But, apart from some potentially important economic agreements and some tearful reunions between families separatedby the Korean war, Seoul and Washington have little to show for all of this.
In early September, the South offered aid to the North for the first time in three years, and the two sides have begun discussions about the possible resumption of reunions of family members separatedby the Korean war.
And the young are driven by a convergence story: Whereas their fathers were divided by the history of war and their grandfathers bywar itself, today's young people are only separated from each other by the sound plugs in their ears.