KIM IL SUNG
ON THE THREE PRINCIPLES OF NATIONAL
REUNIFICATION
Conversations with the South Korean
Delegates to the High-Level Political Talks between North
and South Korea
May 3 and November 3, 1972
1. ON THE THREE PRINCIPLES OF NATIONAL REUNIFICATION
I am glad to meet you today.
I am highly delighted and also deeply moved that we,
fellow countrymen, have met after a long separation because
of the division of the nation.
You say that you have come to discuss the question of
national reunification in spite of everything. Your action
is very courageous and daring. It is very gratifying that
the south Korean authorities have decided to participate in
north-south political talks and have sent you to represent
them. We warmly welcome this step.
In my speech of August 6 last year, I made it clear that
we are ready to make contact with all political parties
including the Democratic Republican Party, social
organizations and individuals of south Korea at any time. A
few days after my speech, the south Korean side responded,
agreeing to hold north-south Red Cross talks. Thus began the
preliminary talks between the Red Cross organizations of the
north and the south, which led to the high-level north-south
political discussion.
The doors for contacts and dialogues have now been opened
between the north and the south, which have stood alienated
from each other for a long time and it has become possible
for high-level representatives to meet and exchange views
with an open mind. This is a tremendous step towards the
solution of the reunification question.
At present the whole nation desires the reunification of
the country. Today nothing is more urgent for the Korean
people than national reunification. If we fail to reunify
the country as soon as possible and allow national division
to continue, our nation may become a plaything of the great
powers and be divided into two for ever.
The most important factor which characterizes a nation is
the community of language and culture. Even people of the
same descent cannot be regarded as belonging to the same
nation if they use different spoken and written languages
and their cultures and customs differ. Now, because our
country has been divided for a long time, the language, as
well as the culture and way of life, is already changing in
the north and the south. The longer the division of the
nation, the greater the difference in the language and way
of life will be.
After liberation some people in the northern half of the
country insisted that the Korean alphabet should be
reformed. But I opposed it. If we carry out an alphabet
reform when the country is not reunified, the Korean people
will be divided in two for ever. So I told the linguists at
the time that if ever an alphabet reform was to be
introduced it should be after the reunification of the
country, but never before reunification. If either side were
to carry out an alphabet reform while the country is
divided, the north and the south would come to use different
letters. In that case, our nation would be divided into two
nations once and for all.
We cannot tolerate that the Korean nation should be split
into two for ever. We should reunify the country as soon as
possible and hand over a unified country to posterity. If we
end national division and achieve reunification, our country
can become a powerful state with a population of 50 million,
a brilliant national culture, and a powerful national
economy, which no one will dare provoke.
In order to reunify the country, it is necessary to
establish the fundamental principles correctly, which can
provide the basis for the solution of the reunification
question. This is most important. Only when there are
fundamental principles agreed upon by the north and the
south, can the two sides make joint efforts for
reunification and successfully solve all problems concerning
it.
I believe that our reunification question should on all
accounts be settled independently without foreign
interference and peacefully on the principle of promoting
great national unity.
First, national reunification should be achieved
independently without reliance on outside forces and free
from their interference.
Solving the reunification question independently on the
principle of self-determination of the people is the
principled stand which has always been maintained by the
Government of our Republic.
If we depend on outside forces we cannot solve this
problem. The question of Korean reunification is entirely an
internal affair of our country. If we try to solve this
internal affair by relying on outside forces instead of
settling it on our own, it is shameful for our nation.
Some people are now trying to solve the reunification
problem with guarantees afforded by big powers. This is a
great mistake. The imperialist powers do not want to see our
country reunified. By nature, they like division and attempt
to divide other countries and peoples by all possible means,
because it is difficult to rule them when they are united.
Therefore, we should on no account rely on the great powers
in settling the reunification question. If contacts are
established and talks are held within our nation, we can
remove distrust and misunderstanding and achieve national
unity and reunification. Why then should we ask for the help
of great powers?
We should not tolerate foreign interference in the
internal affairs of Korea under any circumstances. No
foreign force has the right to meddle in Korean affairs, and
while there is foreign interference the question of national
reunification cannot be solved in keeping with the desire
and interests of our nation. The reunification of the
country should be achieved by the Korean people themselves
free from any foreign interference.
You say that the south Korean authorities are also
opposed to foreign interference and intend to settle the
question of national reunification independently without US
and Japanese involvement, and pledge that you will never
become a stooge of the United States or Japan. If this is
true, it is excellent.
If we are to reject foreign intervention and reunify the
country independently, we must categorically oppose
flunkeyism towards great powers.
I always tell our officials that, if a man takes to
flunkeyism, he will become a fool; if a nation falls into
flunkeyism, the country will be ruined; and if a party
adopts flunkeyism, it will make a mess of the revolution and
construction. If a man wants to be an independent being, he
must never adopt flunkeyism which means worshipping others
blindly.
As our country is geographically located in the midst of
big countries, flunkeyism has played a great part in the
history of our people. It hampered the advance of our people
in building a new society after liberation. So we have
fought tirelessly against it.
