It is necessary to adhere to the principle of national independence clarified in the June 15 joint declaration and the October 4 declaration in order to improve the north-south ties and open the road of peace and reunification, the article says, and goes on:

No outsider does want to see the Korean nation getting reunified and growing powerful.

Foreign forces are trying to catch fish in troubled waters from the confrontation between the north and the south.

Even though half a century has passed, the Korean nation is still locked in confrontation, failing to put an end to its tragic division, due to the outsiders' interference and disturbance.

The improvement of the north-south relations and national reunification can never be attained when one goes for cooperation with the outsiders persistently and viciously checking the reunification of the Korean peninsula.

However, the present south Korean authorities are revealing their unreasonable stand of depending on foreign forces and following them just like their predecessors, oblivious of the lesson of history, thereby making the prospect of the north-south ties all the more gloomy.

If they sincerely respect the mind-set of the candlelight demonstrators and have a will to choose the improvement of the north-south relations, they should stop their act of following and kowtowing to the U.S., of selling the national dignity and interests and of escalating mistrust and hostility between fellow countrymen.

The south Korean authorities should make a proper decision at the crossroads of independence or sycophancy and by the Korean nation itself or "alliance" with the U.S.

The prospect of the north-south relations and settlement of the reunification issue depends on the south Korean authorities' choice.