Kim calls for 4-power peace effort

President Kim Dae-Jung, referring to the future of inter-Korean relations, asserted on August 24 that peace on the Korean Peninsula must be completely settled through talks and agreement among the two Koreas, the United States and China. President Kim made the remarks at a meeting of the National Security Conference Thursday morning at Chong Wa Dae. He stressed that the nation should erase unhappy past legacies completely and ensure peaceful coexistence and exchanges through inter-Korean accords and their endorsement by the U.S. and China.

Noting that a favorable atmosphere for inter-Korean reconciliation and cooperation is building and that substantial progress is being made in this regard, the president stressed that the two Koreas need to exert joint efforts to prevent another war on the peninsula through the simultaneous promotion of mutual reconciliation and cooperation, as well as military security. In this connection, he emphasized the importance of military and information exchanges between the two Koreas amid mutual confidence building.

The president went on to assert that the three areas of military, economy and culture should be simultaneously promoted through the establishment of a related inter-Korean committee, stating that one or two sectors cannot develop independently. Kim cautioned that Korea is still technically at war and a peace structure has yet to be realized, adding that there should be no relaxation and optimism as far as national security is concerned.