North-South Joint
Resolution Issued on Foundation Day of Korea
NK News. 10/3/12
Pyongyang, October 3
(KCNA) — The Council for the Reunification of Tangun’s Nation of the north
side and the south side Preparatory Committee of Events Common to the
Nation for Marking the Foundation Day issued the following north-south
joint resolution for marking the Foundation Day of Korea on Wednesday:
The Foundation Day of
Korea is the birthday of our nation and the significant day when sage king
Tangun, the ancestral father of our nation, commenced enlightenment and built
its country by bringing the logic of Heaven to the land and humankind in the
idea of becoming benefactors and building a paradise.
We, descendants of
Tangun, and compatriots of the same nation and blood, should perform a
sacrificial rite to the God in the spirit of preserving the national identity
in great unity and usher in a new era of Korea and pave the way for peace and
reunification.
It is important,
indeed, to pray for the improvement of the north-south relations, which
deteriorated to the worst phase in recent years, rev up the spirit of
independent reunification and once again reconfirm the true meaning of the Foundation
Day of Korea, the birthday of the nation built by Tangun, in particular.
The idea of “By our
nation itself” is the spirit achieved by the consensus of the whole nation and
a banner of reunification to be firmly upheld no matter how the situation may
change.
Koreans should become
one under the banner of the idea of “By our nation itself” irrespective of
religion, ism, class and stratum. Only then can they display the potential
energy of Tangun’s nation.
We make the following
pledge to all the compatriots in the north, the south and abroad, reflecting
the will to exalt the pride and self-respect of Tangun’s nation by achieving
the country’s reunification by the concerted efforts of the north and the south
of Korea on the occasion of the Foundation Day of Korea:
First, we should
achieve independence through the self-development of Tangun’s nation.
We should be aware
that history, philosophy and traditional culture are the roots from which to
lead humankind to becoming benefactors and building a paradise.
We should bring back
the original appearance of Tangun’s nation in the spirit of reunifying the
divided land.
Second, we should
terminate the division of the nation in the spirit and principle of
independence, self-development and self-support and defuse all the
contradictions and tension.
We should inherit the
spirit of the June 15 joint declaration and the October 4 declaration, products
of national consensus, take the lead in implementing them, boost reconciliation
and cooperation between the north and the south and, at the same time, confirm
the homogeneity of the nation and set right the spirit of the nation.
Commemorating the
significant Foundation Day all the compatriots in the north, the south and
abroad should recollect the patriotic spirit displayed by our ancestors, give
play to the traits of worship of Heaven, ancestral king and love for the people
so as to become one with the will enshrined in the Foundation Day of Korea and
bring earlier the country’s reunification. -0- (KCNA)
남북, 개천절 맞아 공동결의문 발표
jcw@yna.co.kr 2012/10/03
(서울=연합뉴스) 장철운 기자 = 남북한 종교단체가 개천절을 맞아 남북관계 회복을 촉구하는 공동결의문을 발표했다고
조선중앙통신이 3일 전했다.
남측 개천절민족공동행사 준비위원회와 북측 단군민족통일협의회는 이날 공동결의문에서 "최근 몇 년간 악화될대로 악화됐던 남북관계가
민족의 생일 개천절을 계기로 원상회복되기를 기원한다"고 밝혔다.
이어 "자주, 자강, 자립의 정신과 원칙으로 민족의 분열을 끝장내고 모든 대립과 긴장을 완화해야 한다"며 "6·15공동선언과 10·4선언의 정신을 계승하고 그 실천에 앞장서 남북의 화해와 협력을 더욱 강화함과 동시에 하나의
겨레로서 동질성을 확인하고 민족정기를 바로 잡아 나갈 것"이라고 밝혔다.
한편 북한은 이날 평양시 강동군에 있는 단군릉
앞에서 김영대 민족화해협의회 회장 겸 조선사회민주당 위원장, 류미영 단군민족통일협의회장 겸 천도교청우당 위원장, 강련학 조국통일민주주의전선
의장 등이 참석한 가운데 개천절 기념행사를 열었다.
북한은 1993년 10월 단군릉을 발굴했다고 발표하고 나서 이듬해 11월 준공식을 치르고, 1995년부터 매년 개천절 기념행사를 이곳에서 열고 있다.
US urges N. Korea, 7
others to join Chemical Weapons Convention
The Korea Times.
