#peace treaty
Pyongyang, October 26 (KCNA) – The statement of the Foreign Ministry of the DPRK which clarified the principled stand of the DPRK to replace the Korean Armistice Agreement with a peace treaty is evoking a lively response in the world.
Reuters, AFP and a radio broadcasting service of France, Vietnamese newspapers Nhan Dan and Quan Doi Nhan Dan and other media of many countries are reporting the statement every day under the titles “North Korea rejects dialogue proposed by U.S. and south Korea on condition of nuclear dismantlement, asserts conclusion of a peace treaty” and “DPRK Foreign Ministry in a statement urges the U.S. to come out for conclusion of a peace treaty”.
This is a vivid expression of the active support and solidarity by the world peace-loving people with the fair and aboveboard proposal of the DPRK to remove the danger of a war and create a peaceful environment on the Korean Peninsula by concluding a peace treaty between the DPRK and the U.S. at an early date.
The DPRK has consistently called for replacing the AA with a peace treaty, considering the present AA would not help hold off armed conflict and the outbreak of a new war.
The DPRK recently re-clarified the above-said stand on the basis of a serious lesson it had drawn from the situation which prevailed on the peninsula in last August.
A minor accidental case pushed the situation to the brink of a war. This finally proved that the present AA would never check conflict and war and that what is a prerequisite to ensuring environment for lasting peace on the peninsula is to conclude a peace treaty between the DPRK and the U.S.
The conclusion of the peace treaty presents itself as a top priority task for settling the Korean issue also because long-standing efforts for dialogue for the denuclearization of the peninsula ended without success.
Taking into consideration the stand of the parties concerned for discussing the denuclearization issue before anything else in the past, the DPRK took part in the negotiations for handling the denuclearization at the six-party talks first and also discussed the nuclear issue and the issue of ensuring peace at the same time. But all efforts proved futile and even though partial
agreements were reached, they were not put into practice.The U.S. is persistently pursuing its hostile policy toward the DPRK, escalating the tension on the peninsula through ever more undisguised military provocations.
Even at this time when the DPRK clarified its stand for concluding a peace treaty, the U.S. staged large-scale combined naval exercises with the south Korean navy by bringing nuclear carrier Ronald Reagan, cruisers and Aegis destroyers to the waters off Pusan.
Despite its persistent nuclear blackmail and nuclear war exercises against the DPRK, the U.S. urges the DPRK to come out to a negotiating table after scrapping its nuclear program, claiming the denuclearization is a priority. This is a brigandish logic and sophism that can be let loose by aggressors only.
The U.S. is now standing against the conclusion of a peace treaty and increasing the tension on the peninsula, prompted by its hegemonic ambition for the region.
The U.S. undisguised hostile policy toward the DPRK, ceaseless large-scale joint military exercises and the introduction of nuclear strike means into south Korea are causing an evil cycle of confrontation and escalation of tension on the peninsula. This is sparking off arms race and ratcheting up tension in the Asia-Pacific region.
Andrei Ivanov, expert of Moscow State International Relations’ University of Russia, when interviewed by media said: All rackets targeting Pyongyang are pursuant to the U.S. aim to boost military muscle in the Asia-Pacific and build a missile shield with the nuclear threat from North Korea as a pretext. What matters is not Pyongyang but Washington’s ambition targeting Beijing and Moscow.
This is by no means accidental.
All this proves that the denuclearization of the peninsula touted by the U.S. is nothing but an empty talk just as it was before and that the conclusion of a peace treaty between the DPRK and the U.S. is the wisest solution to the issue.
Unless a priority is given to the conclusion of a peace treaty with the U.S., chief criminal responsible for the escalation of tension on the peninsula, it would be impossible to ensure genuine and lasting peace on the peninsula nor would it be possible to solve any other issues of interest of the countries concerned including the U.S.
The U.S. should no longer resort to the racket of “nuclear dismantlement of the north” and nuclear confrontation but seriously respond to the crucial proposal for replacing the AA with a peace treaty at an early date. -0-
As already known to the world, at the recent 70th UN General Assembly the DPRK re-clarified its fair and aboveboard stand to replace the Korean Armistice Agreement (AA) by a peace treaty.
This was prompted by the urgent need to defuse the danger of a war caused by the potential threat to the Korean Peninsula and create climate for durable peace.
The situation on the peninsula in last August when a trifling accidental case created a touch-and-go situation all of a sudden finally proved that the present AA could no longer avert a conflict and defuse the danger of a war.
An agreement was reached between the north and the south with much effort thanks to the DPRK’s peace-loving stand and persevering patience but there is no guarantee that the agreement will be preserved and implemented as desired.
It is because the south Korean authorities, a party to the agreement, do not have any prerogative of command over any armed force in south Korea and are not in a position to reject any joint military drill imposed by the U.S.
It is as clear as noonday that if a conflict occurs again in the area along the Military Demarcation Line due to the escalating tension, it will spill over into an uncontrollable all-out war.
The course of the negotiations held so far for the settlement of the issue on the Korean Peninsula proved that no issue in which the countries concerned including the U.S. are interested can be settled unless a peace treaty is concluded before anything else.
The DPRK once discussed the issue of denuclearization at the six-party talks by taking into consideration the assertion of the countries concerned that the issue of denuclearization should be discussed before anything else and simultaneously discussed both the nuclear issue and the issue of ensuring peace in the past. But all these discussions proved futile and, even when a partial agreement was reached, it was not implemented.
This was mainly because the U.S. persistently pursued its hostile policy toward the DPRK and its military provocations such as large-scale joint military exercises and introduction of nuclear striking means into south Korea, its vivid manifestation, periodically chilled the atmosphere of all negotiations and ratcheted up the tension on the peninsula.
In order to put a definite end to the evil cycle of escalating confrontation and tension it is necessary to replace the AA by a peace treaty before anything else. This is the conclusion drawn by the DPRK.
There are two ways for ensuring peace on the peninsula.
The first one is the Cold War way in which the DPRK has to bolster its capability for self-defence with its nuclear force as a pivot in every way so as to cope with the U.S. increased nuclear threat and war provocations.
It is entirely thanks to the DPRK’s nuclear deterrence that all-out war is averted on the peninsula in a state of ceasefire.
The other way is for the U.S. to roll back its hostile policy toward the DPRK and respond to the call for concluding the peace treaty with the latter so as to ensure genuine and lasting peace based on confidence.
The issue of replacing the AA by a peace treaty is the matter on which the U.S. should make bold decision first and there should be a principled agreement between the DPRK and the U.S., to begin with.
The UN, too, should positively support the conclusion of the peace treaty and thus fulfill its responsibility for putting an end to the abnormal situation where its member country is technically at war with the “UN Command” on the Korean Peninsula.
If the confidence building between the DPRK and the U.S. helps remove the source of imminent war, it is possible to finally put an end to the nuclear arms race and consolidate peace.
The U.S. should drop the idea of groundlessly shunning the issue of concluding the peace treaty and prudently take a right option.
If the U.S. shuns the conclusion of the peace treaty or puts a conditionality on it even at this time when the situation on the peninsula has reached a crucial turning point, this attitude will clearly show the world that it has no intention to roll back its hostile policy toward the DPRK.
If the U.S. insists on its hostile policy, it will only see the DPRK’s limitless bolstering of nuclear deterrence and the growth of its revolutionary armed forces capable of fighting any form of war to be ignited by the former.
Rodong News Team
The Egypt-Israeli Peace Treaty is signed putting an end to all hostilities after Anwar Sadat and Menachem Begin realize both their mothers are named Martha.
