2018 saw a dramatic turn of events on the Korean Peninsula with the two Koreas engaging in dialogue on establishing peace in the region, a stark contrast with 2017 when tensions were alarmingly high.

Such progress was brought about by three rounds of inter-Korean summits. Dialogue between the two Koreas was jumpstarted by North Korea’s participation in the 2018 PyeongChang Olympic Winter Games.



On April 27th, South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un held their first summit at the Peace House on the southern side of the truce village of Panmunjeom. During this summit, the two leaders signed the 13-point Panmunjeom Declaration to proclaim that an era of peace had begun on the peninsula. Under the declaration, the two Koreas agreed to completely denuclearize the peninsula, drastically improve bilateral ties, declare a formal end to the Korean War within the year and replace the Korean War Armistice agreement with a peace treaty.

On May 26th, Moon and Kim held their second summit at Tongilgak, on the northern side of the Panmunjeom. The meeting was held at Kim’s request after efforts to hold a North Korea-U.S. summit in Singapore hit a snag. At these talks, the two leaders reaffirmed intent to work together toward denuclearizing the peninsula and establishing a permanent peace regime. This summit’s outcome led to the North Korea-U.S. summit taking place on June 12th.



Moon and Kim’s third summit took place from September 18th to the 20th in Pyongyang. The two leaders then signed the Pyongyang Joint Declaration and an inter-Korean military agreement.

Their agreements have led to the withdrawal of guard posts in the Demilitarized Zone and projects on connecting inter-Korean railways and roads.


Photo : Yonhap News, KBS News

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