KIM IL SUNG PREVENTING WAR AND PRESERVING PEACE ARE THE BURNING TASKS OF MANKIND Speech at a Banquet Given in Honour of the Participants in the Pyongyang International Conference for Denuclearization and Peace on the Korean Peninsula September 6, 1986 Esteemed delegates, Comrades and friends, At this time when it is the burning task of mankind to prevent a new world war, a thermonuclear war, and preserve peace, an international conference for denuclearization and peace on the Korean peninsula is being held in Pyongyang, the capital of our country, as an expression of the common aspiration and desire of the Korean people and peace-loving people throughout the world. I am very pleased to see this conference being held in our country in the International Year of Peace, and I should like to express my warm welcome to you, the delegates to the conference, who have come with a high sense of duty to the cause of world peace and with feelings of firm solidarity with our people. Easing tensions and removing the danger of nuclear war on the Korean peninsula are burning questions that await solution in the international political arena. The present situation on the Korean peninsula is very tense, and the danger of nuclear war is growing with every passing day. Armed soldiers in the north and the south of our country are aiming their guns at each other from both sides of the Military Demarcation Line. To the south of this line there are more than 40,000 US troops equipped with nuclear weapons and nearly one million south Korean soldiers. They are prepared to attack the north at any minute. US nuclear warheads are constantly levelled at Pyongyang , where you are now holding a conference. It is precisely here that the delegates, champions of peace and preeminent figures from many countries, are meeting in behalf of denuclearization and peace; this fact arouses a keen awareness of the danger of nuclear war and the need to fight for peace and stresses the great importance of this meeting. This Pyongyang international conference, which is attracting attention from the world’s public, will be a severe blow to the imperialist nuclear maniacs and warlike elements. It will give the Korean people and peace lovers throughout the world great strength and inspiration in their struggle for peace. The tension and the danger of nuclear war on the Korean peninsula are the direct products of the United States ’ Korean policy and Asian strategy. The aim of the United States with regard to Korea is to maintain its domination over south Korea as its colony by keeping Korea divided forever through the creation of “two Koreas” and, with south Korea as its stepping-stone, to invade the northern half of Korea, the socialist countries in Asia and, further, the whole of the Asian continent. In order to achieve their aggressive aims the US imperialists are strengthening their aggressive armed forces, including nuclear weapons, on a large scale in south Korea and making frantic efforts to provoke another war. As you well know, the United States has introduced into the small land of south Korea a vast number of nuclear weapons, a number four times greater than it has in the NATO area in terms of density of nuclear deployment. Not satisfied with this, the United States is going to ship more new types of nuclear and chemical weapons into south Korea in the future and build scores of special nuclear armouries there. The US imperialists are growing more enthusiastic about their manoeuvres to provoke a nuclear war from south Korea . Because of this, not a day passes without the rumble of gunfire and the air is thick with fumes of gunpowder in south Korea . The US imperialists are more blatantly conspiring to form a tripartite military alliance among the United States , Japan and south Korea for the purpose of drawing Japanese militarists into implementing their aggressive Asian strategy. This shows that the United States ’ actions for aggression and war in the Far East are progressing at a more dangerous stage as the days go by. In view of the aggressive policy of the United States , our Party and the Government of our Republic are working hard to ease the tension and preserve peace on the Korean peninsula and to settle the Korean question by peaceful means. Holding fast to the basic policy of achieving national reunification in an independent and peaceful way true to our heavy responsibility to the Korean nation and with a noble sense of duty to the cause of world peace, we have put forward many reasonable and constructive proposals for peace and made most sincere efforts to put them into effect. Our fair and reasonable peace proposals, including the proposal for tripartite talks to replace the Korean Armistice Agreement with a peace agreement and adopt a nonaggression declaration between the north and the south, have already been widely publicized to the people of the world. This year alone we made an important proposal for talks between military authorities to remove the tension and military confrontation on the Korean peninsula and, through a statement by the Government of our Republic, also made a positive peace proposal to convert the Korean peninsula to a nuclear-free peace zone. But none of our peace proposals has been put into effect so far, and the situation on the Korean peninsula is becoming more and more acute. This is entirely because the United States and the south Korean authorities do not want detente and peace, but are continuing to pursue the policy of aggression and war. So long as the United States’ Korean policy and Asian strategy remain unchanged and so long as US troops are stationed in south Korea, resorting to manoeuvres for aggression, it is impossible to guarantee lasting peace on the Korean peninsula and settle the question of the reunification of our country. If we are to ease the tension and guarantee peace on the Korean peninsula and settle Korea ’s reunification question in a peaceful way, we must get all the nuclear arms and the US troops withdrawn from south Korea . The issue of keeping peace and security on the Korean peninsula is directly related to the question of preserving peace and security in the world, and without peace and security on the Korean peninsula, world peace and security are unthinkable. Because south Korea has become a forward nuclear base, the largest of its kind in the Far East , and because the acute situation continues on the Korean peninsula, war may break out at any minute in our country. If war breaks out in Korea , it can immediately develop into a global nuclear war. Therefore, the present situation on the Korean peninsula can only be a grave threat not only to our people, but to our