The following article is a column by Aidan Foster-Carter, an honorary senior research fellow in Sociology and Modern Korea at Leeds University in England.

Twenty-one years ago this week, North and South Korea took a giant step toward peace and reconciliation. In June 2000, ROK president Kim Dae-jung flew to Pyongyang for talks with the DPRK’s supreme leader, Kim Jong Il — the first summit ever between the leaders of both Koreas. The two Kims signed a joint declaration pledging peaceful cooperation.

Younger readers may not realize just how revolutionary this was. Ever since the fratricidal and bloody Korean War (1950-53),