Koreas’ Summit

* I am extremely glad about the meeting of the two Korean presidents, Kim Jong Il and Kim Dae Jung (June 13-14).

My grandfather, who was born in North Korea, didn’t want to be drafted into the North Korean army. So he abandoned his family and ran away to South Korea during the Korean War. When he heard about the Korean presidents’ meeting, my grandfather became filled with tears, because he will finally be able to meet his younger brother and sister. He and the rest of my family hope that the demilitarized zone will be abolished.

MARVIN CHOI

Northridge

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I spent two years stationed in Korea in the early ‘60s with the U.S. Army. We were the trip-wire defense to an expected hostile onslaught from the north while the Cold War raged around the world.

Now, what a welcome sight! The two former combatants--given enough time and space--may settle their differences and come back into the world as a whole nation. It’s only a beginning, but knowing the two leaders and their people, they will be one again.

DAVID CLARK

Irvine

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Tyler Marshall writes that “photos and TV footage from the summit show a smiling, relaxed North Korean leader, Kim Jong Il, hosting his South Korean counterpart, Kim Dae Jung” (June 15). He uses this as a rationale to suggest that the U.S. no longer needs a national missile defense system. The “images of a smiling, seemingly accommodating Kim represent the latest in a series of difficulties encountered by advocates of the system.” Sonni Efron and Mark Magnier talk about “North Korea’s frozen nuclear weapons program” and I assume that they came to that conclusion from the photographs as well. Huh?

So now we are basing U.S. defense strategies on pictures and video footage!

CHRISTOPHER T. HICKS

Long Beach