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We warmly welcome the historic Inter-Korean Summit Meeting and the Panmunjeom Declaration:
Call for implementation of the agreement for denuclearization of Korean Peninsula and peace in Northeast Asia

May 1. 2018
YASUI Masakazu, Secretary General
Japan Council against A and H Bombs (Gensuikyo)

1. On April 27, 2018, President Moon Jae-in of the Republic of Korea and Chairman Kim Jong Un of the State Affairs Commission of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea held an Inter-Korean Summit Meeting at Panmunjeom. For the first time in history, Chairman Kim, as the supreme leader of the DPRK, crossed the Military Demarcation Line over to the ROK side, and the two leaders signed the “Panmunjeom Declaration for Peace, Prosperity and Unification of the Korean Peninsula.”

The Panmunjeom Declaration expressed the two leaders’ “firm commitment to bring a swift end to the Cold War relic of longstanding division and confrontation, to boldly approach a new era of national reconciliation, peace and prosperity”, and agreed “(on) realizing, through complete denuclearization, a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula”, “to actively seek the support and cooperation of the international community for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula” and “to actively pursue trilateral meetings involving the two Koreas and the United States, or quadrilateral meetings involving the two Koreas, the United States and China with a view to declaring an end to the (Korean) War, turning the armistice into a peace treaty, and establishing a permanent and solid peace regime.”

We warmly welcome this historic agreement and hope for their sincere implementation to achieve the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and peace in Northeast Asia.

2. To achieve the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, including complete, verifiable and irreversible abandonment of nuclear capability by North Korea, it is significant to build a peace system of Northeast Asian region in an integrated and comprehensive manner. For resolving security concerns held by North Korea and other parties, including end to the Korean War, is essential for achieving the fundamental resolution of the problems.

In this sense, it is important that the Panmunjeom Declaration proclaimed to turn the 65-year armistice into a peace treaty during this year. But the content, verification methods or deadline for the “denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula” are not referred to in the declaration. The substantiation of the agreement depends on the negotiations between North Korea and the U.S., and the forthcoming U.S.-PDRK summit will hold the key.

In the negotiations to follow, we call for the adherence to the principle agreed upon in the Joint Statement of the Six-party Talks of 2005, which stated, “(The Six Parties agreed) to take coordinated steps to implement the afore-mentioned consensus in a phased manner in line with the principle of ‘commitment for commitment, action for action’". Based on the past lessons of the breach of this principle, we hope for persistent and sincere efforts to be made in running the negotiations.

3. During the recent years, the Japanese government has consistently refused to make any efforts to promote dialogue with North Korea, saying “It is a waste of time” or “Dialogue for dialogue is meaningless”. It even put pressure on the ROK regarding U.S.-ROK joint military exercise in the post-Olympic period, saying that it should not be postponed. And using the “threat of North Korea” as the biggest excuse, it continued to turn its back on the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. The error of Japan’s policy is now clearer than ever.

The government of Japan must fundamentally rectify such attitude, adhere to the peace principle of Japan’s Constitution and make serious effort to achieve the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. We also urge the Japanese government to sign and ratify the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, and to take positive initiatives for achieving a nuclear weapon-free world, befitting the country to have suffered from the atomic bombing.