Civic groups from both Koreas say it’s time to honor Oct. 4 Joint Declaration

Posted on : 2012-10-05 15:44 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST
Inter-Korean agreement could turn contentious West Sea into a “sea of peace”

By Kim Kyu-won, staff reporter
The fifth anniversary of the October 4 Joint Declaration was greeted with calls to finally put its terms into practice. In particular, civic groups from North and South Korea said the agreement, made at a 2007 summit between then-South and North Korean leaders Roh Moo-hyun and Kim Jong-il, needs to be resurrected from its dead letter status under the Lee Myung-bak administration, with implementation of such terms as a special peace zone in the West Sea.
Kim Sang-geun, South Korean chair of the All Korean Committee for Implementation of the June 15 Joint Declaration, blasted the Lee administration during a fifth anniversary ceremony Oct. 4 at the Press Center in Seoul.
“For the past five years under the Lee Myung-bak administration, the vision of peace and joint prosperity in the October 4 Declaration has been buried and inter-Korean relations have broken apart and chilled, leading to artillery fire and the loss of innocent lives,” said Kim.
“Now, five years later, we are still dreaming of the terms of the October 4 Declaration: expanding special economic zones from Kaesong into Haeju, turning the Northern Limit Line in the West Sea into a joint fishery zone, linking the Gyeongui Line with Chinese rail, and beginning tourism at Mt. Baekdu,” he added.
“Let’s take action to make this dream come true in 2013,” he exhorted the attendees.
Meanwhile, the North Korean network Korean Central Television aired a report Thursday quoting members from the North Korean side of the All Korean Committee as saying, “With the October 4 Declaration, a new forum for the people’s prosperity and independent reunification was opened up before all Koreans in the North, South, and overseas.”
The North Korean website Uriminzokkiri wrote that the Declaration “included ideas for turning the West Sea into a sea of peace.”
“When the June 15 and October 4 Declarations are put into effect, the West Sea, which now harbors the seeds of war and conflict, will be transformed into a sea of peace, a sea of the people’s prosperity, and power the development of inter-Korean relations,” the site added.
 
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