Private organizations from South Korea and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) agreed to hold a joint event in Seoul next month to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the historic June 15 Declaration, local media reported Friday.
Representatives from the South Korean preparatory committee for the event, composed of private organizations, met in Shenyang, China for three days to Thursday with their DPRK counterparts and those representing Koreans living abroad.
After the meeting, they agreed to hold the joint commemorative event in Seoul from June 14 to 16 to mark the 15th anniversary of the June 15 Declaration, which was issued after then South Korean President Kim Dae-jung and late DPRK leader Kim Jong-il met in Pyongyang in 2000.
The agreement on the venue was orally reached, and not mentioned in the joint press release by the preparatory committees of the two Koreas, which showed differences over candidate places where the event is hold, including Pyongyang.
It would be the first such event in seven years since 2008 when the joint ceremony was last held in Mt. Kumgang, a scenic mountain in southeastern DPRK.
"The agreement showed more flexibility (in inter-Korean issues) intrinsic in the current government than under the Lee Myung-bak government," Cheong Seong-chang, senior analyst at the private Sejong Institute, told Xinhua.
Cheong said it would send a positive signal to the DPRK as the agreement could be interpreted by the DPRK as a sign that the Park Geun-hye administration is laying stress on past agreements between leaders of the two Koreas.
The researcher forecast that the joint event will contribute to creating a thawing mood in the frosty inter-Korean relations, but he stressed that the South Korean government should make a sharp turn in its attitude toward the May 24 sanctions imposed in 2010 by Seoul against Pyongyang.
The sanctions have banned all inter-Korean economic cooperation and exchanges except the Kaesong industrial complex. Seoul claimed that it was imposed after the DPRK's torpedo attack against a South Korean battleship, in which Pyongyang has repeatedly denied its involvement.
Seoul has maintained a position that the sanctions would not be lifted unless the DPRK takes responsible action. South Korea has called for apology and measures taken by the DPRK to prevent the recurrence of such incidents.
Cautiousness remained that the joint event may create too optimistic views about improved inter-Korean relations. "The event will have a positive influence on restoring inter-Korean relations, but distrust is still strong between the South-North authorities. And, it is not an agreement between governments," said Yang Moo- jin, professor at the University of North Korean Studies.
The professor said that the Park Geun-hye government had yet to make clear its position that it will inherit and develop the spirit of the June 15 Declaration, worrying about possible conflicts between people in South Korea, especially between conservatives and progressives.
The two sides also agreed to hold a separate joint event of private organizations to mark the 70th anniversary of the Korean Peninsula's independence from the 1910-45 Japanese colonial rule.
The venue for the liberation event failed to be agreed upon during the meeting as further discussions are needed given the significant meaning of the liberation to both Seoul and Pyongyang.
The private groups agreed to designate the two-month period from June 15 to Aug. 15 as the inter-Korean joint movement to open a new "June 15 reunification era" by carrying out various non- political inter-Korean events and exchanges in culture and sports.
The South Korean government is highly likely to approve the joint event to be held in Seoul as it already gave the green light to its private groups' meeting with their DPRK counterparts in Shenyang. Such meeting was first held since 2010 when the May 24 sanctions were imposed by South Korea.
Unification Ministry spokesman Lim Byeong-cheol told a press briefing earlier in the day that the government will consider whether to approve the event under the basic principle that private-sector exchanges would be allowed if those help improve inter-Korean relations and restore national homogeneity in culture, sports and academy.
