hankyoreh

Journalist associations from South and North Korea met for the first time in 61 years on Wednesday to discuss ways to promote inter-Korean exchanges and reconciliation.

The meeting at Mt. Geumgang, a scenic resort on North Korea's east coast, brought together 115 journalists from South Korea and 50 from the North, according to the Seoul-based Journalists Association of Korea (JAK).

The South Korean journalists at the meeting were from news agencies, newspapers and online media, along with producers from broadcasting companies, while North Korean reporters from official media such as the Rodong Sinmun, the organ of the North's ruling Worker's Party of Korea, the Korean Central News Agency and Radio Pyongyang participated.

It is very rare for so many reporters from North Korea to attend such an event, organizers said. In the afternoon, journalists from the two Koreas were to go for a walk together.

According to a joint statement at the meeting, the journalists of both Koreas agreed to stay in contact with each other and holding more meetings in the future.

"It is now only the beginning," said Jung Duck-gi, the representative of the North's delegation, in his congratulatory speech.

"So far in inter-Korean history, journalists have been observers, but from now on we are also the subject of history," said Chung Il-yong, the representative of the South Korean delegation and concurrently chairman of the JAK.

Journalist associations from the two Koreas last met in 1945, when the nation was divided. The two Koreas are still technically in a state of war, as no peace treaty was signed at the end of the three-year Korean War in 1953.

Despite tension over Pyongyang's Oct. 9 nuclear bomb test, the focus of the meeting was on how to promote inter-Korean peace and reconciliation manifested in the first-ever summit of leaders of the two Koreas on June 15, 2000.

They also objected to any kind of war on the Korean Peninsula and pledged to report fairly to contribute to the peace and reconciliation of the two Koreas.

An official at the Unification Ministry in Seoul, on condition of anonymity, expressed hope that the meeting would help break the deadlock in inter-Korean relations. All official contact between the two Koreas has been suspended since the North conducted its first nuclear bomb test.

Mt. Geumgang, North Korea, Nov 29 (Yonhap News)