CILRECO’s Presidency Meeting
Article from the Bulletin of The International Liaison
Committee for Reunification and Peace in Korea (CILRECO) on its Presidency
meeting, held in Paris on February 5, 2000, which launched an appeal to the
international community in favour of the respect of the sovereignty of the
Korean nation, the withdrawal of all the American troops from South Korea, and
the peaceful reunification of Korea, a factor of international security and
peace. The first part of the article appeared in yesterday’s issue of
WDIE:
Secretary General of CILRECO, M. Guy DUPRE (France)
presented an introductory report preceding debate, outlining, from its
preamble, motivations and objectives of the organisation leading the
international movement of solidarity with the Korean people:
"During our persevering struggle, with the help of all
those who value the sovereignty and independence of the people, international
justice and peace, how many times have we evoked the perspective of a new
century, hoping that the Korean people will enter it as a unified country,
eliminating at the same time one of the potentially most dangerous war zones in
the world.
"Unfortunately, the beginning of this new millennium
will mark the 50th anniversary of the outset of the fierce Korean war and its
aftermath – a cease-fire that has lasted for 47 years in the Korean
peninsula, and has served as an excuse to the United States to maintain 40,000
soldiers in South Korea."
He analysed different events that took place in the Korean
peninsula in 1999, in order to define their prevailing characteristics:
- the United States continues to apply their "power
policy" on the D.P.R.K., striving to strangle it economically, to provoke
it on the military level and isolate it internationally, and, finally, to
eliminate its socialist government,
- the South Korean authorities continue with their
dependency policy towards the United States, most of all when it concerns the
question of the reunification of the country, resulting, in a repressive
confrontation policy towards the North and continuing measures against the
South Korean democratic forces working in favour of the reunification of the
country,
- Finally, the D.P.R.K. continues to defend its independence
and its sovereignty, resolutely opposing the United States, and advocating
peaceful reunification of the country, based on the proposal put forward by the
late lamented President KIM IL SUNG, and clarified by the General Secretary of
the Workers’ Party of Korea, KIM JONG IL.
He illustrated this assessment citing numerous examples of
the events that marked the year 1999 in the Korean peninsula:
"Various aggressive military exercises have continued
all along, disguised under names other than Team Spirit, within the
framework of the military co-operation between the United States, South Korea
and Japan, getting ever stronger, and pointing, at the D.P.R.K. as the
‘potential enemy’ number one. At the same time, campaigns attempting
to isolate the D.P.R.K. on the international level, to justify the presence of
American troops in South Korea and the economic sanctions and blockade imposed
by the United States on socialist Korea and to pave the way for a possible
military intervention, intensified."
The remainder of the report, however, counterbalanced more
or less this relatively pessimistic analysis as M. Guy DUPRE declared:
"Detailed evaluation of all these events shows that,
paradoxically, many things have changed in Korea, proving that the reactionary
warmongering American forces are finding it harder and harder to carry out
their plan to eliminate the D.P.R.K. and keep the country divided, or to
reunite it "the German way". The fact that numerous negotiations and
accords have been concluded thanks to the D.P.R.K.'s resoluteness, that
resulted in failure of all American attempts to impose their diktat, testify to
it, and so does the fact that socialist Korea is breaching the wall of
isolation that the United States has been building for years.
"There are many examples of this failure. Italy's
recent recognition of the D.P.R.K., based, as its Minister of Foreign Affairs
pointed out, on ‘mutual respect, sovereignty and equality’, is one of
them. Other examples are the declaration recently adopted by the delegation of
the Japanese political parties, on a visit to the D.P.R.K., and led by M.
Tomichi MURAYAMA, former Prime Minister, and the Workers’ Party of Korea,
concerning the improvement in bilateral relations and the resumption of
negotiations between their respective governments, and positive relations
existing between the D.P.R.K. and the European Community."
