It says:

The past 15 years go to clearly prove that respecting and sincerely implementing the declaration is the key to the improved inter-Korean relations and the guarantee for independent and peaceful reunification.

The adoption of the June 15 joint declaration the keynote of which is to independently solve the issue of the country's reunification by pooling efforts of the Korean nation was a historic event that ushered in a new era of independent reunification.

Thanks to the declaration authorities-level dialogues and cooperation including the north-south ministerial talks made brisk headway, national independence and cooperation became the trend of the times and the confrontation on the Korean peninsula turned into the one between all Koreans and the U.S.

There took place joint national events for reunification in which north-south authorities and NGOs took part together and compatriots' minds and intentions merged into one under the slogan "We are one!" heard from Mt. Paektu to Mt. Halla.

All-Korean Committee for Implementation of June 15 Joint Declaration representing the will of the reunification of people from all walks of life in the north, south and abroad was formed, the character of the nation-wide movement for Korea's reunification became distinct, the way for tour of Mt. Kumgang, famous mountain of the nation, was paved and the Kaesong Industrial Zone got operational.

The inter-Korean relations which had made dynamic advance since the adoption of the declaration was put into a catastrophic phase owing to the U.S. vicious hostile policy toward the DPRK and the south Korean puppet forces' treacherous acts of zealously following it and their moves for escalating the confrontation with compatriots.

The north-south dialogue has been blocked and joint national events were aborted in the run-up to the anniversary of the publication of the June 15 joint declaration this year. This is an inevitable outcome of the puppet authorities' treacherous acts of persistently pursuing the anti-reunification confrontation, obsessed with inveterate repugnancy and bad blood toward compatriots.

The editorial calls upon all Koreans in the north, south and abroad to get closely united under the banner of the north-south declarations, pave a wide avenue to independent reunification and usher in another June 15 era of reunification.