The principle of independence is the basic one for national reunification which the north and the south promised to adhere to before the nation reflecting the desire and wishes of all fellow countrymen.

This principle calls for resolving all issues, big and small, arising in the inter-Korean relations such as the one of national reunification by the concerted efforts of the Koreans without depending on foreign forces and free from foreign interference from the standpoint of attaching importance to the nation and giving priority to it.

It is the Koreans who are vitally interested in the issue of national reunification, the matter of achieving the national unity by rejoining the severed blood ties of the nation split by foreign forces and of establishing the national sovereignty throughout Korea. It is also the Koreans who are capable of doing so.

The issue of reunification related to the national sovereignty should not be left to foreign forces to settle it. Their meddling in the issue would only create complexities in it.

Foreign forces can never speak for the desire of the Korean nation for the reunification and its interests.

It is crystal clear to all that foreign forces do not wish Korea to be reunified as they partitioned it into two in pursuance of their aggressive purpose and interests.

The north and the south should never fall victim to foreign forces keen on fishing in troubled waters by keeping Korea partitioned.

It is the only right way of achieving national reunification to attach importance to the nation, strictly rely on the nation and adhere to the idea of By Our Nation Itself.

The north and the south must solve all issues in the idea of By Our Nation Itself from the standpoint of giving priority to the nation and attaching importance to it and achieving the national unity in the common interests of the nation.

Such practices as peddling the internal affair of the nation in foreign countries, imploring for their "support" and begging for "sanctions" and "cooperation" against the DPRK in a bid to do harm to compatriots are nothing but shameful sycophantic and treacherous acts as they allow the destiny of the nation to be a plaything of foreign forces.

It is necessary not to allow foreign forces' unreasonable interference in the internal affair of Korea and for the north and the south to jointly counter it. This is the genuine way of applying the principle of independence and the idea of By Our Nation Itself.

There is nothing insolvable when the Koreans reject foreign forces on the principle of independence and pool their efforts.

All "assertions" and "declarations" contrary to the principle of independence should be retracted and all cooperative mechanisms infringing upon the interests of the fellow countrymen should be dismantled. These are the historic tasks to be fulfilled to accomplish the historic cause of national reunification in the spirit of By Our Nation Itself.

No matter how much water may flow under the bridge and no matter how complicated the situation may remain, the basic principle of national reunification -- the principle of independence and the idea of By Our Nation Itself -- can never change.

All Koreans in the north, the south and abroad should wage a more dynamic patriotic struggle to bring earlier the independent reunification of the nation by pooling efforts in the spirit of By Our Nation Itself.