVISION OF KOREAN PENINSULA COULD EVENTUALLY END
  • Date: 10th December 2000
  • Summary: OSLO, NORWAY (DECEMBER 9, 2000) (REUTERS) 1. LV OSLO, ROYAL PALACE AND STREET LINED WITH NOBEL PEACE PRIZE BANNERS 0.04 2. LAST TILT DOWN EXTERIORS OSLO GRAND HOTEL WHERE ALL NOBEL LAUREATES ARE STAYING; MV SECURITY (2 SHOTS) 0.18 3. SLV EXTERIOR OF NOBEL INSTITUTE, SCULPTURE OF ALFRED NOBEL 0.23 4. LAS CHANDLIERS TILT DOWN MV KIM DAE JUNG WALKING INTO THE NOBEL INSTITUTE HALL; TAKING HIS SEAT; SEATED; SLV PRESS CONFERENCE; SCU CAMERA OPERATOR (5 SHOTS) 1.14 5. (SOUNDBITE) (English) JOURNALIST ASKING QUESTION "Would you prefer to sit here with your North Korean leader receiving the Prize together and would you outline, please, what your next steps will be." 1.51 6. SCU CAMERA OPERATOR 1.55 7. (SOUNDBITE) (Korean) KOREA'S PRESIDENT KIM DAE JUNG SAYING "I believe it would have been very good, a delightful experience if Chairman Kim were here as well, receiving the award. As far as the re-unification is concerned, our view is, of course, that the unification remains an ultimate dream of all the Korean people, but this is not the stage to be seeking unification, this is the stage to be seeking peace, exchanges and co-operation between South and North Korea, and we will be doing so with all our efforts. After a period of living in peaceful co-existence when the conditions have matured, when both sides feel safe enough to become one again then we will be seeking unification earnestly." 8. (SOUNDBITE)(Korean) KOREA'S PRESIDENT KIM DAE JUNG ANSWERING THE QUESTION WHETHER HE RECEIVED ANY CONGRATULATIONS FROM NORTH KOREA: "I received indirect messages of congratulations from North Korea but there had not been any formal expression of congratulations." 3.05 9. SCU NOBEL EMBLEM 3.17 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 25th December 2000 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: OSLO, NORWAY
  • Country: Norway
  • Reuters ID: LVA26PX5EQSOZOTW7L984K1KSTIX
  • Story Text: South Korean President Kim Dae-jung has predicted that
    the Cold War division of the Korean peninsula could eventually
    end, even though he believes his dream of unification may be
    decades away.

    Kim, speaking in Oslo on Saturday (December 9), said
    Seoul wanted talks between Stalinist North Korea and its ally
    China and capitalist South Korea and the United States on a
    formal end to the 1950-53 Korean War.

    "I do believe that unification will be realised some day,"
    he told a news conference. "A new mood of peace has begun to
    unfold on the Korean peninsula."
    For the time being, "peaceful coexistence must be what we
    should try to work together towards," he said. Kim has sought
    to encourage a thaw by building economic and cultural ties.

    "After living in such a state, maybe for 10 years, 20
    years, perhaps even longer (and when) both sides feel
    comfortable enough in becoming one again, then unification can
    be achieved," he said.

    Kim, 75, is receiving the 2000 Nobel Peace Prize for his
    work for democracy and human rights across Asia and especially
    for his work for closer ties with North Korea. He attended a
    historic summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il in June.

    The Nobel Prize comprises a medal, a diploma and a cheque
    for 9.0 million Swedish crowns ($929,300).

    He said that five decades of division on the Korean
    peninsula after centuries of unity was "an aberration, an
    exception that should not keep us from becoming one again."
    "I pledge to redouble my efforts" for peace, he said.

    A former dissident under army-backed military rule, Kim
    said that the United States and China were "very positive"
    about the idea of holding talks on a formal end to the Korean
    War, which finished in a tense armed truce.


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