Single heartedly united land, Korea
Korea is a land of beauty, and one with a proud, dignified and resilient people. It is a land with a history of 5000 years. Before 1945 it was a unified country for more than 1000 years. Its national division, brought about after the defeat of Japanese colonial power through foreign intervention against the wish of the Korean people, was an immense injustice and a deep tragedy.
Since then, the Democratic People?s Republic of Korea and its people, firmly united around their leader, have made extraordinary achievements in building their society and defending national sovereignty, defying all kinds of difficulties including the most brutal foreign aggression.
Inspired by the example of the north, the people of south Korea have struggled hard against military dictatorships imposed upon them by the U.S. imperialists, against the stationing of U.S. troops in the country, against foreign interference, domination and the imperialist threat of war, and for a peaceful and independent national reunification.
Late President Kim Il Sung initiated the national conference in 1948 and put forward a number of constructive proposals for reunification.
The founding of the Democratic People?s Republic of Korea on 9 September 1948 by the President was a decisive step to secure national independence and build a strong state to defend the interests of the Korean people and the masses of the working people.
Less than two years after its founding, the young people?s republic became the target of the devastating U.S. war of aggression, lasting for three years. Thanks to the wise leadership of the President and the extraordinary courage and determination of the Korean people and its allies, the aggression was fought back and the imperialists suffered a humiliating defeat.
President Kim Il Sung put forward the three principles for the country?s reunification of independence, peace and great national unity. He also advanced the proposal for reunification through the formation of a federal government based on the recognition of the difference in ideology and system of the two sides.
The proposals for reunification advanced by President Kim Il Sung clearly demonstrated their validity and practical ability. They remain brilliant ideas acceptable to anyone wishing Korean reunification.
In the 1990s the Korean people went through great ordeals with the collapse of a number of socialist states, the toughening imperialist blockade, disastrous natural calamities and the unexpected sudden death of their great leader, president Kim Il Sung.
In this situation, General Secretary Kim Jong Il firmly advanced the Songun policy and guided the arduous march, leading it to victory. The DPRK confirmed its strength, its stability and the firm unity of its people, united as one around their revolutionary leader, thus inspiring hope and determination and laying a new foundation for the independence, reunification and prosperity of the whole Korean nation.
The historic North-South summit meeting and the adoption of the North-South Joint Declaration on June 15, 2000, opened the road to a new era, where confrontation and mistrust on the Korean peninsula have been turned into reconciliation and cooperation and the spirit of reunification is prevailing, unprecedented since the division of Korea.
Korean reunification is an issue for the Korean people to achieve, and the interference and obstruction of foreign forces should be vigorously rejected. Ever since they occupied south Korea, the United States of America have obstructed Korea?s reunification and created military tension on the Korean peninsula to achieve their vicious dream of dominating Asia.
In order to perpetuate division of Korea and their domination on the Korean peninsula and in the region, the USA has kept imposing sanctions against the DPRK, fabricating all kinds of allegations against it and blocking exchanges and cooperation between the north and the south, instigating conservative forces in south Korea, thus aggravating the situation.
The firmness and deterrent of the DPRK prevented the U.S. imperialists from creating havoc and new suffering for the Korean people and the whole region.
The October 2007 north-south summit meeting was a confirmation of the advance along the path of reconciliation and national reunification on the principle of ?of our nation itself?.
It is imperative to turn the present armistice agreement into a peace agreement for securing permanent peace on the Korean peninsula and to step up patriotic movements of independent reunification, anti-war and peace, and great national unity with the spirit of ?by our nation itself?, and to advance the reunification of Korea under the banner of the June 15 North-South Joint Declaration.
The world people strongly demand that the U.S. imperialists fulfil their obligations as defined in the agreements in the six-party talks, stop their aggressive manoeuvres against the DPRK and promptly withdraw from south Korea.
We actively support the joint north-south resolve to put an end to the existing armistice mechanism and build a lasting peace mechanism as well as their call for a meeting of the heads of state of the parties directly concerned on the Korean Peninsula to declare an end to the war.
Without doubt, the Korean people, mobilizing the united strength of the whole nation from the basic standpoint ?of our nation itself?, will achieve their great task ? an independent and peaceful national reunification and the building of a strong and prosperous society.
Mr. Christer Lundgren.
Chairman
Sweden-Korea Friendship Society
