KIM IL SUNG ON NATIONAL REUNIFICATION

KIM IL SUNG

LET US PREVENT A NATIONAL PARTITION AND REUNIFY THE COUNTRY

Speech at the Pyongyang Mass Rally to Welcome the Party and Government Delegation

of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic

June 23, 1973

[excerpts]

Because of our earnest desire to get over the difficult situation created today and bring about the people’s long-cherished aspiration for peaceful national reunification as soon as possible, we hereby reaffirm before the world the policy of our Party and the Government of our Republic for independent, peaceful reunification:

1. To improve the present relations between the north and south of Korea and accelerate the peaceful reunification of the country, it is necessary, first of all, to eliminate military confrontation and ease tension between the north and south.

2. To improve north-south relations and expedite the country’s reunification, it is necessary to bring about multilateral collaboration and interchange between the north and south in the political, military, diplo­matic, economic and cultural fields.

3. In order to settle the question of the country’s reunification in conformity with the will and demand of our people, it is necessary to enable the masses of people of all levels in the north and south to participate in the nationwide patriotic work for national reunification.

4. In speeding up the country’s reunification it is very important, today, to institute a north-south Confederation under the name of a single country.

5. We consider that our country should be prevented from being partitioned into “two Koreas” permanently as a result of the freezing of national division and that the north and south should also work together in the field of external affairs.

KIM IL SUNG

ON THE FIVE-POINT POLICY FOR NATIONAL REUNIFICATION

Speech at an Enlarged Meeting of the Political Committee of

the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea

June 25, 1973

In our speech two days ago, on June 23, we clarified, both internally and externally, our new five-point policy for the independent, peaceful reunification of the country.

From the first day, our speech met with a tremendous response at home and abroad. Not only the entire Korean people warmly support and hail this five-point policy of our Party and the Government of the Republic; the governments and peoples of many countries have loudly proclaimed their support for it. The Party and Government delegation of Czechoslovakia who were on a visit to our country expressed full support for our five-point policy upon its publication and, in its wake, many countries have shown that they support it. Many foreign newspapers, news agencies and radio stations are giving wide publicity to the five-point policy of our Party and the Government of the Republic for national reunification and welcome it in their commentaries.

Our new five-point policy for national reunification is a positive step towards smashing the plot of the US imperialists and south Korean authorities to perpetuate national division, which has reached a very grave stage, and towards expediting the independent, peaceful reunification of the country.

Even after publication of the North-South Joint Statement, US imperialism and the south Korean authorities persisted in their plans for national division.

In an attempt to establish “two Koreas”, the US imperialists have kept instigating the south Korean authorities to divisive actions under cover of the north-south dialogue. Openly declaring that south Korea should take up a “position of strength” in the north-south dialogue, they have continuously shipped new military equipment to south Korea and staged aggressive war exercises without cease. The Japanese militarists, dancing to the tune of the US imperialists, have also hampered the north-south dialogue and taken many actions against the reunification of our country. The US imperialists and the Japanese militarists aim, in the final analysis, at keeping our country divided indefinitely, and making south Korea their permanent colony and commodity market.

Under the active manipulation of US imperialism the south Korean authorities have adhered to the path of division, and not of reunification, flagrantly ignoring the agreed points of the North-South Joint Statement. Since publication of the joint statement the south Korean authorities have clung ever more desperately to the foreign forces. Crying for “confrontation with dialogue” and “competition with dialogue”, they turned down all our proposals to eliminate military confrontation and to enter into multilateral collaboration and interchange between north and south and ceaselessly perpetrated aggressive provocations to aggravate tension. They also kept making “anti-communist” rackets and intensified their fascist suppression of the south Korean people. They uttered words about reunification, but in fact they worked frantically on the “two Koreas” strategy aimed at freezing and perpetuating the division.

The south Korean authorities who had pursued their “two Koreas” strategy in every way under the manipulation of US imperialism, finally issued a so-called “special statement” on the morning of June 23, openly proclaiming to the world their “policy” of perpetuating the country’s division.

