By Korea.net Honorary Reporter Bardise Muhammad from Egypt

On April 27, a historic summit between South and North Korea will take place in Panmunjeom between the Korean President Moon Jae-In and the North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Since this is actually a historic summit, I decided to make two stuffed toys to keep the memory of this summit alive. On the left is the Korean stuffed toy and on the right side is the North Korean stuffed toy, along with the slogan, “Peace, a new start" (평화, 새로운 시작).

I would never have imagined that I would be making a stuffed toy for anything that has to do with the unification or the Inter-Korean Summit. It never crossed my mind that there would actually be a summit this year, or in the near future, but here it is. That’s why I was really excited to make these. I have to admit that I'm not the only one who's celebrating the upcoming summit.

The Korean Culture and Information Service (KOICS) held a contest earlier this month asking people from all over the globe, “What do you look forward to at the 2018 Inter-Korean Summit?”

More than 800 people participated and left messages in more than 40 different languages. The nice thing about this contest was that, first, 100 winners from different countries won a hoodie with the Unified Korea flag. The second thing is that these messages are now displayed in front of Hall No. 3 at Exhibition Center No. 1 at the KINTEX convention center in Goyang, Gyeonggi-do Province.

Is there any other great thing that will happen for the first time at the 2018 Inter-Korean Summit?

The answer is, yes. The last two summits were covered by Korean journalists and broadcasters only, but now for the first time non-Korean journalists and broadcasters will be able to cover the upcoming summit directly, as part of the “Korea Pool.”

Since the division of Korea after World War II in Asia in August 1945, only two summits have been held. The first summit was held in 2000 between the Korean President Kim Dae-jung and the North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. It's worth noting that the Korean President Kim Dae-jung was the first and only Korean who has won the Nobel Prize for his work for democracy and human rights in Korea and across Northeast Asia, and for peace and reconciliation with North Korea in particular.

In August 2000, Korean families that have been separated had a reunification meeting and got to finally meet each other after more than 50 years of separation in both Pyeongyang and Seoul. That's one of the main things that I like about the Inter-Korean Summits: families reunions.

Inter-Korean Summits are not about politics, they are also about families.

The second summit was held in 2007 between the Korean President Roh Moo-hyun and the North Korean leader Kim Jong Il in Pyeongyang. Both the 2000 and 2007 Inter-Korean Summits were successful, and now in 2018 it's time for the third summit.

The 2018 Inter-Korean Summit is all over the news, in Korea and abroad. Even the Arabic news networks are talking about it, which is good news for me since I will be able to watch it easily even though I'm not in Korea at the moment.

I am personally looking forward to it.

I never would have expected that such a summit would take place any time soon, but things in 2018 seem to be changing. First, the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games and the participation of North Korea, and then this third Summit. Despite everything, all of Korea and the Korean people still speak the same language, and still share the same traditional clothes, dishes, and they still share the same history, arts, heritage and past.

Hopefully, the 2018 Inter-Korean Summit will allow Korean families to freely meet once again without having to wait for any planned meetings. I truly hope that the 2018 Inter-Korean Summit will be the peace maker.

I look for more Inter-Korean Summits in the near future.

wisdom117@korea.kr

* This article is written by a Korea.net Honorary Reporter. Our group of Honorary Reporters are from all around the world, and they share with Korea.net their love and passion for all things Korean.