Another step for peace

The leaders of the two Koreas took a further step towards ending tension on the Korean peninsula at the summit in Pyongyang this week. The talks between Democratic Korean leader Kim Jong Un and south Korean leader Moon Jae In have paved the way forwards towards a new era of peace between the two governments based on the {Panmunjom Declaration} that was signed during their historic meeting in April at the truce village on the armistice line that divides the Korean peninsula.

Kim Jong Un is following in the footsteps of great leader Kim Il Sung, who first proposed the establishment of a united confederal republic based on the principle of ‘one country, two systems’ back in 1980. That’s the principle that led to the peaceful return of the former British and Portuguese colonies of Hong Kong and Macau to People’s China in 1997, and it’s one that clearly would end the imperialist imposed partition of the Korean peninsula.

Moon Jae In represents the views of realistic circles within the south Korean ruling class that want an end to American-inspired confrontation and a return to economic co-operation with the people’s government in the north.

Both sides have agreed to a tranche of economic and political proposals that will further develop inter-Korean relations, end military tension and transform the cease-fire line into a “peace zone”.

US President Donald Trump has welcomed the outcome of the talks in one of his proverbial Tweets amidst rumours that the American leader, who held ground-breaking talks with the Korean communist leader in Singapore in June, is ready for a follow-up meeting in the not too distant future.

 Whether that happens depends largely on the outcome of America’s mid-term elections. If Trump’s Republicans fare badly in the November polls this will strengthen the hand of the ‘deep state’ – the hidden hand that operates across party lines to do the bidding of the most aggressive sections of the American ruling class.

They are the war party that destroyed the Yugoslav federation as well as the progressive governments in Libya and Iraq. They propelled the fascists into power in Ukraine. They want ‘regime change’ in Syria and they back Zionist aggression to the hilt. These are the people who have consistently worked to sabotage all efforts to normalise relations between US imperialism and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK).

The DPRK has been under US sanctions of one form or another since the end of the Korean War in 1953. But despite unrelenting hostility from US imperialism and its lackeys, Democratic Korea has continued to advance along the road of socialist construction and the people’s government will never submit to economic pressure, military threat or nuclear blackmail.

The restoration of inter-Korean economic co-operation can only be achieved with the end of sanctions. Peace can only be secured with the withdrawal of all US troops from the south, and normalisation can only progress with the demolition of the ‘concrete wall’ that divides the country and an end to the anti-communist laws that are a breach of the universal human rights the imperialists loudly claim to uphold when it suits their interests.

This week’s Pyongyang summit shows that the Korean people as a whole can resolve their problems without outside interference. Let us hope they are allowed to continue.