Let me take an example from the days after liberation.
Immediately after liberation there were quite a few people
who had been affected with flunkeyism even amongst those who
called themselves communists. In Seoul at that time, a
fellow, Pak Hon Yong by name, claimed that he would make our
country a member republic of another country. This had a
very bad influence on the south Korean people and greatly
hindered the settlement of the reunification question. On
hearing his words, some people were afraid that our country
was going to be subjugated again to a foreign country. In my
speech before the people, therefore, I said that we would
build a democratic society of a Korean type, not a Soviet or
American type, in the interests of the Korean nation.
When we advanced the policy of agricultural
cooperativization in the postwar years, a number of people
tried to discredit it. Some asked how we could cooperativize
agriculture when our industry had been devastated, claiming
that European countries with developed industries had not
yet undertaken full-scale agricultural cooperativization.
Since flunkeyists used to accept willingly what people from
large countries said, I refuted their argument with the
words of Lenin. Lenin had said that a communal economy
established by a simple merger of peasants’ lands and farm
implements would be superior to a private economy. So I said
that our Party’s policy of agricultural cooperativization
was in accord with Leninism and was to meet the requirement
of our particular situation. I asked them how it could be
that agricultural cooperativization after industrialization
was the only correct way. In the end, they admitted that our
view was correct.
At that time, the circumstances of our peasants, in fact,
were such that they were unable to survive unless they
united their efforts through cooperativization. The war had
devastated agriculture, and the peasants were short of
draught cattle and farm implements. This was also true of
rich farmers. In this context, we ensured that peasants
organized cooperatives on the principle of voluntary
membership and ran them by their united efforts. Basically,
we Koreans like to pool our efforts and help one another.
Traditionally, our people have good customs. For instance,
if a neighbour has a wedding, the whole village offers the
family contributions and various other kinds of aid, calling
on them to congratulate them and pass a pleasant time with
them. In the postwar years, there were not many modern farm
machines in our country. But we were able to cooperativize
agriculture rather smoothly in a short time because life
itself urgently demanded it and the peasants supported the
cooperative policy actively.
In establishing economic relations with other countries,
we have thoroughly rejected flunkeyist tendencies and held
fast to an independent stand.
We have not tolerated any relations which could result in
our Economic dependence on other countries. We have
established and developed economic relations with them on
the principle of defending the national economy thoroughly,
on the principle of complete equality. In our trade with
developed socialist countries, we have made sure that we
give them raw materials they need only when they give us
those which we need, and that we buy their machines only on
condition that they buy ours. If this principle was not
maintained in our economic relations with developed
countries when our technology is not yet very highly
developed, we would have to keep supplying raw materials to
them and buying manufactured goods. This would end in
leaving only empty mountains riddled with holes in our
country. We cannot hand down such mountains to our
posterity, can we? We worked hard not to be economically
subordinated to another country, that is, to be
self-supporting in the economy. If a people do not achieve
economic independence through the building of an independent
national economy, they cannot hope to raise the external
authority of their country and to have a say in the
international arena. Since we have pursued an independent
policy in the sphere of economic construction and built an
independent national economy, nobody dare apply pressure on
us.
In the past the worship of great powers was most obvious
in the field of literature and the arts, and we waged a
resolute fight against this.
Some of the writers and artists worshipped European
literature and art and produced works which were neither to
the liking of the Koreans nor understandable to them. Once
there were poets who worshipped Pushkin and musicians who
adored Tchaikovsky. In creating an opera, these people
patterned it on Italian ones. Flunkeyism was so rampant that
some artists drew foreign landscapes instead of our
beautiful mountains and rivers. During the Fatherland
Liberation War I visited a hospital where I found a picture
of a Siberian landscape. It showed a bear crawling about the
snow-covered ground under a large tree. So, I severely
criticized the people concerned. I told them: “There are
many renowned mountains such as Mts. Kumgang and Myohyang.
Why did you hang that kind of picture instead of a beautiful
Korean landscape? What is the good of hanging such a picture
in educating our people?” The Korean people have a brilliant
culture and have lived in the beautiful land of three
thousand ri for a long time. They will live in our beautiful
homeland in the future, too. They cannot live in Siberia or
in Europe. Therefore, our literature and art should, on all
accounts, serve the education of our people in patriotic
spirit. Internationalism cannot exist apart from patriotism.
He who does not love his own country cannot be true to
internationalism. Koreans do not like European artistic
works. They do not want to see artistic works which are not
to their liking. We do not need works which Koreans do not
like and which are not congenial with their national
feeling. That is why I defined literature and art of
socialist realism as being national in form and socialist in
content.
We conducted the struggle against flunkeyism by means of
ideological struggle, theoretical struggle to root out
flunkeyist ideas which remained in the minds of people.
Through many years of struggle against flunkeyism, we were
able to eradicate it completely and hold fast to Chajusong
in all spheres of the revolution and construction.
