Thanks to President Kim Il Sung's patriotic decision and wise guidance, high-level political talks were held between the north and the south of Korea in 1972, for the first time in history of their division, at which the three principles of Korea's reunification--independence, peaceful reunification and the great national unity were declared

The birth of the July 4 joint statement provided the Korean nation with the most correct guidelines for carrying out the cause of independent reunification, and enabled nationwide reunification movement to dynamically advance along the coordinates of victory, while foiling all sorts of obstructive moves of the separatist forces at home and abroad, the statement says, and goes on:

Whoever is concerned about the future of the nation and wishes for the new future of a reunified country should not remain an on-looker to the situation of the north-south relations that have faced the worst catastrophe and tension but more courageously turn out under the immutable banner of the three principles of national reunification.

The DFRK Central Committee clarifies the following stand, reflecting the ardent desire of all Koreans for the improved north-south relations and the country's reunification, out of its heavy responsibility for the destiny of the nation:

1. The forces submitting and kowtowing to the U.S. while going against the nation's aspiration and desire for the earliest reunification of the country under the uplifted banner of national independence should be wiped out of this sacred land.

The deplorable situation, in which outsiders lord it over half of the land of the country and inflict all sorts of disaster and sacrifice on the Korean nation although more than 70 years have passed since the division of its territory at the hands of outsiders against the nation's will, eloquently proves that the road of independence is the only way out for the reunification and the national prosperity.

That's why we Koreans, never tolerated the traitors who sacrifice the nation's dignity and interests in pursuance of outsiders, being subservient to the U.S., but dealt heavy blows on them.

The present south Korean chief executive who is leaving the records of submission to the U.S., while abusing the power granted to him by the candlelight demonstrators, being oblivious of this lesson of history, should clearly understand that he can never be exceptional.

What dialogues can be exchanged and how will it be possible to hold hands for the solution of the reunification issue with those who are so much worried about courting displeasure of his master and who take every careful step even on their own land so that their steps would not fall out of their master's steps.

No matter how many times the regimes in south Korea are replaced and whoever holds power, nothing can be expected and can change unless the policy of dependence on foreign forces is replaced by the policy of giving priority to the nation and the old concept of submission and flunkeyism toward the U.S. is replaced by the idea of prioritizing the nation. This is a serious lesson we have drawn once again.

2. We have to deal heavy blows at the warmongers inside and outside who are bringing escalated tension and crisis of a nuclear war to the Korean peninsula through reckless military actions, in defiance of the fundamental principle of peaceful reunification.

The puppet warmongers, who turned south Korea into the biggest powder arsenal in the Far East and an advance base of a nuclear war for threatening and blackmailing the fellow countrymen with nukes, in defiance of the nation's cherished desire for peaceful reunification, are making desperate efforts to shift the responsibility for the escalated tension on to the DPRK side, faulting its measures for bolstering the capabilities for self-defence whenever opportunity presents itself and shelving their own cursed crimes.

The south Korean authorities should not run amuck, clearly understanding what catastrophic consequences will entail in case they are inveigled into the outsiders' attempt for a nuclear war.

We have got ourselves fully ready including the ability to mount precision strike to target even the eyes of all sorts of enemies, after putting in place the deterrence for showering the U.S. with bullets and shells of justice any moment. Yet, we are making all possible efforts for the peaceful reunification of the country as we do not want to see the land of the nation getting enveloped in the flame of war and the whole nation getting embroiled in the holocaust of a war.

The starting point for the genuine peace on the Korean peninsula is the aggressor U.S. imperialists' withdrawal from south Korea with all lethal weapons with them, not the DPRK's "nuclear dismantlement", and the first step toward the peaceful reunification is for the south Korean authorities to lay down the arms leveling at the DPRK and responding to the DPRK's measure for defusing military tension. They should pay heed to this advice.

3. The whole nation should pave a wide avenue to reunification by its concerted efforts after resolutely doing away with the evil practices of confrontation and hostility that block the nationwide trend toward the great national unity.

Even though differing ideologies and social systems have existed in the north and the south for scores of years, there can not be any reason for them not to get united if they put the national commonness and co-interests above all, and the north and the south can certainly hold hands as companions in the road for reunification.

The difference between the ideology and social system can not be a reason for the same fellow countrymen to distrust and stand in confrontation and isms and interests of classes and strata can never be an obstacle preventing the nation from achieving unity. This is our principled stand.

But the south Korean authorities, shunning such good faith and effort shown by the DPRK, hold their hands with outsiders standing against national reconciliation and unity and incite mistrust and stand-off while faulting the north over the nuclear force, tantamount to a treasure common to the nation, and the non-existent "human rights issue". How can the smooth development of the north-south relations be expected?

The great national unity is a short-cut to reunification.

Invariable is the will and faith of the DPRK to open up the new horizon of independent reunification in closer unity, however desperate the separatist forces at home and abroad may get.

We will hold hands with anyone who values the nation and courageously turns out for the solution to the reunification issue, but we will neither compromise nor pardon those who still take to the path of treachery, not away from the old concept of sycophancy toward the U.S. and confrontation with the fellow countrymen.

The statement stresses that the DPRK will as ever fulfill its noble mission and responsibility in improving the north-south relations and achieving the independent reunification in line with the requirements and interests of the nation, while consistently holding fast to the three principles of national reunification and their embodiments north-south joint declarations.