The report later examined the situation in South Korea,
essentially marked by the extent of the economic crisis and its consequences
for the local population, further worsened by the requirements of the IMF, and
the present regime's attitude towards the crucial question of reunification :
"KIM DAE JUNG, in accordance with American wishes,
voices openly his anti-reunification opinion. Recently, he declared in an
interview given to a Japanese newspaper, Ashai Shinbum, that reunification was
a problem to be dealt with in the future and that he would leave it to his
successors to solve it.
"He clarified his position using delusive arguments,
such as ‘hasty reunification would not be good for either the North or the
South, because this sudden reunification could create difficulties
mentality-wise’ and he added that ‘the most important thing to do is
to work in favour of peaceful coexistence and economic exchange’.
"This thesis is not a new one; it has been used in
different forms by all the previous dictators and military racketeers of the
former regimes, but always with the same goal in mind: to justify the
long-lasting division of Korea, and to have it endorsed definitely by the
international community.
"The argument in favour of the primordial importance of
peaceful coexistence between the North and the South cannot be taken seriously,
coming from the South Korean authorities, whose policy is totally in line with
the American policy of tension and confrontation on the Korean
peninsula.
"In fact, what KIM DAE JUNG proposes in his
‘sun policy’ regarding the D.P.R.K. is an attempt to create
favourable conditions for the absorption of the North by the South, and
not an effort to facilitate their peaceful and independent reunification.
"Faced with such an anti-national attitude of KIM DAE
JUNG, it is reassuring to state the growing opposition of the local population,
the population that has had the opportunity to judge his broken promises, to
his policy.
"The movement of democratic unions is growing ever
stronger, and has become a non-contested leader of the struggle of the workers
to preserve their acquired rights, called into question as a result of the
economic crises and the requirements of the IMF.
"The united movement of democratic forces fighting to
repeal the ‘National Security Law’ and abolish other instruments of
anti-democratic repression is constantly developing, as are the popular
movements demanding the withdrawal of all the American troops and questioning
the South Korean dependency policy towards the United States.
"Finally, as impartial observers could see, numerous
South Korean democratic forces participated at the 10th Pan-National
Reunification Congress, held in August 1999, despite the interdiction and
repression of the South Korean authorities."
The Secretary General’s report on the D.P.R.K. tried
most of all to assess the current situation resulting from a series or natural
disasters that had struck the country, severely damaging its economy and
provoking food shortages
"At our last reunion, we analysed objectively the
serious difficulties that socialist Korea was faced with, not only as a result
of the four years of natural disasters but also as a result of different
measures taken by the United States (blockade, economic sanctions, threats of
military aggression obliging Korea to invest enormously in self-defence, food
blackmail, ... etc.) attempting to strangle it.
"We noticed, based on the information given by some
honest members of humanitarian organisations, as well as many of our friends
who had had the opportunity to visit the D.P.R.K., the amazing solidarity
movement of the entire population and its dignity in facing such a tragedy.
"Without minimising the extent of the difficulties
socialist Korea is confronted with, we refuse to ‘follow the pack’,
all the more so since it is obvious that this disgraceful campaign in the
media, orchestrated by the United States and the South Korean authorities, is
aimed at blocking the international humanitarian aid, with a cruel desire to
worsen the situation in the country and bring it down to its knees.
"We know that these last couple of years have been
hard, really hard, on the Korean people, trying to rebuild their devastated
country and its national economy severely handicapped by the unprecedented
flooding. We do not ignore the fact that the total recovery takes a lot of
work, but the results achieved so far are very promising
"These visible results of success are even more
important having been achieved during a period of a permanent military and
political confrontation with South Korea, and often dangerously increasing
tensions in the peninsula, provoked by the United States, obliging socialist
Korea to maintain and reinforce its defence.
"We rejoice with all the friends of the Korean people
over the fact that the enormous difficulties that the D.P.R.K. and the Korean
people have been confronted with are diminishing, and that, at the beginning of
this year 2000, which will mark the 55th anniversary of its independence,
socialist Korea is once again capable of advancing its reconstruction.
