World Affairs:
Struggle of Korean People for
Peace and Reunification
June, 2018 Summit between
the North Korean President Kim
Jong-un and the US President
Donald Trump was welcomed in the
world as a definite move that turned
the wheel of war back and set a
peace process in motion in the
Korean peninsula. The Summit has
become possible because the
North Korean leadership has
combined best of its preparedness
to defend itself with a timely seizure
of an opportunity to try for peace
by diplomatic means. The outcome
of the summit, of course, was not
clear in some respects. It contained
the seeds of complications,
controversies
and
even
possibilities of breakdown. Yet, it
gave some respite and time to
focus the attempts on the peaceful
means of solving the problems.
In the months that followed, the
North Korea’s leadership has
moved
to
translate
the
understandings reached at the
Summit into practice in letter and
spirit. The problems before it are:
i) De-nuclearisation of Korean
peninsula. ii) Ending the 1953
Armistice signed between North
Korea and US so that a state of war
comes to an end between them. iii)
Re-unification of Korea which was
forcibly and against the will of
Korean people divided by the in
imperialist intervention and war of
invasion. Iv) Ending the US
intervention in the internal affairs
of Korean peninsula and freeing
the Indian Ocean and the Indo-
Pacific region from the politics of
domination.
The North Korean leadership
has taken definite steps to close
down its nuclear facilities. It has
openly declared to close its main
October - 2018
nuclear complex and allow an
international verification of its
moves if the US too takes
“corresponding measures”. The
message here is, the US too must
remove or destroy its nuclear
weapons and installations from the
Korean peninsula. However, we
know that US and the media
influenced by it are spreading the
idea that the de-nuclearisation
applies to North Korea alone. This
is mischievous. This is an attitude
of disarming North Korea while
keeping the US armed with nuclear
weapons in the Korean peninsula.
It will create a serious hurdle in the
restoration of peace in Korean
peninsula.
The US imperialists had
militarily intervened in the affairs of
Korea in 1950 and continued it for
three years. This war of invasion
ended with the signing of an
Armistice in 1953. But as a
consequence, Korea was divided
into North and South Korea and
South Korea was reduced virtually
into a US satellite. US had set up a
28000 strong military base in South
Korea and went on massively
dumping modern weapons inside
South Korea and in the Korean
peninsula in the name of protecting
South Korea from North Korea. So,
ending the armistice, state of war
together with the removal of US
base in South Korea, US weapons
and weapon systems from Korean
peninsula is essential to bring
peace and security in the Korean
peninsula. This is an important
demand of Korean people.
The division of Korea in 1953
was totally unwarranted and forcibly
imposed on the people by the US
politics of intervention and
domination. Division brought much
agony, pain and loss to the Korean
people on both sides. The urge for
reunification is irrepressible among
the people. So, the unification of
Korea is inseparably linked with the
restoration of peace and security
in the entire Korean peninsula.
The efforts on the part of
regimes of North and South Koreas
to create a favourable atmosphere
for peace and dialogue are on for
long. The Olympic peace diplomacy
initiated by Kim Jong-un gave a
new momentum to these efforts.
Relations, interactions and
dialogue had further developed
between the two leaders after the
June, 2018 Summit. There were
mutual visits, dialogue and some
agreements among them.
The South Korean President
Moon has visited the North Korea
in the third week of September
2018. Moon and North Korean
President Kim together with their
life partners have visited Mount
Paektu at 2744 meter peak – the
birth place of Dangum, the
legendary founder of first Korean
kingdom. The two leaders agreed
to open a permanent facility of
family reunions, work towards
linking the roads and rail and bid
jointly for the 2032 Olympics. At a
performance of North Korea’s
“Mass Games “ propaganda
display, Moon addressed the North
Korean people and recollected how
Korea had lived together for 5000
years. Speaking in a Joint Press
Conference, the leaders promised
to turn Korean peninsula into “a
land of peace without nuclear
weapons and nuclear threats.” Kim
said that the North Korea was
contd. on page 16
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