They included the Seoul Headquarters of the South Side Committee for Implementing the June 15 Joint Declaration, the Confederation of Trade Unions and the Solidarity for Progress.

A press release was read out at the press conference.

It accused the Lee Myung Bak "government" of having struck down all the achievements in the June 15 era of reunification and increased the military tensions and conflicts between the south and the north.

The "government" has intensified its policy of confrontation with fellow countrymen this year, the press release noted, adding Lee Myung Bak aligned himself with the "Saenuri Party" and conservative media to make unprecedentedly serious provocations against the north, including open slanders against it.

The "government" has stirred up an atmosphere of confrontation with hysteria of "coloring" operation and violated the people's elementary rights to existence and democratic rights, including freedom of speech, the press release said.

The regime seeks a foolish attempt to create an atmosphere favorable to it ahead of "presidential election" in a bid to maintain its power, the release noted.

It urged the Lee Myung Bak regime and the "Saenuri Party" to stop their confrontation moves and take a sincere approach to implementing the June 15 joint declaration signed by the south and the north.

It called on south Koreans of all social strata to continue their struggle for achieving national reconciliation and cooperation and peace of the peninsula in the run-up to the 12th anniversary of the declaration.