10/3/12
WASHINGTON (Yonhap) --
A top U.S. diplomat in charge of arms control and nonproliferation
demanded Tuesday that North Korea and seven other nations immediately join
the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC).
"Eight states
including Syria have chosen to remain outside of the Chemical Weapons
Convention, and the United States calls upon all of them to join the Convention
without delay," Rose E. Gottemoeller, acting under secretary of state for
arms control and international security, said in a statement.
Distracted and maybe
tougher China defers North Korean leader's trip: sources
Reuters. 10/3/12 By
Benjamin Kang Lim
(Reuters) - China quietly deferred a request by North
Korea for its young leader to visit last month because the Chinese
leadership was preoccupied with its once-in-a-decade leadership change
and a host of other distractions, two independent sources said.
The move also suggests
that China, North Korea's main food and oil supplier, may be seeking an
assurance from the isolated state that it drops its nuclear ambitions,
one source said, after it ignored warnings from Beijing not to go ahead with a
rocket launch in April.
Kim Jong-un's desire
to visit China in September was relayed by his powerful uncle, Jang Song-thaek,
effectively the second most powerful figure in North Korea, when the latter met
Chinese leaders on a visit to Beijing in August.
… its five-yearly
congress which is scheduled to open on November 8 when leader-in-waiting Xi
Jinping is tipped to replace Hu Jintao as party chief.
… citing Premier Wen
Jiabao's summit with EU leaders in Brussels in September.
Analysts have said Beijing
may be loath to host Kim due in part to North Korea ignoring Chinese
warnings against the rocket launch in April. The U.N. Security Council, of
which China is a permanent member, strongly condemned on the failed launch as a
violation of council resolutions.
Former North Korean
leader Kim Jong-il, who died in December, made six visits to China from
2004 to 2011 while Hu was in office (Hu is president until March 2013), a
period that also saw Pyongyang actively engage in missile and nuclear arms
development.
The Chinese leadership
has also had distractions apart from the party congress. It has had its hands
full debating the fate of ambitious politician Bo Xilai, who was
expelled from the party last month and faces prosecution for abusing power,
taking huge bribes and other crimes.
Another distraction
was anti-Japanese protests that erupted across China over disputed islands in
the East China Sea.
North Korea's request
was relayed through the Communist Party's international department which deals
with foreign political parties.
Novelist Murakami Weighs In on Japan Territorial Rows
September 28, 2012,
7:21 PM JST By Yoree Koh
Even as Japan’s
prickly territorial disputes gained heat in recent months few well-known
figures outside of political circles have taken a stand on the touchy issue
that has sparked trouble across business, sports and cultural spheres. But on
Friday morning, Japan’s best-known living author joined the war of words.
Novelist Haruki
Murakami penned an essay expressing his concerns about the cultural fallout
that is likely to result from the country’s various escalating territorial
spats and described the feverish reaction to the disputes like getting
drunk on cheap sake. His commentary was prominently published for all to
see on the front page of the Asahi Shimbun, Japan’s second largest daily, on
Friday.
“I fear that as both
an Asian and Japanese writer the steady achievements we’ve made (in deepening cultural
exchanges and understanding with our Asia neighbors) will be hugely damaged
because of the problems regarding Senkaku and Takeshima this time,” wrote Mr.
Murakami.
The Senkaku and
Takeshima islands are at the heart of Japan’s simmering bilateral tensions with
China and South Korea, respectively. The Tokyo-controlled islands in the East
China Sea are known as the Senkaku in Japan, but claimed by China and Taiwan,
which call them the Diaoyu. Japan’s ties with Seoul have been tested in recent
months over a group of islands known as Takeshima at home, the Dokdo in South
Korea, and the Liancourt Rocks to countries not party to the dispute.
The removal of
Japanese works in bookstores across China “shocked” the 63-year-old author. It
represented how far reaching the territorial tiffs have become, threatening to
tear down the regional cultural bonds that took decades to build. Mr.
Murakami said it’s not his position to criticize China for suspending the sale
of books written by Japanese authors “because it’s China’s domestic problem.”
“But here is what I’d say loud and clear: Please don’t retaliate against
China for taking such steps. If we do, it becomes our problem, and it will come back and hit you.”
Mr. Murakami, famous
for his cult classics like “Kafka on the Shore” and the mammoth trilogy “1Q84”,
went on to say that when it comes to national borders territorial problems are
an unfortunate and unavoidable consequence. But that hot headed emotions
have replaced the possibility for practical solutions.
