Map of North and South Korea

North Korea Agrees to Disarm Nuclear Weapons, Pursue Peace With South Korea

North Korea has agreed to disable its nuclear weapons program and to make peace with its neighbor, South Korea. The news comes one year after the country conducted a nuclear weapons test on October 8, 2006. At that time, leaders of many countries worried about how North Korea would use its new power. The United Nations Security Council quickly issued sanctions against North Korea. Sanctions are actions meant to punish a person, group or country.

The sanctions were effective. In July, North Korea shut down its nuclear reactor. It did so after a round of Six Party Talks. The Six Party Talks are meetings with North Korea, four of its neighbors, and the United States. They have been going on for several years. All of the countries in the Six Party Talks are members of the United Nations. The other countries are China, Japan, Russia and South Korea.

Leaders met for three days, agreed to work on peace treaty
Roh Moo-hyun is the president of South Korea. Kim Jung II is North Korea's leader. They met for summit talks over three days in early October. President Roh traveled to North Korea. So did representatives from the United States. The three are basic members of the summit group. Other countries, such as China, may also want to take part in some of the talks.

The two Koreas had been in a state of war since 1950. It started when North Korea, a communist country, invaded South Korea. United Nations forces and the United States supported South Korea. From 1950 to 1953 the United States fought against North Korea.

Civil War split families, countries
Koreans refer to that time as the Civil War. Jin Sun Kim is 21. She is from Incheon. The city is about an hour away from South Korea's capitol, Seoul. Her grandparents left North Korea during the Civil War.
Since then, the countries have become very different. North Korea is a closed society. Most of its people are extremely poor and have little freedom. South Korea is a democratic country. Its economy is one of the world's most powerful.

Jin Sun Kim thinks her country will move the peace process forward even after President Roh leaves office next month. She said that his likely successor has already promised to keep working on it. But she is not as confident that Chairman Kim Jung Il will do the same.

"I don't trust him much," she said. But, she added, he is trying to accept some capitalism in his government. "There are a lot of South Korean factories in Kasong. So maybe the next president of North Korea will be better in terms of capitalist things."