With the historic meeting and talks between the top leaders of the north and south at Panmunjom on April 27, where the "Panmunjom Declaration for Peace, Prosperity and Reunification of the Korean Peninsula" was adopted, more than 10 years of icy inter-Korean relations began to thaw and a new chapter for national concord and unity, peace and prosperity was opened.

The April 27 Panmunjom Declaration, a successor to the June 15 joint declaration and the October 4 declaration, is the programme for independent reunification in our times and a declaration of independence and great unity of the nation, because the north and south announced before the world that they would open up a new era of national reconciliation and unity and peace and prosperity by pooling their will and efforts.

The June 15 joint declaration was adopted for the first time in the history of national division thanks to leader Kim Jong Il's steadfast spirit of national independence and will for reunification. It is an immortal programme for independent reunification as it calls for rejecting outsiders and achieving the country's reunification by the concerted efforts of the Korean nation.

The October 4 declaration is an action guideline in the era of independent reunification as it clearly indicated the practical tasks for comprehensively implementing the above-said declaration on the basis of the re-confirmation of its main spirit.

The idea of By Our Nation Itself, which runs through the said two declarations, is a thoroughgoing ideal of national independence and national unity, and its vitality and validity have already been fully displayed.

Kim Jong Un, chairman of the State Affairs Commission of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, further developed the north-south declarations associated with Kim Jong Il's noble will for independent reunification to meet the requirements of the new historic era and thus performed immortal feats to remain long in the history of the movement for national reunification.

The adoption of the Panmunjom Declaration ensured that a fresh milestone was set up on the path ahead of the compatriots struggling for national unity and reunification.

Yesterday, today and tomorrow, too, the path to be followed by our compatriots is the one of national independence, national unity, and the improvement of inter-Korean relations, peace of the Korean Peninsula and a rosy future of independent reunification all depend on sincerely implementing the Panmunjom Declaration.

All the compatriots in the north and the south of Korea and abroad will have to strive for thoroughly implementing the north-south declarations, the great programme of reunification common to the nation and milestone of peace and prosperity, whatever the situation and circumstances.