Koreas Move Toward Permanent Peace
President Roh’s Special Contribution for Korea Times’ 57th Anniversary
By Roh Moo-hyun
President of the Republic of Korea
More than any period in the past, the time is now ripe to create an atmosphere of peace on the Korean Peninsula. The two Koreas are now taking the path toward viable peace to ensure common prosperity, not just passive peace devoid of war.
Around the time the Participatory Government was launched, the security environment surrounding the peninsula was too grave and tense to talk about peace. The second North Korean nuclear crisis had further exacerbated the conflict between the United States and North Korea, plunging the situation surrounding the Korean Peninsula into an unpredictable crisis.
Such adverse conditions notwithstanding, the Participatory Government has held fast to a consistent policy for peace on the peninsula based on clear principles and philosophy. The Administration has avoided antagonizing the North and creating a confrontational atmosphere, which was done in the past under the pretext of national security. Rather, it has built confidence with the North while exercising restraint and recognizing its right to exist.
Taking it a step further, my Administration has pursued balanced diplomacy looking beyond the narrow frame of inter-Korean ties. It has set its sights on a Northeast Asian order, involving relations with the United States, China, Russia and Japan.
Those efforts are now bearing valuable fruit one by one.
The North Korean nuclear problem has gone through many critical junctures such as the North's nuclear test and the stalemate over the Banco Delta Asia issue. But it is now on the road to resolution in earnest on the strength of the Korean Government's proactive initiative and concerted efforts in fine-tuning the differing opinions of member countries at the Six-Party Talks.
The participants in the talks agreed that the Korean Peninsula should be denuclearized peacefully on the basis of Sept. 19 Joint Statement in 2005 and the Feb. 13 Action Plan in 2007.
This determination was reaffirmed in the Oct. 3, 2007 South-North Korean Summit Declaration. For its part, the North made a pledge to abandon all nuclear weapons and existing programs. In response, the United States and Japan promised to work toward the normalization of relations with Pyongyang.
As of now, each party is putting their pledges into practice in good faith. North Korea closed its nuclear facilities in July 2007. With the aim of disabling those facilities, international experts have visited Pyongyang to implement the disablement process.
Inter-Korean relations have also witnessed a quantum leap forward. On the occasion of the recent summit, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and I reached concrete and substantive agreements through candid discussions.
The agreement by the two sides _ ``to oppose war on the Korean Peninsula and to adhere strictly to their obligation to non-aggression,'' which was first included in the South-North Basic Agreement 15 years ago in 1992, is significant in that it aims to fundamentally eliminate the risk of any form of war on the peninsula.
The North Korean leader reconfirmed his commitment to denuclearization during the summit. Building on this achievement, we agreed to discuss issues related to a peace regime for the sake of making peace firmly rooted on the Korean Peninsula.
Under the Sept. 19 Joint Statement in 2005, the directly concerned countries decided to hold talks on the establishment of a peace regime at relevant other forums. Based on this agreement, the presidents of the U.S. and China as well as I have had serious discussions about the issue in subsequent bilateral summits.
At the inter-Korean summit, Chairman Kim Jong Il and I welcomed the U.S. Government's willingness to conclude a peace treaty and agreed to cooperate so that leaders of pertinent countries would convene on the Korean Peninsula and issue a declaration officially ending the Korean War (1950-53).
The leaders' declaration to put an end to the present technical state of war would carry political and symbolic significance. It should contribute to expediting the North's denuclearization process, which in turn would pave the way for permanent peace on the peninsula sooner rather than later.
At the same time, I have to point out that peace on the Korean Peninsula cannot be assured in isolation. In order for peace to be maintained permanently on the peninsula, it is essential to find a fundamental solution to the confrontational power structure still evident in Northeast Asia so that it will be dismantled.
The countries involved should strive to establish a solid international order of mutual respect and coexistence in the region. This is the reason why my Administration at the outset laid out an era of peace and prosperity in Northeast Asia as one of its three major aims.
In recent years, the six relevant nations have held talks in Beijing with the aim of resolving Pyongyang's nuclear weapons issue. It is my firm conviction that the Six-Party Talks should be developed into a multilateral consultative body for peace and security cooperation even after the nuclear problem is settled at the talks.
We can still expect a number of difficulties until durable peace is finally brought about on the peninsula. But on the basis of the mutual trust that has accumulated over the years, all the interested parties should be able to continue to work together and try to better understand one another. In this way, there is no doubt in my mind that the Korean Peninsula will emerge as an engine driving the global endeavor for peace and prosperity for all.