By Xu Aiying and Sohn JiAe

International media outlets from around the world have been putting out positive assessments of the outcomes of the 2018 Inter-Korean Summit that led to the Panmunjeom Declaration.

CNN said on April 27, under the title “North and South Korea vow to end the Korean War in historic accord,” that, “The leaders of North and South Korea have committed themselves to the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and pledged to bring a formal end to the Korean War, 65 years after hostilities ceased.”

The TV news station said that the two sides had struck a similar declaration before, but that it was not carried out as promised. It also added that the Panmunjom Declaration seemed different to the previous one, in light of how the two leaders signed and announced it together publicly.

The Financial Times published an article titled “North and South Korean leaders declare end to war” on April 28, reporting on the joint declaration announced after the summit. “The meeting marks the culmination of whirlwind diplomacy that has taken the two Koreas from the edge of war to discussing peace within four months.”

Major newspapers in Asia, like Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post, Japan’s Mainichi Shimbun and NHK, as well as CCTV and Xinhua in China, all headlined the historic Inter-Korean Summit, too.

CCTV’s 7 a.m. morning news show on April 28 started with news about the summit, saying that, “The leaders of the two Koreas showed their sincerity and their will to improve inter-Korean ties throughout the summit, which gave the impression that the two Koreas were now family.”

The TV station also said that it was so pleasing to see both sides showing a willingness to normalize the inter-Korean relationship, and, also, boost exchanges across military and human-to-human ties, as well as in culture and the arts.

The Mainichi Shimbun said on April 29 that, “North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency has reported the April 27 Panmunjeom Declaration, which aims to completely denuclearize the Korean Peninsula. This is the first time in history that a North Korean TV station has broadcast an inter-Korean summit.”



Meanwhile, the Inter-Korean Summit also made headlines across newspapers and broadcasters in Bulgaria, Cameroon, Nigeria and elsewhere.

Nigeria’s Diplomats Extra magazine reported on the summit at length, from the first meeting of President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and their joint tree planting through to the joint announcement of the Panmunjeom Declaration. The magazine said that, “As both leaders’ stands are on one accord, a joint statement that could completely change the future of the Korean Peninsula and Northeast Asia was signed on April 27 at the conclusion of the 2018 Inter-Korean Summit.”

xuaiy@korea.kr