SOKCHO, South Korea - There is one thing North Koreans who fled the communist state half a century ago have in common with more recent defectors to the South -- none ever wants to go back there to live.
Peace will be the dominant theme at next week's inter-Korean summit, only the second between the leaders of what have become two starkly different Korea states. As the South turned itself into one of the world's most powerful economies over the past 30 years, the North became one of its poorest.
"There is beautiful scenery where I used to live," Shin Man-shik, 75, said, reminiscing about his hometown in South Hamgyong province. "All I want to do is to go for a visit. I just have no desire to go back to live."
Shin is a long-time resident of Abaimaul, which in North Korean dialect means "Town of Grandpas". Abaimaul is a village of low-lying houses near the east coast port of Sokcho where North Koreans who fled south during the 1950-53 Korean War have gathered over the decades.
Sokcho is just a few minutes drive from the heavily mined border that divides the Korean peninsula, guarded by around 1 million soldiers from both sides.
The old men in Abaimaul never intended to leave their homes for good.
"We expected it would be a week, or 10 days at most," said another resident, Kim Sung-pil, 72. "We thought then we'd go back north. That's why the men didn't bring their families and just came by themselves."
But the fighting raged for three years before ending with an inconclusive truce. Without a peace treaty that would have allowed them to go home, the men settled down in the South to a life as fishermen, for a time doing well catching Alaska pollack or building fishing boats and homes for the growing town.
Kim is from Musudan in North Hamgyong province, just a rustic town when he sailed away in a wooden boat half a century ago but now a top-secret military site where the North tested long-range missiles.
"When I first heard about the missiles, I had my doubts they could really manage it, but later I realised it is all intended to prolong the dictatorship."
He was referring to Kim Jong-il, who became head of the world's first communist dynasty when he inherited the leadership from his father, the founder of reclusive North Korea and since his death in 1994 its president for eternity.
South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun has said he hopes to discuss permanent peace on the peninsula when the two leaders meet on Oct. 2-4, with the eventual signing of a formal treaty to end their fratricidal war and expanding economic ties.