In the “special statement” the south Korean authorities declared, in short, that the north and the south should enter the UN separately while keeping our country divided. This anti-national assertion is simply intolerable. Should things turn out as the south Korean authorities desire, our nation will be split in two for ever and the south Korean people will remain colonial slaves of the US imperialists permanently.

This policy of perpetuating national division pursued by the south Korean authorities with the backing of US imperialism, has placed a grave obstacle in the way of national reunification. In order to remove that obstacle and promote the national cause of independent, peaceful reunification, we should resolutely and promptly smash the treacherous declaration of the south Korean authorities and open up before the whole nation a broad perspective and a clear-cut way to national reunification. That was why on the afternoon of June 23, we set forth the five-point policy for national reunification as a new measure to save the nation.

Our five-point policy is: to remove military confrontation and lessen the tension between north and south, to achieve multilateral collaboration and interchange between north and south, to convene a Great National Congress comprising representatives of people of all levels, political parties and social organizations from the north and south, to institute a north-south Confederation named the Confederal Republic of Koryo, and to enter the UN under that name.

First of all, we maintain that military confrontation should be eliminated and tensions be removed between north and south in order to improve relations and accelerate the country’s peaceful reunification.

To remove military confrontation and tensions between north and south is now the most urgent, vital problem in dispelling misunderstand­ing and distrust, and deepening mutual understanding and trust, creating an atmosphere of great national unity, improving north-south relations, and in achieving the country’s peaceful reunification.

The military confrontation between north and south with their huge armed forces is in itself not only a major factor endangering peace in our country, but also a source of misunderstanding and distrust.

The solution of this fundamental problem is a prerequisite for the removal of tensions and distrust between north and south, the creation of an atmosphere of trust, and the satisfactory settlement of all problems on the basis of mutual trust. It is unnatural to advocate peaceful reunification and hold a dialogue with a dagger in one’s belt. Unless the dagger is laid on the table, it is impossible to create an atmosphere of mutual trust or find satisfactory solutions to any national reunification problems, whether large or small, including that of achieving cooperation and interchange between north and south.

Therefore, as the first step towards the peaceful reunification of the country, we have more than once put before the south Korean authorities this five-point proposal: cessation of the reinforcement of armies and the arms race, withdrawal of all foreign troops, reduction of armed forces and armaments, ending of the introduction of weapons from outside and conclusion of a peace agreement.

However, the south Korean authorities insist that the solution of this urgent problem should be postponed and that at the most, matters of secondary importance should be settled step by step at various stages. This means that they do not sincerely want to increase mutual trust and promote great national unity, but to maintain and freeze the country’s division, leaving the raw wound of national partition unhealed.

If the south Korean authorities truly desire peaceful reunification and seek a practical solution of the reunification question, they must renounce this position and follow the course of eliminating military confrontation.

Now we maintain that many-sided cooperation and interchange between north and south should be accomplished in the political, military, diplomatic, economic and cultural fields in order to improve north-south relations and expedite the country’s reunification.

Many-sided cooperation and interchange are of tremendous impor­tance in repairing the severed bonds of the nation and providing, preconditions for reunification. Only when such cooperation and inter­change are achieved, will it be possible to consolidate the peace agreement to be concluded between north and south.

The south Korean authorities say that they propose that both sides “throw open” their societies to each other, but, in fact, they are afraid of tearing down any of the barriers between the two parts of the country and are resolutely opposed to their interchange and collaboration.

Instead of collaborating with their own fellow countrymen, the south Korean authorities now conspire with forces outside and invite foreign monopoly capital without any limitation, thus reducing the south Korean economy completely to an appendage. They are even spoiling our beautiful land by bringing in polluting industries rejected as “rubbish” by foreign countries.

If the south Korean authorities have an ounce of national conscience, they should naturally strive to develop the economy in the interests of our nation through the joint exploitation of our country’s natural resources and bring about national cooperation in all fields of activity.

We also maintain that the broad masses of people of all backgrounds in the north and the south should be given an opportunity to participate in the nationwide patriotic work for national reunification in order to settle the question of the country’s reunification in conformity with the will and demand of our people.

