Now to a fascinating revelation from many years ago that has just come to light.
Seoul's Foreign Ministry says newly declassified documents show that,... some three decades ago,... just ahead of the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul,... North Korea suggested forming a 'neutral state' on the Korean peninsula.
Lee Jeong-yeon with the details.
Around 30 years ago in 1987, North Korea had suggested forming a 'neutral state' on the Korean peninsula to form a buffer zone... according to declassified diplomatic documents.
The 230-thousand-page documents disclosed by the Foreign Ministry on Friday revealed this proposal by the North, which was passed on in secret through Mikhail Gorbachev, then leader of the Soviet Union,... to then U.S. President Ronald Reagan, during a summit held at the White House on December 9th, 1987.
The contents of this proposal include withdrawing all foreign military presence from the Korean peninsula, writing up a peace treaty, and the new 'neutral state' entity joining the United Nations under a single name.
Washington however,... deemed the proposal unrealistic unless North Korea showed a willingness to establish trust.
Seoul shared this opinion, especially as the contents were the same as what was proposed by former North Korean leader Kim Il-sung in 1980.
As for the reason behind this proposal, experts speculate that it's because the regime did not want to be left out of the spotlight with the upcoming 1988 Summer Olympics in South Korea.
Lee Jeong-yeon, Arirang News.