It is good to pause for a moment and savor a bit of good news. The summit meeting between the leaders of North and South Korea seems to have gone exceedingly well and the joint communiqué issued by the two leaders at the end of the summit made some good promises of improving relations between the two nations on many issues, the most important one being the ending of the formal state of war that has existed between the two countries for over sixty years.

The video released of the two leaders at the meeting in Pamnumjom seemed to indicate cordiality.

As Zaid Jilani and Jon Schwarz write, of the 21 paragraphs in the communiqué, only one dealt with the issue of denuclearization but that the is the one the west will fixate on. But the other issues are also major ones, the resolution of which will go a long way towards easing tensions on the peninsula. What this summit seems to show is that North Korea seeks re-entry into the world system and Kim Jong Un feels that it has shown its strength and is confident of being treated as an equal. A lot of credit has to go to the South Korean leader Moon Jae-in who seems to have skillfully worked behind the scenes to get the US to tone down its bellicosity and open negotiations with North Korea.

There is still a long way to go before any reunification can take place. The two systems are vastly different. But it happened with East and West Germany, so it can be done. The desire of the people of the two nations to reunify will be a strong factor.