The second Summit was held October 2–4, 2007, also in Pyongyang, between Kim Jong-il and Roh Moo-hyun, at the time President of the Republic of Korea. This summit occurred in light of the recent partially successful detonation of a nuclear device by North Korea, the development of which violated a range of guarantees, given in exchange for aid, that North Korea would cease nuclear weapon development. This summit probably occurred due to concerted political and economic pressure from a number of major states and in particular from China, which is the nearest state North Korea has as an ally, and which provides North Korea with the oil and food supplies that keep the country from totally collapsing.
Details
On August 8, 2007, the Republic of Korea and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea announced that the second Inter-Korean summit would be held from August 28 to August 30, 2007. However, on August 18, 2007, North Korea postponed the talks due to flooding. South Korea proposed to hold Summit talks between October 2 and October 4, 2007. On October 2, 2007, at 9:05, South Korean president Roh Moo-hyun walked across the Korean Demilitarized Zone in travelling to Pyongyang for talks with Kim Jong-il. Unlike in the first summit, President Roh reached the summit location via the land routes - Kaesung and Pyongyang Expressway. During the visit, there was a series of meetings and discussions between the leaders. The June 15th North–South Joint Declaration that the two leaders signed during the first South–North summit stated that they would hold the second summit at an appropriate time. It was originally thought in 2000 that the second summit would be held in South Korea, but that did not prove to be the case in 2007. At the meetings and talks, the two sides reaffirmed the spirit of the June 15th North–South Joint Declaration and had discussions on various issues related to realizing the advancement of South–North relations, peace on the Korean Peninsula, common prosperity of the Korean people and unification of Korea. On October 4, 2007, South Korean president Roh Moo-hyun and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il signed the peace declaration. The document called for international talks to replace the armistice which ended the Korean War with a permanent peace treaty.
Gifts
Kim Jong-il gave his presidential guest Roh Moo-hyun four tonnes of prized songi worth up to US$2.6 million at their summit. A kilogram of these mushrooms, which is a Korean delicacy, can sell for as much as 600,000 won in South Korean stores. Kim Jong-il had 500 boxes of the mushrooms trucked to the border for President Roh to take back after their three-day summit. This was similar to the first summit when Kim Jong-il gave South Korea's then-president Kim Dae-jung three tonnes of the same mushrooms.
Roh Moo-hyun had first given Kim Jong-il a collection of South Korean films and television dramas which included his favorite actress Elizabeth Taylor, normally banned in the North, as well as a painted folding screen and a fine tea set.