In our attempts to solve the question of national
reunification, we must strongly oppose the tendency of
flunkeyism to rely on foreigners, rather than believing in
the strength of our own nation. We must reunify the country
independently by the united efforts of the Korean nation.
Secondly, great national unity should be promoted by
transcending the differences in ideas, ideals and systems.
The question of our country’s reunification is not one of
who prevails over whom. It is one of attaining the unity of
a nation which has been divided by an outside force and
achieving national sovereignty. In order to reunify the
country, therefore, it is essential to proceed from
endeavours to achieve unity between the north and the south
and promote great national unity.
In order to promote this, the north and the south must
transcend their ideas and systems and refrain from pursuing
hostile policies towards each other.
At present different ideas and systems exist in the two
parts of our country. In this situation, the north and the
south should not try to impose their ideas and systems upon
each other. We do not intend to impose the socialist system
and communist ideology on south Korea. Neither should the
south Korean authorities insist on “reunification by
prevailing over communism” nor demand that we desist from
communism. In other words, they should discard their
“anti-communist” slogans.
The north and the south should discard hostile policies
which obstruct unity, and combine their efforts to find
common ground. If each side does not endeavour to find
common ground but opposes the other side and argues about
things of the past in an attempt to justify itself, the gap
between the two sides will grow wider and wider and the
reunification of the country will be delayed still further.
This would be a grave crime against the country and the
nation.
In our opinion, it is quite possible to find a common
ground if the north and the south work together, basing
themselves on a sincere desire for unity. We have worked
hard to discover this common ground in order to hasten the
country’s reunification.
Recently, the south Korean authorities have been talking
about “self-help”, “self-reliance” and “self-defence”. We
consider that it is possible to find some common factors
here. We think that their “self-help”, “self-reliance” and
“self-defence” may have some points in common with the
independent policies of our Party and the Government of the
Republic. The country’s reunification will be hastened if
the north and the south discover, one by one, what common
grounds exist between them and achieve their unity on this
basis.
In achieving the great unity of the nation it is
important to remove misunderstanding and mistrust between
north and south.
Our country has been divided for so long that there are a
number of points on which the north and the south differ
from each other and misunderstand and mistrust each other.
As long as the two sides misunderstand and distrust each
other, there cannot be genuine national unity. A family
cannot be formed without deep trust between husband and
wife. Even in the case of husband and wife, if they do not
trust each other, they cannot live together and, in the long
run, they will have to divorce. The north and the south
should strive to eliminate mutual misunderstanding and
mistrust.
To this end, the authorities and many personages of the
two parts of the country should make frequent contact with
each other and hold dialogues in good faith. If they get
together and discuss any matters frankly and seriously,
misunderstanding will be removed and mutual trust will be
deepened.
Through our dialogue with you on this occasion, the
misunderstanding between the north and the south has already
been alleviated to a considerable extent. The dialogue
between the north and the south should have been held
earlier.
We thought that the south Korean authorities were going
to be lackeys of US imperialism and Japanese militarism and
sell out the country. But you say that this will never be
the case. You also say that the south Korean authorities
will neither bring Japanese militarists into south Korea
again nor sell out the country as the lackeys of the United
States and Japan, and request us over and over again to
believe it. So we can believe you and eliminate our past
distrust.
The south Korean authorities say that they have had the
misconception that we are going to “invade the south” and
“communize” south Korea. But we have no intention of doing
these things. We have declared on many occasions that we
have no intention of “invading the south”. We reaffirm this
to you today. As for “communization”, we do not intend to
“communize” south Korea nor could it be “communized” even if
we tried to. Therefore, I think that you can now dispel the
misunderstanding you have had because of the alleged
“invasion of the south” and “communization”. If we remove
our misunderstanding and deepen trust through contacts and
dialogues in this way, we shall be able to achieve great
national unity regardless of the differences in ideas and
ideals, systems and religious beliefs.
Another important factor in achieving great national
unity is that the north and the south should refrain from
abusing and slandering each other.
To achieve unity and cooperation, both sides should
respect each other rather than resort to abuse and slander.
If they continue abusing and slandering each other as they
do now, the north and the south will not get on close terms
but, instead, the gap will widen. That is why they should
first stop abusing and slandering each other.
Achieving economic cooperation between the north and the
south is also very important in attaining great national
unity.
The northern half of the Republic is rich in natural
resources and has a developed heavy industry. South Korea
has some foundations of light industry from the past. If the
north and the south effect economic cooperation and meet
each other’s needs, they will be better able to solve
immediate economic problems, and develop the national
economy rapidly by their own efforts without introducing
foreign capital. If the national economy is developed
through north-south cooperation, our nation will be better
off than Japan or any other countries that are said to be
developed, The north and the south should advance jointly in
external relations, too. Only then will we be able to
demonstrate the unity of our nation.
We consider that the north and the south will be able to
promote great national unity in spite of the differences in
their ideas and systems, political views and religious
beliefs, if they all take a patriotic attitude and stand for
national reunification. At present, even those countries and
nations which have different ideas and systems, are on
friendly terms and get along well together. And there is no
reason why the differences in ideas and systems should
prevent our nation, which is of the same blood, from uniting
and cooperating.
