American, 13, pleas for peace on Pyongyang trip
Source: Agencies |
August 20, 2010, Friday
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A 13-YEAR-OLD American boy who made a rare visit to Pyongyang says officials there welcomed his idea for a "children's peace forest" in the demilitarized zone dividing North Korea and South Korea, although they said it would only happen if the countries signed a peace treaty first.
Jonathan Lee returned to Beijing yesterday from an eight-day visit to North Korea, during which he was taken on a tour of the DMZ. A hoped-for meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il did not materialize, although Lee said officials forwarded to Kim a letter from him.
"On this trip, I discovered that both sides want reunification and that Korea is one, so I see hope on the Korean Peninsula," said the boy, who made the visit with his parents, Kyoung and Melissa Lee.
Since the 1950-53 Korean War ended with a cease-fire and not an armistice, the United States, South Korea and North Korea remain technically at war.
The 4 kilometer-wide DMZ is the world's most heavily guarded border, sealed off with electric fences and studded with mines, watchtowers and military bases.
Lee said he'll continue pushing for a peace forest and hopes to visit North Korea again next year.
The lack of diplomatic relations between Pyongyang and Washington makes private visits to North Korea by Americans extremely rare. In recent months North Korea has detained four Americans for illegal entry, and one is still in prison there.
Melissa Lee said concerns about the family's safety in North Korea proved unfounded. "We were taken care of. At no point did I feel unsafe," she said.
Although initially taken aback by her son's desire to visit North Korea, she said the trip proved to be moving. "For him to want to do this on his own, I'm fairly proud of him. He may not have met Kim, but the fact that he did it was something," she said.
The Lee family said they received permission this summer to visit North Korea from the country's representative to the United Nations. Visas were granted last week in Beijing.
In his letter to the North Korean leader, Lee said he wrote that former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung had talked with him about his "sunshine policy" of peaceful coexistence.
That policy of rapprochement has been abandoned by the current conservative South Korean government, and relations between Seoul and Pyongyang are at their most tense in years.
Jonathan Lee returned to Beijing yesterday from an eight-day visit to North Korea, during which he was taken on a tour of the DMZ. A hoped-for meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il did not materialize, although Lee said officials forwarded to Kim a letter from him.
"On this trip, I discovered that both sides want reunification and that Korea is one, so I see hope on the Korean Peninsula," said the boy, who made the visit with his parents, Kyoung and Melissa Lee.
Since the 1950-53 Korean War ended with a cease-fire and not an armistice, the United States, South Korea and North Korea remain technically at war.
The 4 kilometer-wide DMZ is the world's most heavily guarded border, sealed off with electric fences and studded with mines, watchtowers and military bases.
Lee said he'll continue pushing for a peace forest and hopes to visit North Korea again next year.
The lack of diplomatic relations between Pyongyang and Washington makes private visits to North Korea by Americans extremely rare. In recent months North Korea has detained four Americans for illegal entry, and one is still in prison there.
Melissa Lee said concerns about the family's safety in North Korea proved unfounded. "We were taken care of. At no point did I feel unsafe," she said.
Although initially taken aback by her son's desire to visit North Korea, she said the trip proved to be moving. "For him to want to do this on his own, I'm fairly proud of him. He may not have met Kim, but the fact that he did it was something," she said.
The Lee family said they received permission this summer to visit North Korea from the country's representative to the United Nations. Visas were granted last week in Beijing.
In his letter to the North Korean leader, Lee said he wrote that former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung had talked with him about his "sunshine policy" of peaceful coexistence.
That policy of rapprochement has been abandoned by the current conservative South Korean government, and relations between Seoul and Pyongyang are at their most tense in years.
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