The joint statement contains a landmark proposal for wide-ranging dialogue and negotiations with their south Korean counterparts. What is the main point of the statement is that under the present situation, confrontation can never improve the north-south relations but will lead to an armed conflict and war.

Metal Industry Minister Kim Thae Bong told KCNA that if the north and south continued to antagonize each other, the victim of the confrontation would be only the Korean nation and the profiteer would be others. When the two parts of Korea join hands and make an effective use of resources abundant in the country, it will become a reunified nation, dignified, powerful and prosperous.

Ri Myong Gil, chairman of the C.C., the Union of Agricultural Workers of Korea, said if the north and south discussed all crucial issues of the nation through dialogue and negotiations to seek an agreement and implement it, they would be able to smoothly solve many issues related to interests of the nation and its development, peace and prosperity.

Kim Kang Ho, a department director of the C.C., the General Federation of Trade Unions of Korea, said that antagonism and confrontation in the same nation should no longer be allowed.

Ri Ung Il, first secretary of the Youth League Committee of Kim Il Sung University, called on the young people in the south to pool efforts with those in the north and launch a nationwide movement for the country's reunification.