Funny, They Don't Sound Like Enemies...

Thanks to the translation from French by Leslie Thatcher at Truthout, we have another story you won't hear on CNN:

The gesture is symbolic, but when members of an imposing North Korean delegation bowed for a long time in front of the monument to the South Korean dead from the fratricidal war of 1950 to 1953, an emotional threshold was crossed in the reconciliation of the two countries. Sunday, for the first time, a North Korean delegation, lead by Kim Ki-nam, Vice President of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland, paid tribute to the southern soldiers who fell during the war at the Seoul National Cemetery.

Monday, August 15, day of commemoration of the Japanese defeat - and for Koreans, the anniversary of their national liberation - 60,000 South Koreans, standing, welcomed the North Korean delegation in the World Cup Football Stadium to cries of "Korea is one!"

History is accelerating in the peninsula. On June 15, for the fifth anniversary of the first summit between the leaders of the two countries, ceremonies animated by the same patriotic fervor took place in Pyongyang. In Seoul, where a football match between the teams of North and South marked the event, the stadium was decorated only - as had been the case in the North Korean capital in June - with the flags of unified Korea: a blue peninsula on a white background. "The national tragedy can no longer continue," Mr. Kim declared to ovations.

The North Korean two-hundred-strong delegation's four day visit to Seoul continued with a visit to the National Assembly. On Wednesday, August 17, the visit was supposed to be capped by a reception in the presence of President Roh Moo-hyun, to whom the delegation's leader gave a message from North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.

It's not the first delegation from the North to come to Seoul, but generally the objectives of these visits are political or economic. This time, the reconciliation of "people to people" was advanced, as had been the case in Pyongyang in June. This displacement was not exempt from political implications either, since the Six Party Talks (the two Koreas, China, United States, Japan, and Russia) on North Korea's nuclear ambitions are supposed to resume August 29 in Beijing.

It is more and more obvious that South Korea, while remaining firm in its opposition to North Korean nuclearization, is dissociating itself from the United States' intransigent position toward Pyongyang. Seoul has just declared itself to be in favor of the peaceful use of nuclear energy Pyongyang demands, divorcing itself thereby from the categorical rejection of Washington, which deems that the regime cannot be trusted. The civil use of atomic energy was the main snag in the Six Party Talks in July in Beijing: "North Korea has a right to use atomic energy for civilian purposes," declared Chung Dong-young: a position shared by China and Russia.

Pyongyang is cultivating rapprochement with the South by increasing gestures of reconciliation. According to a recent poll by the conservative daily newspaper Chosun Ilbo, 66% of Koreans aged 16-25 would be on Pyongyang's side should the United States launch a war against North Korea. The generations that experienced the war are more reticent, and the North Korean delegation's visit to the cemetery was intended for their benefit. Another sign of détente: the two Koreas endowed themselves with a "red telephone" on August 10th to avoid border incidents. It's a first direct line between their military authorities.

The development of inter-Korean relations is a reality Washington is forced to take into account: it is less and less likely that Seoul will align itself with the American hard line, using sanctions as a key, against Pyongyang.

Washington limit itself to realities? Isn't that what those Frenchmen do? Since Algeria, anyway.