"We could not finish this part of the report on the
D.P.R.K. without mentioning the very important role it has played regarding the
reunification problem, and in particular last year, bringing together the three
components of the Korean nation: from the North, the South and from abroad,
allowing the reunification movement to make a big step forward."
Quite naturally, based on this detailed analysis of the
situation in the Korean peninsula, the second part of the report treats the
question of its reunification.
Having mentioned numerous proposals and initiatives of the
D.P.R.K. to facilitate the détente and promote a sincere dialogue
between the North and the South, founded on the principles of sovereignty of
the nation, M. Guy DUPRE pointed out:
"Obviously, a true dialogue on these bases would have
helped to encourage the unity of the Korean nation in its efforts in favour of
the reunification of its country, all the more so since there is obviously
within it a large consensus on the ways and means to achieve it, as was clearly
shown last year at the 10th Pan-National Congress and the Grand Festival of the
Reunification 1999, where CILRECO was represented by our friend M. Amar
BENTOUMI, Honorary President, and Ms. Paulette PIERSON, Vice-President.
"These events were most of all marked by the strong
will for national unity and the sovereignty of the Korean people, based on its
immense desire for reunification, and clearly shown by the delegates of the 72
political and social organisations from the South, from the North, and from
abroad.
"As Paulette PIERSON pointed out in CILRECO's bulletin,
the strong presence in the D.P.R.K. of compatriots who had come from the South
and from the Korean Diaspora, not only meant that the policy of the South
towards the North had been rejected but went way beyond, showing that the plan
for the peaceful reunification, without foreign interference and through a
confederal system, proposed by the late lamented President KIM IL SUNG in 1980,
was, at the very least, taken into consideration, and perhaps even adhered to.
"This event clearly showed the important progress made
in relations between the organisations from the North, the South and from
abroad, achieved thanks to realistic proposals and the unification initiative
of the D.P.R.K.; and for the first time ever there is a real solidarity of the
three components of the Korean nation, working together in favour of the
reunification of the country.
"Reinforcing that alliance could be a decisive factor
that could make the year 2000 a turning point in our
struggle for the reunification of the Korean nation, all the more so since it
disposes already of a credible project that could lead to it.
"As you all know, the project in question is the
‘Three Point Charter’, based on the historic proposal put forward by
the late lamented President KIM IL SUNG, i.e. ‘the three principles of
reunification’, already agreed upon by the North and the South, the
reunification through a confederal system, clarified in The project for the
creation of the Democratic Confederal Republic of Koryo, and The ten
point programme for Great National Unity.
"There is an ever-growing interest and support for this
‘Three Point Charter’, as a result of its equitable and realistic
concept, and the unification demonstrations in the D.P.R.K., organised last
August, as well as the intensification of the movement in favour of the
reunification on these bases in South Korea attest to it. While hoping that
this movement of support will continue to spread throughout the Korean nation,
we can also contribute to it by making the project of the confederal
reunification even better known, so that it is endorsed by the international
community.
"Our support for this serious reunification project,
largely accepted by the Korean nation, remains one of the essential aspects of
our solidarity movement with the Korean people. It is an integral part of our
action platform for the year 2000, in favour of the independent and peaceful
reunification of Korea, along with our action for the withdrawal of the
American troops from South Korea, our support for the democratisation of the
South Korean society and our struggle to establish a long-lasting peace in
Korea."
This introduction, preceding debate on the issues, ended
with the assessment of CILRECO's activities of last year and proposals for the
year 2000, that would make it "a turning point on the road to the
reunification of Korea".
A rich discussion ensued, allowing an extensive debate, open
and informal, marked notably by the exchange of views with the leader of the
delegation of the Korean Committee of Solidarity with the People of the World,
whose honest and precise answers, regarding the situation in his country and
his government's reunification policy, were highly appreciated.
This collective exchange of thoughts among the leaders of the solidarity
movement showed how much each and every one of them cared about contributing,
in his own way, to a definition of a dynamic action programme for the year
2000, in order to support more efficiently the cause of the Korean nation,
convinced that it was also the cause of a peaceful and just world.
