All of a sudden it has been sixty years since liberation. Babies born the year Korea was liberated from Japan are now turning sixty, and ninety percent of the population is younger than that. Looking back, those years were a chapter in history full of hardship and displays of the strength of the Korean nation. The impoverished country left behind by that vicious Japanese imperialism has become one of the world's top ten economies. The will of the masses, always aware, became the ground soil for making a democratic society second only to advanced nations. We are worthy of comparison with any other nation on the globe.
The sixtieth year since Liberation is also the sixtieth anniversary of Division, which has been long and unprecedented since the Three Kingdoms Period. The shackles of Division continue to confine the Korean nation in all areas. Many families still live with the pain of separation, and the combined military strength of North and South Korea ranks third worldwide. The division of the Korean nation is used as pretext for the Japanese right and signs of expansionist Chinese nationalism. Even if foreign powers were the main cause of the separation of North and South, Koreans are not entirely without blame. It is time to reflect on the shortcomings of the past and harness a new energy for overcoming the Division.
The "Independence Peace and Reunification Festival" is going on in Seoul right now. It is a party where North, South, and overseas Koreans come together to build a future of reconciliation and co-existence. The North Korean delegation's visit to the National Cemetery is very meaningful because it could be the first step in healing the scars of the Korean War and moving towards true reconciliation by remembering and mourning those who died when both sides aimed guns at each other. We must make the event a point of departure for starting more advanced reunification work.
It would be no exaggeration to say that intra-Korean relations are the best they have been since the war. The logic of hostility and confrontation have been replaced by the values of reconciliation and co-existence, and in almost all areas the two sides are in dialogue and contact as they search for ways to promote the common interest. That being the case, unification would be within view if a framework for resolving the North Korean nuclear crisis were to now be established. That is why North and South need to do all they can to assure that the fourth round of six-party talks that start again at the end of this month produce results.
The intra-Korean summit that took place in 2000 could have been the first year in the history of reunification. Sadly a change of government in the United States and the second North Korean nuclear crisis has reversed things to almost what they were before then. There has also been serious controversy within the South as to how to go about intra-Korean contact and exchange. That, however, is part of the process of the Korean nation preparing itself for unification. We have learned the valuable lesson that resolving the North Korean nuclear issue and the rest of the process of unification depends on our own strength and effort.
We are of a cheerful mind on this sixtieth anniversary of Liberation. Intra-Korean relations are just now becoming substantial, and the nuclear issue is going relatively smooth. The mood is one in which you can expect North Korean National Defence Chairman Kim Jong Il to make that reciprocal visit that was supposed to happen after the 2000 summit. As the nuclear issue gets closer to resolution and there is both the establishment of a peace regime and arms reductions, people will present ideas about the Korean peninsula and Northeast Asia in the era of unification. On the sixtieth anniversary of Liberation we must pledge to look forward and prepare for that, to advance intra-Korean relations to a level that is irreversible and build a framework for resolving the nuclear issue, and by doing so make this year the first year in the history of reunification.
The Hankyoreh, 15 August 2005.
[Translations by Seoul Selection (PMS)]
[Editorial] 60 Years Since Liberation; On To Reunification |