Whether one believes in communism, nationalism or
capitalism must not be an obstacle to great national unity.
We are not opposed to the nationalists and capitalists in
south Korea. The majority of the south Korean capitalists
are national capitalists. We have been pursuing a policy of
protecting national capitalists. For the sake of national
reunification, we will unite and cooperate with the people
of all backgrounds in south Korea including nationalists and
national capitalists.
Thirdly, national reunification should be achieved by
peaceful means without resorting to arms.
The north and the south, one and the same nation, must
not fight against each other. We must reunify the divided
country peacefully without fail. If peaceful reunification
fails and another war breaks out in Korea, our nation will
suffer catastrophes.
At present the great powers of the world want to get on
well with one another, refraining from quarrelling. Some
time ago US President Nixon visited China and said that it
would be desirable to abstain from quarrelling with each
other and maintain peace for the space of one generation.
After inspecting the Great Wall of China, he even said that
no barrier should divide the people of the world. In the
joint statement of China and the United States published as
a result of Nixon’s visit to China, the United States
approved the five principles of peace which it had so far
refused to recognize. It is good that the United States
approved these principles. Needless to say, we shall have to
wait and see how the Americans will put their words into
action. More often than not the imperialists go back on
their word. So there is no knowing clearly if Nixon spoke
sincerely or not in China.
Commenting on Nixon’s trip to China, our Rodong Sinmun
wrote: “If Nixon’s words uttered after inspecting the Great
Wall are serious, why does he not make efforts to remove the
Military Demarcation Line which runs across the central part
of our country and to withdraw the US soldiers who are
swaggering about, wearing steel-helmets with the inscribed
‘MP’?” I think this comment is valid.
Nowadays, the big powers of the world are trying to
abstain from quarrelling and get on harmoniously with one
another. Then why should one and the same nation fall out
with itself? As the same nation, we must not quarrel among
ourselves. We must reunify the country by peaceful means,
If the country is to be reunified peacefully without
conflict between the north and the south, it is imperative,
first of all, to reduce the armies of both sides. On several
occasions, I have said in my open speeches that the armies
of the north and the south ought to be reduced considerably.
Reduction of the armies is the way to ease tension
between the two sides and to lessen the military burdens.
The present military burdens of the two sides are very
heavy.
We must work together to remove the Military Demarcation
Line which divides our country into north and south.
The danger of war cannot be removed in the present
situation when large armed forces of both sides confront
each other across the Military Demarcation Line. In such a
situation, if the commander of a regiment or a division
stationed in the area along this demarcation line opens fire
by mistake at a place, both sides will begin to exchange
fire, and. this could lead to war. This is very dangerous.
If in the future the north and the south give guarantees
against the use of armed forces between them through sincere
consultation, and put this into practice, their military
equipment and personnel deployed in the areas on the
Military Demarcation Line will become unnecessary and the
line itself can be eliminated.
At present, the north and the south say their armies are
for self-defence. However, they should not undertake
“self-defence” against each other. They must work together
to defend themselves against foreign invasion.
The defence of our Republic is always meant to oppose
foreign aggression against our nation. We will never
tolerate the aggression of outside forces against our
country and people.
When the US imperialists sent their armed spy ship Pueblo
into the territorial waters of our Republic, the naval
forces of our People’s Army captured it. This was a
legitimate self-defence measure of our People’s Army whose
mission is to defend their country. But instead of
apologizing to us, the Americans threatened us by bringing
large forces including the aircraft carrier Enterprise to
the East Sea. It was a flagrant infringement of and a grave
challenge to our nation’s sovereignty. We did not yield to
the Americans’ threat and pressure. They attempted to start
a war by mobilizing large forces, so we made a firm
determination to fight against them. Seeing that we did not
succumb to their threat and pressure, they desisted from
starting a war and fled. Had they unleashed war at that time
our nation would have gone through another war and the
authorities of the north and the south could not have met
and had a peaceful talk like this one today.
If any foreigners invade our land in the future, the
north and the south must unite and repulse the invaders.
When all the Korean people unite their strength, they will
certainly smash any aggressor.
We must eliminate military confrontation and ease tension
between the north and the south by our joint efforts, so
that we can prevent another war in Korea and achieve the
peaceful reunification of the country.
Through the recent talks we have found important common
grounds between the north and the south and reached an
agreement regarding the most important problems.
The three principles of realizing independent
reunification without outside interference, achieving great
national unity by transcending differences in ideas, ideals
and systems, and reunifying the divided land by peaceful
means without recourse to armed force, are the starting
point of and the basis for the solution of our reunification
question.
You have agreed to solve the reunification question on
the three principles, and you say the highest authorities of
south Korea will also agree. So we can say we have reached
complete agreement on the three principles of national
reunification.
I am very pleased that the three principles of national
reunification have been agreed upon between the north and
the south in our talks today.
