An August 15 meeting was held in the university street under the co-sponsorship of the People's Council for Public Welfare and Democracy, the People's Action for Nullifying the Canal Project, the Media Action and other civic and public organizations and the Democratic Labor Party and other opposition parties.

At the meeting, speakers charged that during its tenure the Lee Myung Bak "government" has brought nothing but sufferings to the population and bedeviled the inter-Korean relations with the policy of confrontation and hostility towards the fellow countrymen and totally blocked cooperation and exchange between the north and the south.

It is impossible to say about August 15 in the true sense of the word without putting an end to the history of division, they noted, contending that the Lee "government" should be forced to step down in order to open the road to reunification.

Then, an August 15 cultural event for peaceful reunification took place in campus of Hongik University with attendance of over 10,000 people of different strata.

A resolution, read out at the event, pointed out that Lee Myung Bak made no mention of the implementation of the June 15 joint declaration and the October 4 declaration with August 15 as an occasion. This means, after all, that the present "government" declared again at home and abroad its stand to seek confrontation and war instead of dialogue and reconciliation with the north, it said.

The resolution stressed that the people from different walks of life in south Korea desirous of national reconciliation and unity, independent reunification, peace and prosperity would rally as one to defend and implement to the letter the inter-Korean declarations.

Meanwhile, rallies were held in different parts of the city on the same day to criticize the puppet group which is engaged in the fascist dictatorship while stifling democracy and opposing reunification.