But “I see really a new regional command of the party – younger, more in tune with changes in the world and the realities of the new political scene. The new regional command will be a major support for Dr Bashar. I think he is going to rely on the party in the foreseeable future – as long as the party is reforming itself.”The trouble is that the history of the Baath party has been one of repeated reforms – Assad’s own bloodless coup was always referred to as “the corrective movement” – and a mind-numbing series of anti-corruption campaigns (in 1974, 1976, 1982, 1993 and 2000). One of the first victims was Mohamed Haydar, vice-prime minister for economic affairs, the latest of 50 government officials – some say 150 – whose names are in Dr Bashar’s pocket. According to Dr Sukkar, the judicial system must no longer be subject to “undue influence” As the worst of editorials always tell us: time will tell.. The leaders of North and South Korea signed an agreement yesterday intended to reunite separated families and pave the way for unification of the divided peninsula. The leaders of North and South Korea signed an agreement yesterday intended to reunite separated families and pave the way for unification of the divided peninsula.
Kim Jong Il, the hereditary leader of the Communist North, signed the five-point accord late last night with the President of South Korea, Kim Dae Jung, in the northern capital, Pyongyang.

In an emotional speech before the signing ceremony, President Kim said: “It is time for the Korean people to stop shedding the tears that flowed through the past 100 years. It is time for us to heal the wounds we have inflicted on each other. We must proceed on the path towards peace, cooperation and unification.”The agreement says that, at an unspecified time, the two Koreas will reunify after an intermediate period of federation and sets out a number of interim measures intended to build confidence and reduce the tension that has existed since the Korean War, which began 50 years ago this month.On 15 August, the anniversary of Korean liberation from Japan in 1945, a series of exchanges will begin bringing together some of the seven million Koreans separated from family members by the division of the peninsula. The South will move towards releasing North Korean soldiers imprisoned for decades for their communist beliefs.

The two governments will pursue “economic co-operation and the development of the national economy” – a coded phrase for South Korean aid to the North, whose economy has almost collapsed after decades of incompetent central planning.There will be artistic and cultural exchanges. Most significantly of all, Kim Jong Il accepted President Kim’s invitation to visit the South “at an appropriate time” in the future.The signing is a remarkable breakthrough for peace and security in East Asia. Past agreements between the two governments have come to nothing, but never before has such a detailed document been drawn up by two leaders meeting in person in their own land. The prospect of peace has implications for the security of the entire region, and especially for the United States, China, Japan and Russia, the four great powers whose manoeuvrings have had such a tragic influence on the peninsula.Yesterday was another exceptional day in Pyongyang, where a party of 180 South Koreans are receiving what is, for most of them, their first glimpse of one of the world’s most closed off and authoritarian countries. After a morning spent visiting North Korean schools, the two leaders met for almost two and half hours in an atmosphere of extraordinary friendliness and informality.After the signing ceremony, they clasped hands and toasted one another with champagne. Kim Jong Il, who has long been rumoured to have a large appetite for alcohol, downed his glass at a single gulp, drawing cheers and laughter from the press centre in Seoul where the images from Pyongyang were relayed to the international press.A South Korean bard accompanying the party read out a passionate poem commemorating the occasion. On the margins of the summit, sports officials also agreed that the two Korean teams would make a joint entrance at the opening ceremony of the Sydney Olympics later this year..

Over the decades, since he emerged in the Seventies from beneath the wing of his late father, there have been several Kim Jong Ils. Over the decades, since he emerged in the Seventies from beneath the wing of his late father, there have been several Kim Jong Ils.
In North Korea itself, he was the Dear Leader, a semi-divine figure – philosopher, warrior and polymath, whose public appearances were greeted by multitudes of rapturous worshippers. In South Korea and the rest of the world, he was a Stalinist bogeyman – an unpredictable, if not psychotic, dictator who had ruined his health with a bottle-a-day cognac habit. More sophisticated analysts saw him as the helpless puppet of a monstrous political system, with little free will of his own. But what has become clear in just two days is that none of these represented the real Mr Kim.Since South Korea’s President, Kim Dae Jung, arrived in Pyongyang for the first summit meeting between leaders of the two Koreas, the live TV broadcasts have revealed more of Kim Jong Il than the world had seen before and what they have revealed has been profoundly disturbing.The Dear Leader, it turns out, is rather an affable fellow, a bit on the podgy side but confident, witty and healthy and with all his marbles intact. The impact of this revelation in South Korea is hard to overestimate.