The three principles of national reunification upon which
the north and the south agreed through joint consultation
are absolutely fair principles which will enable our nation
to solve the reunification question in conformity with its
aspirations and demand. We must reunify our country on these
three principles. You have pledged that you will take them
as the basis for your future actions. If you do so, other
problems concerning the solution of the reunification
question can also be settled successfully and our nation’s
reunification will be achieved at an early date.
Now that the basic principles of reunification have been
agreed upon, we must find concrete ways of putting them into
effect to unite the whole nation and reunify our country. We
must always proceed from the three principles in seeking
concrete ways for national reunification. When the north and
the south consider the matter carefully and sincerely
consult each other on the basis of the three principles of
independence, great national unity and peaceful
reunification, they will be able to find the successful path
towards reunification.
To find the reasonable way towards the independent and
peaceful reunification of the country, we have to develop
further political consultations between the north and the
south and carry on contacts and dialogues more actively.
I think that political consultations have already begun
through the meetings and talks held on this occasion between
the high-ranking representatives of the north and the south.
North-south political consultations having been started, we
must develop them so as to bear good fruit.
You have come to Pyongyang first, so I should like to
send our representatives to Seoul in return. I think that if
mutual trust increases and various conditions mature in the
process of frequent visits of representatives from the north
and the south, summit talks will also become possible.
In the future representatives of the north and the south
must exchange frequent visits and hold a great many talks.
The misunderstanding and distrust created between the
north and the south during the nearly 30 year-long division
after liberation cannot be eliminated through one or two
contacts and dialogues. One or two meetings and
consultations will not be enough to discover all the
concrete ways for the solution of the reunification
question. Through these talks we have solved fundamental
problems upon which the north and the south misunderstood
each other and have found important common grounds, but many
problems are yet to be solved to reunify the country. These
problems can be solved only through frequent contacts and
sincere consultations between representatives of both sides.
In the north-south negotiations and consultations, the
points of mutual misunderstanding and all other problems
concerning national reunification must be discussed. Any
dissenting opinions must be aired frankly for discussion. If
they are kept to oneself, the differences cannot be solved.
Any misunderstanding, however insignificant, must be
discussed openly and settled promptly.
North-south negotiations must proceed from the principle
of deepening mutual understanding, finding common points and
increasing their unity. Our representatives and yours may
advance different views in seeking the path to national
reunification. So they may argue for the justness of their
own views. But the arguments should always be intended for
finding common grounds and achieving unity and
reunification, not for division.
I think it reasonable to organize and run a north-south
joint commission or the like in order to coordinate
north-south relations correctly and successfully solve
various problems regarding the reunification of the country.
Coordinating work should be conducted in practice by
organizing a joint commission. If only general talks are
held, great progress cannot be made in bringing about
national unity and reunification.
The joint commission can be co-chaired by persons in high
authority appointed respectively by the authorities of the
north and the south and be composed of the necessary
members. It takes only a little time to fly between
Pyongyang and Seoul. So, the commission can be run by you
coming over to Pyongyang and our people going to Seoul.
Once the joint commission is formed, there will be many
problems to be settled by it. It should quickly discuss and
settle various problems arising from the relations between
north and south, including the problem of one side
refraining from slandering the other side and the problem of
preventing military conflicts. At the joint commission one
side should not force its will upon the other, problems
raised should be discussed seriously until mutual
understanding is reached to conform with the purpose of
unity.
A direct telephone line may be installed between
Pyongyang and Seoul, by which to discuss problems at any
time. If even a minor problem which may hamper national
reunification or cause misunderstanding between both sides
arises, it is necessary to deal with it at once by
telephone, talk it over and settle it promptly.
The three principles of national reunification agreed
upon this time between north and south serve as a
reunification programme to be put into effect jointly by the
entire Korean nation. I think it a good idea to make these
three principles public, so that the entire Korean people
and the world’s people will know them.
The publication of the three principles of national
reunification is good both for the education of our people
and for demonstrating the unity of the Korean nation to the
world. If we publish the reunification programme agreed upon
between north and south, all compatriots at home and abroad
will have a consensus of opinion, being aware that we are
going to reunify the divided country independently and
peacefully on the principle of great national unity, and all
sections of the people will derive great encouragement from
it. When we publish the joint reunification programme of the
nation, the world’s people will know that the Korean people
are a great united people and the foreign forces opposed to
our country’s reunification will clearly understand that
they will never be able to divide the Korean nation
permanently, however hard they may try.
As for when and how we should publish the three
principles of national reunification, it had better be
discussed in the course of the forthcoming dialogue. I think
it will do to publish it when an agreement is reached at
another meeting of the delegates of both sides after the
matter is taken up by the south Korean authorities upon your
return to Seoul.
Since you took the trouble to come to Pyongyang, you
should stay another day and have talks with our officials.
Your visiting us is a patriotic deed. Man should be a
patriot, not a quisling. Man should do things which are
beneficial to his country and people even if he lives for
only a day. Only such a life is glorious and worthwhile.
We can say that the current north-south talks were a
success. I hope that you will come to Pyongyang frequently
from now on.
