- Title: VARIOUS: South Korea's President Roh leaves Pyongyang at end of historic summit
- Date: 4th October 2007
- Summary: (W3) SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA (OCTOBER 4, 2007) (REUTERS) PROTESTERS TEARING NORTH KOREAN FLAG RIOT POLICE TRYING TO TAKE AWAY NORTH KOREAN FLAG VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS TEARING PLACARDS WITH NORTH KOREAN LEADER KIM JONG-IL'S PHOTO READING "DOWN WITH" PROTEST (SOUNDBITE) KOH GANG, CHIEF OPERATOR OF ADVANCED FREEDOM UNION, SAYING: "The summit did not solve any important problem such as abductees, imprisoned South Korean soldiers, and dispersed family issues. So this summit was meaningless." CLOSE OF PLACARD WITH KIM JONG-IL'S PHOTO READING "DOWN WITH" VARIOUS OF PEOPLE CHANTING
- Embargoed: 19th October 2007 13:00
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- Story Text: South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun left North Korea on Thursday (October 4) after reaching agreement to bring peace to the Korean peninsula at an historic summit, but managed to find time to plant a commemorative tree in a botanic garden in Pyongyang before he left.
After Roh signed a joint statement with the North's reclusive leader Kim Jong-il, he planted the tree with the North's nominal number two leader, Kim Yong-nam. Kim Jong-il did not attend the tree-planting ceremony.
Earlier, Roh and his North Korean counterpart Kim Jong-il exchanged toasts and said farewell.
Leaders of the two Koreas agreed on Thursday (October 4) to try to bring peace to the Cold War's last frontier, just a day after the North signed up to an international deal to disable its nuclear facilities.
"North and South Korea shared the view they must end the current armistice and build a permanent peace regime," President Roh Moo-hyun and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il said in a joint statement at the end of their three-day meeting in Pyongyang.
But some analysts said the pledges at only the second summit between North and South Korea were limited, with the hermit North clearly reluctant to break much new ground.
On the journey back to Seoul, Roh visited Kaesong Industrial Complex just north of the heavily armed border where 44 South Korean firms operate using cheap North Korean labour and real estate. He stopped by one cloth factory and greeted North Korean workers.
The leaders are expected to push for talks next month with China and the United States to formally end the 1950-53 Korean War, which technically is still going on because a peace treaty has yet to be signed.
If Beijing and Washington did agree, it would be mark an end at last to the Cold War in the region but the United States has already made clear that one condition would be for Pyongyang to give up all nuclear weapons -- something the North shows no sign of being in a hurry to do.
In central Seoul, a small group of South Korean protesters held a rally to protest against the results of the summit.
"The summit did not solve any important problem such as abductees, imprisoned South Korean soldiers, and dispersed family issues. So this summit was meaningless," said Koh Gang, chief operator of Advanced Freedom Union.
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