neighbours and people in the rest of the world. Today peace-loving governments and peoples of many countries are watching and showing deep concern for the critical situation on the Korean peninsula and giving active support and encouragement to our people in their struggle to prevent war, preserve peace and achieve the independent and peaceful reunification of the country. If the US troops are compelled to withdraw from south Korea and a nuclear-free peace zone is established on the Korean peninsula by the joint struggle of our people and progressive people throughout the world, one of the most dangerous sources of nuclear war in the world will be removed and great progress will be made in preserving peace in Asia and the world. On behalf of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea and the Government of our Republic, I take advantage of this opportunity to express my deep thanks to the fraternal socialist countries, non-aligned countries, and all the other progressive countries and peace-loving people in the world for their positive support and encouragement for our people’s struggle for peace on the Korean peninsula and the peaceful reunification of the country and for their active support for and solidarity with our proposal to convert the Korean peninsula into a nuclear-free peace zone. Delegates, Dominating the world by force is an immutable world strategy of US imperialism. Its strategy for world domination is now all the more dangerous because of the adventurous attempt of the US rulers to carry it out through nuclear superiority. With the evil aim of gaining a nuclear advantage, the US imperialists are now increasing nuclear armament, accelerating the large-scale development, renewal, production and deployment of nuclear weapons, and stepping up their acts of aggression against progressive countries in all parts of the world. In particular, they are trying to extend the nuclear arms race to outer space by putting forward an adventurous “Star Wars” programme. They are producing binary chemical weapons, new mass destruction weapons, in an attempt to deploy them in many parts of the world. Because of their war policy and stratagems to increase nuclear weapons, the black cloud of nuclear war is now hanging heavily over the world and mankind is being threatened with this war. Unless nuclear war is prevented, humankind will have to suffer irretrievable calamities and holocaust. Nuclear war, which threatens the existence and civilization of humanity, must be prevented in every possible way, and peace must be preserved. In order to prevent another world war, a thermonuclear war, and preserve peace, we must develop a powerful worldwide struggle to check the imperialists’ nuclear arms race and their plans for a nuclear war. The imperialists are subservient to the strong and violent toward the weak. If people who love peace and justice throughout the world are closely united, they can be invincible and, by their united efforts, frustrate the imperialists’ plans for a nuclear war and defend peace. By forming a broad united front and spiritedly carrying on the anti-war, anti-nuclear peace movement, all the peace-loving people of the world can check the imperialists’ reckless manoeuvres to build up nuclear arms and militarize outer space, bring about complete nuclear disarmament and frustrate their plans for aggression and war, which are daily becoming more blatant. As long as nuclear weapons exist on our planet, the danger of nuclear war will not disappear and mankind cannot be free from constant nuclear threat. Therefore, the testing, production and deployment of nuclear weapons must be banned, existing weapons of different kinds reduced and, further, all nuclear weapons abolished. This is the only way mankind can free itself once and for all from the danger of nuclear holocaust and maintain lasting world peace. At present, the call for denuclearization and peace is ringing out loudly from Asia, Europe and many other parts of the world, and the anti-war, anti-nuclear peace movement is developing strongly. The Communist Party and Government of the Soviet Union made positive peace proposals to ban nuclear tests, reduce nuclear armaments, prevent the militarization of outer space and abolish all nuclear and chemical weapons by the end of this century. Recently, they also took a step on their own initiative to extend the period of the unilateral freezing of nuclear tests to January 1, 1987. This clearly shows the responsible attitude and peace-loving foreign policy of the Communist Party and Government of the Soviet Union to remove the danger of nuclear war and defend world peace and security. We firmly support the peace proposals of the Soviet Union to preserve universal peace and security and extend solidarity to the Soviet people in their struggle to implement them. Establishing nuclear-free peace zones and expanding them are important ways to bring about nuclear arms’ reduction, prevent nuclear war and defend peace. We fully support the socialist countries and peoples in Europe and the Balkans in their struggle to create nuclear-free peace zones on the Balkan Peninsula and in many parts of Europe and express our firm solidarity with them in the struggle. We also strongly support the peace-loving people of the world in their struggle to establish nuclear-free peace zones in different parts of the world, including Africa, the Middle East, the Indian Ocean and the South Pacific Ocean . Our people love peace, and working for peace is a consistent foreign policy of the Workers’ Party of Korea and the Government of the Republic. Our Party and Government will, in future as well, resolutely fight to prevent nuclear war and preserve peace in firm unity with the peoples of socialist countries, non-aligned countries and all peace-loving people throughout the world, under the unfurled banner of independence, friendship and peace. In the hope that the Pyongyang International Conference for Denuclearization and Peace on the Korean Peninsula will proceed satisfactorily and achieve excellent results and that you delegates will win a new victory in your future efforts for peace against imperialism, I should like to propose a toast: To militant friendship and solidarity between the Korean people and the peoples of socialist countries, non-aligned countries and other peace-loving people the world over, To denuclearization and peace on the Korean peninsula, To world peace and the prosperity of mankind, To the health of all the delegates, representatives of international organizations and all the other foreign guests taking part in the conference, and To the health of all the comrades and friends present here. | 