2. ON ACHIEVING NORTH-SOUTH COOPERATION
It gives me pleasure to meet you south Korean delegates
again. Last time one delegate came alone from the south
Korean side. But this time you have come together. If the
north and the south have frequent contacts of this kind, it
will greatly assist towards the settlement of the question
of national reunification, I think.
There was some progress in the work for national
reunification after the publication of the North-South Joint
Statement. In the past our people, torn apart in the north
and the south, were even unable to meet each other. But,
today delegates visit each other to hold discussions. This
is already progress. If delegates of the north and the south
visit and meet each other frequently, get acquainted and
exchange views with each other, they can settle many
problems for national reunification.
We must reunify the country as soon as possible at all
costs. If we fail to reunify the country and keep it
divided, our nation will remain partitioned for ever.
Our nation must not be divided in two. Koreans have lived
as a single nation on one and the same territory from remote
times. Our people are of one and the same blood and have one
culture and history. The Korean people have a strong
national spirit and a high national pride. Having occupied
our country for 36 years, the Japanese imperialists even
forced the Koreans to change their surnames in Japanese
style, claiming that “Japan and Korea are one”. But they
could not succeed in making Japanese of the Koreans. How can
such a nation be divided in two today? We must not allow our
nation to be split but must reunify the country without fail
within our generation.
Brothers in both the north and the south must have the
same desire for national reunification. I believe that you
are visiting us because you, too, wish national
reunification.
But, in spite of the North-South Joint Statement,
“confrontation accompanied with dialogue” and “competition
accompanied with dialogue” are being voiced as always by the
press in south Korea. Confrontation or competition literally
means contending with each other for victory. In that case,
there will be a winner and a loser. Contending with another
country or another nation might be a different matter. But
one and the same nation should not engage in confrontation
and competition. If this is done, it will be impossible to
achieve national union and reunification.
The north and the south must cooperate, instead of
engaging in confrontation and competition. Cooperation
implies united efforts and joint work. Since the north-south
dialogue has begun, I think it is time for cooperation now.
The north and the south must not confine themselves to
dialogue, but must go one step forward to cooperation.
When the north and the south cooperate with each other,
the strength of the nation will grow as a result, and solid
foundations for national reunification will be laid. Only
when they work together, can they overcome all their
difficulties successfully and achieve the cause of
reunification, the greatest national desire, sooner.
The north and the south should cooperate, to begin with,
in the economic field.
If they begin with economic cooperation and work together
step by step, they will be able to remove misunderstandings
and understand each other better. If they merely say they
trust each other, it will be impossible to know who has what
in his mind. When working together, they will resolve
misunderstood problems, trust each other better and achieve
national unity.
Our country has a large population and rich natural
resources. North-south cooperation will enable us to develop
our national economy rapidly and make our country rich and
strong. Economic cooperation between the two parts of the
country will resolve the problem of the people’s living
conditions better, and our people will lead as happy a life
as any others.
There is every potential for this economic cooperation.
The north and the south can exploit mineral resources
jointly, develop the division of labour and interchange and
jointly use the results of scientific and technological
researches.
The northern half of the Republic is very rich in mineral
resources; deposits of iron ore, in particular, are
immeasurable.
The Japanese imperialists are said to have plundered a
great deal of our resources in the past. But they just
licked the rind of a watermelon, so to speak. Our
prospecting workers have discovered large iron ore deposits
in the places where the Japanese imperialists said there was
nothing. An iron ore deposit with an estimated amount of
hundreds of millions of tons was recently discovered in
Kaechon district and another with thousands of millions of
tons was also found in South Hwanghae Province. There are
colossal iron ore deposits in Pungsan and other northern
inland areas. This is more than ten billion tons even
according to the preliminary estimate made by our
prospectors.
The quality of our iron ore is very high. All of it
contains over 35 per cent of iron. This indicates that it is
of good quality by world standards. At present the Japanese
envy us our iron ore.
The northern half of the country abounds, not only in
iron ore, but also in other mineral resources such as lead,
zinc and copper. In former days the Japanese imperialists
claimed that there was no nickel in our country. However, we
found it for ourselves later and are producing a great deal
of alloys.
It is said that south Korea is building industry, but I
presume that there are problems in supplying the raw
materials it needs. You may import them, but why buy them
from far-off foreign countries, when our country has
inexhaustible resources? If the north and the south join
hands and develop the abundant mineral resources, it will be
possible to develop the metal and engineering industries and
many other branches, without going to the trouble of
importing raw materials.
We can increase the economic power of the nation only
when we rely on our own raw materials in developing the
engineering industry. Since immediately after liberation we
have exerted great efforts to develop the engineering
industry. The result is that it is on a very high level of
development now. We can only maintain economic relations
with other countries on an equal footing and improve the
people’s living standards when we develop the engineering
industry and make machines for export. At present we export
lorries, tractors and many other machines, and there is a
large demand for them.
There are also abundant aquatic resources in the northern
half of the Republic.
