hankyoreh

the South Korea Chair of the All Korean Committee for the Implementation of the June 15 Joint Declaration (right) meets at a hotel in Shenyang

The South Korean preparation committee for inter-Korean events to celebrate the 70th anniversary of Korean independence from Japan and the 15th anniversary of the 2000 Joint North-South Declaration officially announced their cancelation on June 12.

“With our deepest apologies, we inform the people of South Korea that we have been forced to hold the 15th anniversary events for the June 15 Joint Declaration separately in Seoul and Pyongyang,” the committee said in a spokesperson’s statement that day.

The committee blamed the decision on actions by the South Korean government.

“The chief reason [for the decision] is the continued deterioration of inter-Korean relations under the South Korean government’s policies of military pressure and confrontation,” it said.

“Reunification gatherings” that had been prepared for the commemoration are now set to be combined and downscaled into a single event to be held on June 14 at Cheondogyo Central Temple in Seoul’s Jongno District.

Joint events had previously been planned for the occasion, with the inter-Korean preparatory committee previously voting at a representatives’ meeting in Shenyang, China, on May 5-7 to hold them in Seoul.

But the fate of the events appeared sealed on June 1 when the North Korean preparatory committee, amid conflict over Seoul’s demands to “remove overtly political elements” and Pyongyang’s objections, sent a letter on June 1 proposing the holding of separate events in North and South Korea.

In its statement on June 12, the preparatory committee pledged to “make every effort to ensure that joint events are successfully held for the upcoming Independence Day holiday.”

By Kim Oi-hyun, staff reporter

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