The Juche Idea and the principles of reunification of Korea Jozef Bossuyt, Belgium Korea Friendship Association

The Korean nation is one single nation, that lived for thousands of years on the same territory, in the same country,  with one language and one culture and the same customs.  There is one history of the Korean nation. It is the history of the people’s struggle for independence and sovereignty.  It resisted in the 13th century the invasion by the Mongolian empire, in the 16th century the Japanese samourai, in 1816 by the British empire, in 1846 France. In 1866 the American warship “General Sherman” navigated into  the Daedong river, and was destroyed by Korean patriots.  The Japanese colonization, started  from 1905, was overcome by the Korean People’s Revolutionary Army, in 1945.  The American army still occupies  the Southern part of Korea. It built the huge 8 meters high and 200 km long wall that divides the country in two pieces.

The principles for the reunification of Korea were formulated by President Kim Il Sung at his talks with the south Korean representatives to the north-south high-level political talks held on May 3, 1972. He defined the three principles, charters, of the reunification: 

“First, unification shall be achieved independently, without depending on foreign powers and without foreign interference.

Second, a great national unity as one people shall be sought first, transcending differences in ideas, ideologies, and systems.

Third, unification shall be achieved through peaceful means, without resorting to the use of force against each other.” 

By this joint action program  signed solemnly by the south and the north the three principles became a basis for the North-South Statement on July 4, 1972.     

-  In order to ease tensions and foster an atmosphere of mutual trust between the South and the North, the two sides then agreed not to slander or defame each other, not to undertake military provocations whether on a large or small scale, and to take positive measures to prevent inadvertent military incidents.

- In order to restore severed national ties, promote mutual understanding and to expedite independent peaceful unification, the two sides then agreed to carry out numerous exchanges in various fields. A direct telephone line between Seoul and Pyongyang and a South-North Coordinating Committee were installed..

In the discourse “The democratic People’s Republic of Korea is a Juche-oriented socialist state with invincible might”, published September 5th, 2008 in Rodong Sinmun, Organ of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea, Secretary-General Kim Jong Il stated:

“ Reunification is the supreme task of the Korean nation and it brooks no further delay. The banners that our nation must hold up in achieving the independent reunification of the country are the June 15 North-South Joint Declaration and October 4 Declaration. These declarations are declarations of national independence and great national unity and great programs for national reunification…All the patriots in the north, the south and abroad must achieve national unity on the principle of national independence…”

The June 15th 2000 North South Joint Declaration

We find the same principles again in the June 15th June 2000 North-South Joint Declaration, signed after the meeting in Pyongyang of the heads state Kim Jong Il and Kim Dae Jung (June 15, 2000).

New is here is the recognition that the low-level federation proposed by the north and the commonwealth system proposed by the south are similar, and the agreement to work together in this direction in the future. 

The declaration touches the practical problems as the exchange of visiting groups of separated families.

It determines the broad specter  of co-operation in  all fields: social, cultural, sports, public

health, environmental and so on.

The 4 October 2007 North South Joint Declaration

The practical conclusions were in detail broadly elaborated in the 4 October 2007 North-South Joint Declaration, signed in Pyongyang by Kim Jong Il and Roh Moo Hyun, (with whom the actual president Moon Jae In has co-operated). 

They agreed to establish a “special zone for peace and cooperation on the West Sea defining  joint fishing grounds and peaceful waters”. They agreed “to complete the first-phase project of the Kaesong Industrial Zone begin the railway freight transport between Munsan and Pongdong, and repairing of the railways between Kaesong and Sinuiju”. They agreed “to put an end to the existing armistice mechanism, and build a lasting peace mechanism.” 

The 27th April 2018 Panmunjom Declaration

All these were confirmed in the historic Panmunjom Declaration on Peace, Prosperity and Reunification of Korean Peninsula signed on April 27, 2018 by Kim Jong Un and Moon Jae In. North and South Korea held their first summit in more than a decade.  For the first time since the Korean war both the heads of state of the DPRK and the Republic of Korea together stepped across the border and set foot on the territories of North and South.

The north and the south agreed “to declare the end of war this year, the 65th anniversary of the Armistice Agreement, replace the AA with a peace accord and actively promote the holding of north-south-U.S. tripartite or north-south-China-U.S”. The north and the south confirmed “the joint target on turning the Korean peninsula into a nuclear-free zone through the complete denuclearization”.

The north and the south shared the acknowledgment that “the active measures being taken by the north side are very significant and crucial steps for the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula”, and agreed “to fulfill each other's responsibility and role in the future.”

The success of this historical meeting was decisive to urge the US president Trump to accept the meeting in Singapour on June 12th..

