A North Korean movie has been given the green light to be shown in local cinemas in July, while an album of North Korean pop songs was to be released on June 1. North Korean products are selling briskly in department stores, even though only a limited selection of items are available. That the visiting performers had to travel via Beijing to reach Seoul acts as a reminder of present realities, but the atmosphere is a far cry from just a few years ago, when even raising the idea of North Korean cultural imports was liable to land you in jail. If ordinary South Koreans are giddy about the impending summit, then those in President Kim Dae Jung's administration are doubly so. Now we must also achieve reconciliation and cooperation and bring peace to the Korean peninsula.
Indications are that Pyongyang too is greeting the summit with some amount of anticipation.
That is surely everyone's hope, but the jury is still out on how the event will turn out. This vaguely worded formulation reflects the desire by both parties to make sure the summit happens. Seoul had initially wanted more specifics, but neither side apparently wanted to get into a possible wrangle over the details and risk derailing the whole process. Observers expect the two leaders to formally focus on what they can agree upon and touch on sensitive matters informally. At the top of the agenda are likely to be economic matters.