Every year 5-6 million tons of pollack swarm into our
East Sea. This is the figure estimated by scientists and the
exact amount still remains unknown. It is said that when
their swarming is at its height, the shoal is 3,000 metres
wide and 5,000 metres long and the depth is incalculable.
Although such a tremendous number of pollack rush in, shoal
after shoal, we are in a position to catch only 600,000 tons
at most. This means that we catch only 10 per cent of the
fish that surge in. According to scientists, the resources
of pollack do not shrink even if up to 50 per cent are
caught. Therefore, we may catch 2.5 million tons of pollack
in our East Sea every year. If the fishermen in the north
and the south pool their resources, it is possible to catch
a great number of them. This will enable them all to
prosper.
We deem it necessary that the north and the south divide
work in the economic sphere. If the economy is developed
through division of production between the north and the
south, one producing this and the other producing that, this
will markedly lighten the burdens of both sides and give
them much benefit economically.
We should bring about north-south cooperation in the
cultural sphere, too.
This alone will enable the Korean people to preserve
their peculiar national traits as a homogeneous people and
will ensure the uniform development of our national culture.
The north and the south should cooperate in the sphere of
linguistics and develop our national language in a unified
way. When people from both parts of the country meet and
speak to each other, they find many words incomprehensible,
and this sometimes causes misunderstandings between them. If
the north-south language gap is enlarged, national division
cannot be avoided. We should wholeheartedly prevent the
language differences from causing our nation to be split
into two different nations. Linguists in the north and the
south should cooperate with each other in their research and
development work for ensuring the unity of the spoken and
written language. When they get together and discuss, they
will be able to keep the virtues of our language alive and
to develop them further.
In the sphere of science, too, the north and the south
should carry out exchanges and cooperation. In the two zones
there are many talented scientists. In one scientific branch
the scientists in the north may be better informed than
those in the south; and in another scientific branch the
latter may be better informed. Therefore, if the scientists
in the two zones combine their strength and wisdom, they can
achieve great success in scientific research and rapidly
develop our country into a modern industrial state.
We should also bring about cooperation in the field of
sports. If the north and the south cooperate in this sphere,
they can achieve fine results in international contests. Our
sportsmen register excellent results in international events
even when taking part in them separately. If the north and
the south form a single team and enter international games
jointly, they will be able to attain supremacy. Basically,
the Korean people have a strong fighting spirit. This is
well known to the people of the world. In international
events our sportsmen win games more often through their
fighting spirit than through their technique. In future, we
must see to it that a single team is formed with excellent
players selected from the two zones to participate in
Olympic and other international games.
The north and the south should cooperate with each other
not only in the economic and cultural fields but also in the
political domain.
Economic and cultural cooperation should naturally
develop into political cooperation. Only when we cooperate
with each other politically, can we effectively cooperate in
both the economic and cultural fields.
You and we differ from each other in the methods of
viewing things. So there will be difference in views in
realizing cooperation. You look into each of the problems
separately as if they were isolated. But we study things
from the viewpoint that they are all interrelated, acting
upon one another. All fields of society including politics,
the economy, culture and military matters are related to one
another and develop through interaction. This is a law of
social movement. No social problem can be solved properly
unless it is viewed in its relation to other problems. If
political questions are to be settled, economic and cultural
problems should be resolved and vice versa.
If the north and the south do not cooperate politically,
their economic and cultural cooperation cannot be realized
effectively, even though both sides wish this.
For instance, the problem of finding families and
relatives separated in the north and the south now under
discussion at the talks between the Red Cross organizations
of the north and the south appears to be a simple question
at first, but it cannot be settled easily so long as
political distrust exists between both sides.
It is said that among the representatives from south
Korea at the time of the north-south Red Cross talks there
was one person who had a relative in the north. I was told
that, when our officials asked him to meet his relative over
here, he had declined to do so, saying that he would meet
him later. I think this was because he was hesitant to see
his relative in the northern half. I presume that at present
there are people in south Korea who are reluctant to meet
their relatives in the north and also those who make a
secret of their relatives living in the north. This being
so, the efforts of the north-south Red Cross organizations
alone will not be enough to find the families and relatives
scattered over the north and the south properly and help
them meet each other freely. So we consider that if this
matter is to be settled satisfactorily, political
cooperation must be realized between the north and the
south.
The question of easing the tension between the north and
the south and reducing armaments, too, can only be resolved
when political cooperation is achieved.
As a matter of course, the problem of peacefully
reunifying Korea without recourse to force of arms between
the north and the south is clarified in the North-South
Joint Statement. Although the joint statement declared that
the north and the south would not resort to arms, both sides
are continuing war preparations, for fear of possible war in
the future. You continue to import guns with aid from the
United States and we continue to manufacture them on our
own. As long as this situation continues, tensions in our
country cannot be eased. There are many soldiers in our
country today, and the military burdens on our people ate
heavy. A total of 200,000 troops for north and south will be
enough to defend the country from foreign invasion. If they
cooperate politically, the north and the south can deepen
their trust, ease tensions, reduce their military strength
to some 100,000 men each and thus lighten the military
burdens on the people.
