It was thanks to the energetic leadership of President Kim Il Sung that high-level political talks were held between the north and the south, the Three Principles of National Reunification were proclaimed and a north-south joint statement was made public on July 4, 1972.

The three principles the keynote of which is independence, peaceful reunification and great national unity provided guidelines for solving the issue of the country's reunification by the nation itself in conformity with its will and interests.

Leader Kim Jong Il provided the historic June 15 joint declaration and October 4 declaration based on the Three Principles of National Reunification. That was an event of special significance in putting the cause of national reunification on a new higher stage, the editorial says, and goes on:

Steadfast are the stand and will of the Workers' Party of Korea and the DPRK government to reunify the country on the three principles no matter how frequently the situation and circumstances may change.

All Koreans in the north and the south and abroad should regard the idea of "By our nation itself", basic spirit of inter-Korean declarations, as the motto of their life and struggle, and fully apply it in the effort for national reunification.

They should resolutely reject and shatter the U.S. imperialists' vicious hostile policy toward the DPRK and all their moves to invade it and realize their ambition for domination at the sacrifice of the Korean nation.

The editorial calls on all patriotic-minded progressive forces to achieve solidarity and alliance irrespective of faction, affiliation and ism and deal a sledge-hammer blow at the conservative forces against reunification in their moves to stay in power and thus open a new heyday of national unity.