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Conservative groups within the country have publicly objected to the presidential visit -- they believe it is nothing more than an attempt to boost Roh's party's chances in the December presidential election. Liberal groups welcome the summit, also for political reasons. Both sides are waiting calmly to see what the president achieves through this unique opportunity to negotiate with Pyongyang.
The voices and views on university campuses do not strongly support one side or the other. However, it is apparent that opposition to pro-North policies is not as strong as in the past, and support is also less positive. This is because students have a more complete knowledge of the present realities on the peninsula than they had in the past, when ideological divisions were much stronger and emotions ran high.
As proof of this change, the popular "Weekly Chosun," which claims many young subscribers, reported in an August survey that the foremost issue of concern was the economy for 72.5 percent of those polled, whereas only 2 percent said it was the North-South issue. Of course, with the immediacy of the summit meeting, a poll taken now might show somewhat different results. But it is increasingly apparent that many young South Koreans, especially university students, are more concerned about their own pressing personal concerns -- namely, finding jobs.
Some politically aware young people have shifted their views, however, in face of the present reality, such as the information that North Korea has developed a nuclear bomb. The political tone has shifted from a left-leaning nationalism to a right-leaning one. Leftist nationalism, which tended to be pro-North and anti-American, was the mindset of the "386 generation" -- who were born in the 1960s, attended university in the 1980s and were in their thirties when Roh was elected. The "post-386 generation," now in their twenties and thirties, boasts a more individualistic mindset and favors a "patriotic nationalism" that seeks an independent-minded South Korea with a strong role to play in the age of globalization.
Certainly Roh's official visit to Pyongyang will lighten the long-sustained tensions between the two Koreas. However, with only five months left of his presidency, Roh must approach the inter-Korean issues carefully, with an eye to the legacy he will leave to his successor. It is reported that Roh and four or five advisers will sit down with Kim Jong Il, while other members of his delegation meet in various expert groups to discuss economic, political and cultural issues. Korean citizens on both sides hope these talks will be conducted rationally, objectively and transparently.
Korea is in a unique position in the world, a nation divided between two governments on the same peninsula. The Korean people hope that this summit will yield practical results including more meetings between separated families, the free flow of mail across the border and the lifting of travel restrictions between the two countries.
We Korean people know well the proverb, "A journey of 1,000 miles begins with a single step." We patiently await the time when we will see a unified and peaceful Korea on the peninsula. And we hope the steps now being taken by the presidents of North and South Korea, as they carry out their meetings in Pyongyang, will lead in this direction.
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(Dr. Kim Sang-koo is a professor in the Department of English Language and Literature at Pusan National University in Pusan, South Korea. ©Copyright Kim Sang-koo.)