“It’s like getting
drunk on cheap sake. Drinking just a small cup of this cheap sake sends blood
rushing to the head. People’s voices get louder and those actions become
violent,” he wrote. “But after making a noisy fuss about it, when the dawn breaks
all that will be left is a bad headache.” He advises that as politicians and
pot stirrers lead the uproar it is necessary for the public to be careful.
While the anti-nuclear
movement, another controversial political topic, has been bolstered by prominent
voices such as Nobel laureate Kenzaburo Oe the territorial rows have
been left largely untouched. Inherently linked to national pride, no one has
broached the thorny issues. Mr. Murakami’s essay and its publication in a
national daily — conspicuously commanding most of the front page and another
inside the newspaper — is a significant step in moving the debate from the
lecterns of right wing nationalists to a broader audience.
In his essay, Mr.
Murakami mentioned his novel “The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle.” The surreal plot
focuses on a bloody battle between Japanese soldiers and Mongolian and Russian
forces over a barren stretch of the Outer Mongolian desert. Mr. Murakami wrote
that he went to visit the site of the former warzone after he finished the novel.
“As I stood in the
middle of that barren wasteland, with cartridges and other wartime artifacts
still scattered about, I helplessly felt ‘why was so much life senselessly
lost over this piece of empty land?’”
Mr. Murakami, who is
often named as a likely future winner of the Nobel Literature Prize, has been
critical of contentious issues in the past. He didn’t parse his words about
Japan’s reliance on nuclear power last year. He intimated that the Fukushima
Daiichi nuclear accident was a self-inflicted blow, calling it “a mistake committed by our very own hands” during
an acceptance speech in Barcelona last June. His novels also don’t shy away
from Japan’s sensitive wartime activity in the first half of the century. “The
Wind-Up Bird Chronicle” includes unsettling scenes of Japan’s occupation of
Manchuria during World War II, another historical flashpoint between China and
Japan.
His comments on the
island disputes come just weeks before the winner of the Nobel Literature Prize
is announced — an honor for which Mr. Murakami is often named as a future
likely winner. This year is no different. The Japanese novelist has once
again emerged as the favorite to take the prize. He has been given 5/1 odds to win by Ladbrokes, a
U.K.-based bookmaker.
N.Korea Demands
'Rip-off Fee' for Gas Pipeline
The Chosun Ilbo.
10/4/12
Plans to build a
gas pipeline linking South Korea and Russia via North Korea has hit a snag
due to North Korea's outrageous demands.
A South Korean
government source said talks have dragged on because the North is demanding
a transit fee that is two to three times more than international rates.
Based on a method of
calculation used by Ukraine -- about $2 per 1,000 cubic meters of natural gas
for 1 km of pipeline -- a reasonable fee would be about US$150 million a year
given the estimated amount of gas South Korea would import from Russia and the
700-800 km of the gas pipeline running through the North. But the North
reportedly demanded $300-500 million a year.
"It's likely that
the North asked for such a high price in the first place to gain the upper
hand in future talks," the source added. "There have been no
full-fledged talks yet. At the moment, Pyongyang, Seoul and Moscow are just
trying to read each other's minds."
North and South Korea
have separately been discussing terms with Moscow since September last year.
Prices of natural gas vary greatly, depending on time of supply, contract
period, amount of gas, pipeline fees and the possibility of resale to a third
country.
Buddhist sect to visit
N. Korea to discuss joint ceremony
Yonhap News Agency.
10/4/12
SEOUL, Oct. 4 (Yonhap)
-- A South Korean Buddhist sect will send officials to North Korea this
week to discuss a joint religious ceremony and flood relief aid,
Seoul's Unification Ministry said Thursday.
The ministry handling
North Korean issues said it "approved the North Korean trip by five
officials of the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism to discuss holding a joint
North-South Buddhist ceremony marking the fifth anniversary of the
completion of Singye Temple."
The Buddhist priests
and officials will travel to Kaesong on Friday and officials from the North's
alliance of Buddhist sects will escort them during the one-day discussion that
will also draw on the South sect's plan to grant 200 tons of flour in relief
aid, the ministry said.
The North Korean
temple was completed following major joint South-North restoration works in
2007 after being destroyed during the 1950-53 Korean War.
The ministry also said
they permitted a North Korean visit on Friday by the Korea NGO Council for
Cooperation with North Korea, an association of more than 50 private groups,
aimed at delivering 500 tons of flour in relief aid.