The north-south dialogue for national reunification should not be confined to the authorities of the two zones but should be held on a national scale. That is why we have proposed convening a Great National Congress composed of representatives of the people from all walks of life—workers, peasants, working intellectuals, students and soldiers in the northern half, and workers, peasants, students, intellectuals, military men, non-comprador capitalists and petty bourgeoisie in south Korea—and representatives of political parties and social organizations in the north and south, to discuss the question of the country’s reunification at the congress and solve it.

We also maintain that a north-south Confederation should be instituted under a single national nomenclature in order to hasten the country’s reunification.

Needless to say, there are various ways of achieving the complete reunification of the country. Under the prevailing situation, we think that the most reasonable way of reunification is to convene a Great National Congress and achieve national unity, and, on this basis, institute the north-south Confederation, leaving the two existing systems in the north and the south as they are for the time being.

In the event of the north-south Confederation being instituted, it would be good to call the state the Confederal Republic of Koryo after the united state of Koryo which once existed in our land and was widely known throughout the world. This will be a good name for the country, and acceptable to both the north and the south.

The founding of the Confederal Republic of Koryo will open up the decisive phase in preventing national division, bringing about all-round contact and cooperation between north and south and hastening complete reunification.

Further, we maintain that our country should be prevented from being split into “two Koreas” permanently as a result of freezing the present national division and that north and south should also work together in the field of external activities.

At present we are developing state relations with all countries friendly to our Republic on the principles of equality and mutual benefit. But we must resolutely oppose all machinations designed to make use of this in manufacturing “two Koreas”.

We consider that the north and the south should not enter the UN separately and that if they want to enter the UN before the country’s reunification, they should do so as a single state under the name of the Confederal Republic of Koryo, at least after the Confederation is set up.

But apart from the question of admission to the UN, if the Korean question is brought up for discussion at the UN General Assembly, the representative of our Republic should as a matter of course take part in the discussions and have his say as one of the parties concerned.

Our people are homogeneous and have lived with the same culture and the same language for ages, and they can never live divided in two.

If our recent five-point policy for national reunification is carried into effect, there will be a great turn in realizing the historic cause of peaceful reunification on the principles set out in the North-South Joint Statement, in compliance with the common desire of our people and the people of the world.

The announcement of the five-point policy has shown more dearly who really opposes division and desires reunification, and who is against reunification and seeks division. The people of the world have come to realize that the US imperialists and the south Korean authorities are doggedly opposed to the reunification of our country and are working to keep Korea divided indefinitely, whereas our Party and the Government of the Republic are making positive efforts to prevent the permanent division of the nation and achieve reunification in conformity with the will and desire of the entire Korean people.

The announcement of our five-point policy has proved to be a telling blow against the separatists within and without. It has nullified the so-called “special statement” of the south Korean authorities immediately after its pronouncement and laid bare every underhand plot and trick devised by the US imperialists and their stooges under the slogan of “peaceful reunification”.

There is no doubt that our five-point policy will be warmly supported and welcomed by the peoples of an increasing number of countries as time passes, and that the “two Koreas” plot of the US imperialists and the south Korean authorities will meet with strong protests and denunciation from the world’s public.

Our five-point policy is a most fair and reasonable plan acceptable to all who truly love the country and the nation and desire the country’s reunification. Its realization is the only way to achieve the independent, peaceful reunification of the country in conformity with the common desires and aspirations of the whole nation.

We should make every effort in the future to carry this policy into effect at the earliest possible date.

We should explain and propagate the five-point policy for national reunification widely amongst all the people in north and south Korea and rouse them for the sacred struggle for the independent, peaceful reunifi­cation of the country.

We must also make it widely known abroad. Thus, we will give greater numbers of people throughout the world a clear understanding of the policy of our Party and the Government of the Republic for independent, peaceful reunification, and steadily increase the number of people who support and sympathize with our people’s struggle for national reunification.

The five-point policy for national reunification and our people’s revolutionary struggle for its accomplishment are fully justified. Victory will surely go to a people who fight for a righteous cause under the banner of justice. Although at present huge obstacles and difficulties lie in the way of our struggle for the independent, peaceful reunification of the country, the internal and external separatists’ plans for permanent division will be checked and frustrated and our historic cause of national reunification will certainly be achieved through the brave struggle of the people in north and south Korea with the active support and encouragement of the progressive people of the world.