Inter-Korean Relations DeteriorateOn June 9, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) cut off communications with the Republic of Korea (ROK). It said it did so in exasperation because the ROK had not condemned and ended the distribution of anti-DPRK leaflets launched by so-called defectors on May 31 from the border city of Gimpo. Gimpo lies on the south side of the De-Militarized Zone where the U.S. divided Korea at the 38th parallel. Earlier, on June 4, the DPRK sent a message to the ROK protesting these balloon launches and calling for action to stop this provocation. It reminded the ROK of its commitments made in the Panmunjom Declaration signed on April 27, 2018. "The south Korean authorities must be aware of the articles of the Panmunjom Declaration and the agreement in the military field in which both sides agreed to ban all hostile acts including leaflet scattering in the areas along the Military Demarcation Line." In the wake of this drastic move by the DPRK, media report that the ROK government is contemplating passing a law to make these provocations illegal and charging those who carry out such acts. The Historic Panmunjom Declaration signed between Chairman Kim Jong Un of the DPRK and President Moon Jae-in of the ROK paid specific attention to the need for the DPRK and ROK to work together to stop military and other provocations against each other and to build a permanent peace on the Korean Peninsula. Specifically, the first three paragraphs of the second point read: "To defuse military tension and remove war danger on the peninsula is a very important issue related to the destiny of the nation and a vital issue for ensuring a peaceful and stable life of our fellow countrymen. "First, the north and the south agreed to completely discontinue all hostile acts against each other, which are the source of military tension and conflict, in all spaces of the ground, sea and air. "They agreed to stop loudspeaker broadcasting, leaflet scattering and all other hostile acts along the Military Demarcation Line and remove means of these acts from May 1 for the present and turn the Demilitarized Zone into a true peace zone in the future." Inter-Korean relations have been hampered by the U.S. ever since it divided Korea in 1945 and its military and political domination of south Korea since then. The U.S. maintains that division so as to use south Korea as a military staging ground to wage war targeting not just the DPRK but also China and Russia. Even though today the U.S. institutions are in a profound crisis, U.S. foreign policy like its domestic policy is based on destruction, aggression and war. To keep the Korean people divided the U.S imperialists continue to target the DPRK as an aggressor to divert attention from its own historic and ongoing crimes against the people of Korea. The Trump administration has not kept any of its commitments to the DPRK agreed to at the Historic DPRK-U.S. Summit in Singapore on June 12, 2018. The second of four points reads: "The United States and the DPRK will join their efforts to build a lasting and stable peace regime on the Korean Peninsula." The slew of U.S. sanctions engineered both through the UN Security Council and its own administration, to which Canada adheres, are acts of war. The U.S. dictate in the ROK, which it calls a "strategic partner," makes the ROK the fourth largest importer of U.S. armaments, which the Korean people have to pay for. That is why, against the wishes of the people and even government of the ROK, U.S. interference in inter-Korean relations continues to cause trouble. In the face of this reality, it becomes all the more important for the government of the ROK to honour its commitments which serve the desire of the Korean people to attain peace. The future of Korea will be decided by the Korean people themselves despite all the difficulties. The guiding principles of the Korean people's movement for reunification stipulate that reunification must be achieved by the Korean people themselves without outside interference; that it must be achieved peacefully; and lastly, that it has to be achieved by the political unity of the Korean people setting aside their differences. (With files from TMLW, KCNA, Hankyoreh)
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