The June 12th 2018 Singapore Summit

On June 12, 2018, Kim Jong-un, Chairman of the State Affairs Commission of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea  and U.S. President Donald Trump met in Singapore. They signed a joint statement, agreeing to security guarantees for Korea, new peaceful relations, the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, recovery of soldiers' remains, and follow-up negotiations between high-level officials. Immediately following the summit, President Trump announced that the U.S. military would discontinue "provocative" joint military exercises with South Korea, and stated that he wished to bring the U.S. soldiers back home at some point. 

The September 19th 2018 Inter-Korean Summit Meeting

Kim Jong-un, Chairman of the State Affairs Commission of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and Moon Jae-in, President of the Republic of Korea  held the Inter-Korean Summit Meeting in Pyongyang on September 18-20, 2018.

There was  stated that the “North will eventually permanently dismantle the Dongchang-ri missile engine test site and launch platform under the observation of experts from relevant countries. The North expressed its willingness to continue to take additional measures, such as the permanent dismantlement of the nuclear facilities in Yeongbyeon, under the condition that the United States takes corresponding measures in accordance with the spirit of the June 12 US-DPRK.”

The February 28th 2019 Hanoi Summit

Kim Jong-un, Chairman of the State Affairs Commission of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and U.S. president Donald Trump met  in Hanoi during February 27–28, 2019. The American side declared after the meeting that the summit was cut short and that no agreement was reached. 

It appeared that the American side did not keep its promises. On the contrary. 

President Trump refused to end the aggressive military maneuvers at the border of DPRK, to lift sanctions against the DPRK, to withdraw the US troops from South Korea and to close its military bases.

He refused to sign a peace agreement with the DPRK to replace the armistice. President Joe Biden continued and reinforced this belligerent political and military line. This year 2021 president Biden bombed in Syria in February and in Iraq on June 27 . The USA exerted political and economic pressure upon the presidency of South Korea in order to urge them to stop the overture and rapprochement with the DPRK, and to participate in the aggressive military exercises of the USA at the border of the DPRK. The presidency of South Korea capitulated for this pressure.  

On August 10th , 2021, again the yearly “Ulchi-Freedom Guardian” US-South Korea joint military exercises started . Again their scenario was  nuclear war and invasion in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

These exercises included thousands of  the 28.000 soldiers of the US occupation army and started from the 83 US military bases in South Korea.

The Juche-idea on independence and reunification

In the treatise “On the Juche Idea”, sent on March 31, 1982, to the National Seminar on the Juche Idea,   Secretary-General Kim Jong Il stated:

“Man, the social being, who has independence, creativity and consciousness, is precisely the only dominator and remaker of the world.”

“The history of human society ever since its division into hostile classes has, above all, been a history of

social revolutions to realize social and political independence for the popular masses.”

“Under socialism where the question of revolutionary change in the social system has already been resolved in the struggle for independence, the major tasks are to reshape nature and re- educate people to emancipate the masses, who have eliminated social oppression, from the shackles of nature and outdated ideas and culture.” 

“Today, the struggle to defend the masses independence assumes an international character. Since the forces of imperialism which oppress independence are allied on an international scale, the struggle to oppose imperialist domination and oppression and defend independence, too, cannot but be an international undertaking.”

“Unless the struggle is intensified to oppose the fear and worship of the United States among the south Korean people and to heighten their spirit of national independence, neither the victory of the south Korean revolution nor the independent reunification of the country would be possible.”

These appeals for the international struggle for the independent reunification of Korea have been understood and agreed upon by the working people  of Korea, North and South, and by the international peace and progressive  movement in the whole world. 

A broad mass movement in South Korea is developing, demanding the end of the US-South Korea joint military exercises, the departure of the US troops, the closure of the US military bases on Korean territory, and the reappropriation of the territory of the bases by the Korean people. Demanding peace, democracy and reunification of the country. 

On a world scale the closure of the more than 900 US military bases all over the world is demanded in Cuba (for closure of Guantanamo), Okinawa, Diego Garcia, Jeju, Cyprus, Greece, Serbia, Czech Republic and Germany and many other countries, amongst which also our country Belgium. 

The 8-th Congress of the Workers’ Party of Korea and the principles of independence and reunification

The third part of the report of Kim Jong-un, Chairman of the State Affairs Commission of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, at the 8th congress of the Workers’ Party of Korea, Februari 2021, mentioned the important issues for the independent reunification of the country.

“The current inter-Korean relations have been brought back to the time before the publication of the Panmunjom Declaration and the hope for national reunification has become more distant. Hostile military acts and anti-DPRK smear campaign are still going on in south Korea, aggravating the situation of the Korean peninsula and dimming the future of the inter-Korea relations. The south Korean authorities are going against  the implementation  of the north-south agreement on guaranteeing peace and military stability on the Korean peninsula in disregard of our repeated warnings that they should stop introducing latest military hardware and joint military exercises with the US.

The north-south relations may return to a new starting point of peace and prosperity in the near future, as desired by all compatriots, as they did in the spring three years ago, depending on the south Korean authorities attitude.”