Dedicated to National Reunification

The North Korean military band leads an international peace march

Chairman Kim Jong Il dedicated his whole life to the reunification of the country.

He always paid deep attention to the reunification issue, true to the earnest requests of President Kim Il Sung.

He scientifically proved the validity and truthfulness of the President’s policy on the reunification movement and illuminated the path to independent reunification.

He upheld the President’s initiatives for reunification, namely the three principles of national reunification, the 10-point programme for the great unity of the whole nation and the proposal for founding a Democratic Federal Republic of Koryo, and formulated them as the three charters for national reunification.

Running through the three charters are the spirit of national independence regarding sovereignty and dignity of the nation as its lifeblood, and love for the country and nation geared to independent and peaceful reunification through inter-Korean reconciliation and great unity of the whole nation.

The Chairman also set forth the five-point policy for the overall unity of the nation, a decisive factor in addressing the reunification issue independently and peacefully.

It is one of his great exploits to be etched in the history of the national reunification movement that he wisely led the struggle to open up new vistas for independent reunification, ushering in the “June 15 reunification era”.

To bring about a new turning point in the north-south relationship, he hosted the historic Pyongyang summit in June 2000, in which a joint declaration with By Our Nation Itself as the core was adapted.

In the joint declaration the north and the south agreed to resolve the reunification issue independently by the concerted efforts of the Korean nation itself. And they recognized that the low-level federation proposed by the north and the south’s commonwealth system have something in common, and agreed to work together for reunification in this direction. They also reached agreements on the repatriation of unconverted long-term prisoners to the north, the exchange of visiting groups of split families and relatives and other humanitarian issues, as well as promoting balanced development of both economies and expansion of cooperation and exchange in all fields.

After the publication of the joint declaration eye-opening achievements were made one after another, making the nationals experience what reunification is like.

In this period, called the “June 15 reunification era,” former unconverted long-term prisoners in the south returned to the north, and lots of people joined the mainstream of the reunification movement.

Meanwhile, more than 20 rounds of minister-level talks, over a dozen economic cooperation promotion committee meetings and hundreds of talks, contacts, exchanges and joint events took place, producing a series of agreements to the delight of the people.

Workers, farmers, youths and students, women, educators and others met to hold a joint national event to commemorate the foundation day, June 15 grand festival for national reunification and other reunification-oriented events.

Also other epoch-making events took place: the severed railways and roads in the eastern and western parts of the country were reconnected after mines buried for over half a century were cleared and ships and airplanes shuttled along the direct sea and air routes.

Athletes from the north and the south jointly entered the venues of international sports events preceded by the reunification flag representing the Korean peninsula, demonstrating the nation’s reunification will to the world.

The great exploits of the Chairman for national reunification are engraved upon the hearts of the Korean people and they remain a source of encouragement to the reunification movement.

Kim Chun Song