Korea Report's 50th Posting and KR Reader Poll Results

This is Korea Report blog's 50th posting. When this blog was created in January of this year with a test posting, conditions in Korean peninsula were not highly optimistic: inter-Korean relations turned chilly due to the lack of progress in the six party negotiations over nuclear disarmament and security issues. Then, things turned around. The six party talks resumed and a timetable for settlement was agreed upon. The contending issue over Banco Delta Asia funds was resolved. South Korea's Roh administration pushed for speedier peace process and settlement. The Bush administration showed new flexibility and direct approach in negotiating with North Korea. Test trains ran on the inter-Korea railway.

Then the second inter-Korea summit took place in October. Inspired by these fast-paced changes that brought promises for peaceful settlement and reconciliation in Korea, Korea Report was re-activated in October after dormancy, with continuous coverage of pertinent news and commentaries. Now, new variables, mainly domestic developments in South Korea and the US and North Korea's reactions, will be surfacing in coming months that will leave repurcussions on the peace process. Stay tuned to Korea Report by visiting the site periodically, making a bookmark (or adding to your "favorites"), subscribing to email service or syndicated feeds. Comments are welcomed.

Here are the results of Korea Report Readers Quick Online Polls.

On the question of "When do you anticipate Korea to be reunited?," a majority of readers (75%) chose "within 10 years." On the question of "When do you think the US and DPRK will normalize?," readers were more optimistic and little more than half (57%) chose "within one year." A new poll can be found on the right column of this page: "Which S.Korean presidential candidate do you think can handle inter-Korea issues the best?" Be sure to take the poll before the election on Dec. 19.