Only when political cooperation is realized can all
problems arising in the economic, cultural and military
fields be settled. Therefore, we should not confine
ourselves to economic and cultural cooperation, but go
further to political cooperation.
Political cooperation is not a difficult problem at all.
There is no reason why we should not cooperate politically.
The existence of different systems in north and south is by
no means an insurmountable barrier to political
collaboration.
It seems that at present some people in south Korea
consider socialism to be something to fear. But there is
nothing to be afraid of.
We set off to build socialism after the war. I proposed a
task of building socialism in the theses published in April
1955.
The building of socialism was urgently required in view
of the situation in our country after the war. The
three-year war reduced towns and villages to ashes and
utterly destroyed industry and agriculture. During the war,
most middle and rich peasants in the countryside had become
bankrupt, to say nothing of the poor peasants and
handicraftsmen. Traders and manufacturers, too, had been
reduced to the same plight that handicraftsmen or small
traders were in. In a word, they could scarcely earn a
living without pooling their efforts, and they urgently
demanded cooperativization. Hence, we advanced the policy of
cooperativizing the individual economy in town and country
and carried it out strictly according to the principle of
free choice. We did not expropriate rich peasants in the
countryside and private traders and industrialists in towns,
but drew them into socialist cooperatives and made them
builders of socialism.
We were short of draught cattle, farm implements and
manpower after the war. Even under this difficult situation
we effected agricultural cooperativization and pooled the
peasants’ efforts, with the result that we were able to
carry out irrigation projects on a large scale and develop
the rural economy quickly.
I will not go into details of the advantages of the
socialist system set up in the northern half of the
Republic. When south Koreans witness the situation here in
the north in the future, they will know that the socialist
system is not something to fear but is a good system. So,
there is no reason why the north and the south cannot
realize political collaboration and unity.
I consider it reasonable to effect the north-south
Confederation in carrying out political collaboration
between north and south.
The north-south Confederation we propose is to set up a
unified state leaving the present political systems both in
north and south as they are for the time being.
Representatives of all political parties and social
organizations, delegates of all sections and prominent
figures will get together to organize a Supreme National
Council, in which they will jointly discuss and decide on
important problems for the development of the nation and
carry out activities in the international arena in the name
of a single state. This is precisely what the Confederation
will be. It would be a good idea to call the federal state
the Federal Republic of Koryo, after Koryo which is well
known to the world. This Confederation will make it possible
to fully realize contact and collaboration between the north
and the south throughout all spheres and increase the
international prestige of our nation.
Why should we, a homogeneous nation, enter the
international arena as two states? I will not agree to the
separate entry of north and south into the UN as long as our
country remains divided.
I think we shall reach better agreement if we discuss
specific matters concerning the Confederation further in
future.
You say that you also have no objection to bringing about
political, economic and cultural collaboration between the
north and the south. This being so, you must strive to put
it into practice quickly.
In achieving collaboration between north and south it is
important to discard each other’s misunderstandings and
mistrust. Smiling outwardly whilst inwardly misunderstanding
and distrusting each other will not solve the matter. Both
sides should remove each other’s misunderstandings and
distrust; this is the only way to achieve the north-south
collaboration quickly, I believe.
We will believe you since the south Korean authorities
say that they will push US troops out and will not bring in
the Japanese. The question is that the south Korean side
misunderstands and distrusts us. We are fellow countrymen
gathered here; so, if there is anything about which you are
doubtful, you should tell us frankly. If you conceal your
disagreement and just read out the prepared statement before
returning south, it is impossible to remove
misunderstanding. In order to dispel misunderstanding we
must speak honestly.
If they are to achieve unity and cooperation, the north
and the south must refrain from abusing and slandering each
other. We are being patient with regard to the slanders of
the south Korean authorities against us. If you really want
collaboration with us, you must stop your anti-communist
propaganda. Since we are desirous of collaborating with the
south Korean side, we will not slander you.
When I met the south Korean representative last time, I
said it would be better to form and run a kind of
north-south joint commission so as to coordinate north-south
relations properly and solve problems arising in reunifying
the country successfully. We should form a north-south
coordination commission on this occasion. I do not think
there will be any great problems in doing this. We should
form it quickly and operate it properly.
The coordination commission must not indulge in empty
talk but coordinate north-south relations properly and
steadily solve various problems arising in national
reunification one by one. It would be a good idea if, upon
the formation of the commission, both sides, in token of
mutual trust, were to take measures to cut down their
respective armed forces, set political prisoners free and
guarantee freedom of activity to political parties.
The door between the north and the south, which has now
been opened, must not be closed again. If it is closed
again, we shall be blamed by the people of the world as well
as by our nation.
Once we have opened the door and begun to tackle the
task, we should acquit ourselves well of it and raise the
honour of the Korean nation before the whole world.
The sooner the country’s reunification is achieved, the
better. If we delay the solution of the reunification
question indefinitely, there will be nothing to our
advantage. We should, all of us, work together and reunify
the country as early as possible.