"KIM IL SUNG and WFTU"
(7)
Korea’s Reunification and the WFTU
(Written by Madhavan Atchuthan
Assistant to General Secretary of the WFTU)
As the Korean people are preparing for
the celebration of the 90th birthday of great leader President
Kim Il Sung, the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) is extremely happy to
put on record some aspects of its active cooperation with the General
Federation of Trade Unions of Korea (GFTUK) for over half a century in
mobilizing international solidarity with the struggle of the Korean people for
the reunification of the country.
The first high level WFTU delegation to
visit Korea was in 1947 and it was led by its General Secretary, Louis
Saillant. Since then 28 official delegations of the WFTU have visited the DPRK.
The high level delegations of the WFTU were warmly received by the great leader
President Kim Il Sung and he paid particular attention to the activities of our
international organization in defence of the rights and interests of the
working people all over the world.
With the active support and
encouragement of the great leader President Kim Il Sung, the WFTU organized the
International Conferences of Solidarity with the Korean people and workers on
three occasions.
The 14th World Trade
Union Congress of the WFTU which was held during this period adopted special
resolutions of solidarity with the Korean people.
There were twenty special resolutions on
Korea adopted by the Executive Bureau of the WFTU. There were hundreds of
appeals and press statements issued by the WFTU on the developments in Korea
during this period.
The WFTU hailed the North-South Joint
Declaration as an outstanding event in the history of the nation. The
declaration showed the vast possibilities to make a break from the past period
of confrontation and to work towards reunification in an independence manner.
Following the summit and the joint
declaration, there have been activated dialogues, contacts and visits by
politicians, journalists, businessmen, artistes, sportsmen and wide sections of
people who were interested in promotion of exchange and cooperation in various
fields between the north and the south.
It was significant that representatives
of south Korean political parties and organizations came to Pyongyang to
participate in the 55th anniversary celebrations of the
Workers' Party of Korea.
The WFTU warmly welcomed the north-south
contacts at the trade union level and the visit of the delegations of the
Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) and the Federation of Korean Trade
Unions (FKTU) in October 2000. At that time, a grand conference of workers in the
north and south for reunification was held in Pyongyang. A north-south
solidarity organization of workers for national reunification was also
established.
These epoch-making events bring to our
minds the sagacity and leadership of President Kim Il Sung and his total
confidence in bringing about the independent and peaceful reunification of
the country. As we recall, after the liberation of Korea when the danger of
division of the country was impending, he correctly set the goal of
reunification as the foremost task of the nation. He upheld the cause of
national independence, maintained the policy of one Korea, a policy of
reunification, and set for the original ideas on reunification.
He clarified that the division was not
due to internal conflicts but was forced by the outside forces, i.e., the
United States. The question of Korean reunification was a question of ending
the domination and interference by foreign forces, of establishing national
sovereignty and of achieving unity of the nation by removing distrust and
confrontation between the north and the south.
He put forward the three principles of
national reunification whereby the country's reunification should be achieved
independently, peacefully and through promotion of national unity.
He also set forth the reunification
principle of confederacy based on one nation, one state, two systems and two
governments and the formula of establishing of a Democratic Federal Republic of
Koryo (DFRK). He put forward the Ten Point Programme for great national unity,
with a view to opening up the pathway to the independent and peaceful
reunification on the strength of national forces.
The three principles of national
reunification, the Ten Point Programme for great national unity and the DFRK
formula constitute the three charters and great programme for national
reunification which President Kim Il Sung expounded. These principles, based on
his rich and valuable experiences of the decades of struggle for national
reunification, systematized and integrated the fundamental principles and
strategies for reunification into a whole.
The WFTU and the working people the
world over congratulate the Korean people on the break through achieved in the
reunification process which is a brilliant realization of the reunification ideas
of respected President Kim Il Sung and the wise leadership of respected General
Kim Jong Il, on the land of Korea.
The WFTU is happy that the international
activities are support of Korean people's struggle for reunification
contributed to these positive developments. The high points of these solidarity
actions started with the international campaign of solidarity to end the Korean
war launched by the United States against the DPRK. The World Trade Union
Congress held in 1973 called upon the US to withdraw all its troops from Korea.
However, in defiance of the resolution
of the 30th session of the UN General Assembly calling for a
withdrawal of US troops from south Korea and replacement of the armistice
agreement with a peace agreement, the US continued its military provocations
against the DPRK on a daily basis.
The International Conference of Trade
Unions for Solidarity with the Korean People and Workers for the Independent
and Peaceful Reunification of Korea, convened by the WFTU in 1976, supported
the five-point policy of President Kim Il Sung and reiterated the call for the
withdrawal of all US troops from south Korea. The Conference set up a WFTU
Committee of Solidarity with Korean People. The Committee organized a number of
solidarity activities including the publication of a bulletin "Solidarity
with Korea."
Later, in accordance with the decision
of the Conference, the WFTU sent solidarity delegations to the DPRK and
organized various campaigns to mobilize international support.
In May 1980, a special session of the
WFTU Bureau was held on Solidarity with the Korean People and Workers for the
Independent and Peaceful Reunification of the Country. Reaffirming solidarity
with the DPRK and its just reunification proposals, the session demanded
withdrawal of US troops and rejected the US scheme for "two Koreas."
in Prague in November 1987, the WFTU
convened the Meeting of the International Trade Unions for Solidarity with the
Korean People and Workers and adopted measures to further intensify the
solidarity activities.
At the 14th World Trade
Union Congress (New Delhi, India, March 2000), a special resolution was adopted
expressing support to the three charters of national reunification consisting
of the three principles of independence, peaceful reunification and great
national unity, the Ten Point Programme for Great National Unity and the
proposal for the DFRK. The Congress appealed for a worldwide signature campaign
in support of Korean reunification and the withdrawal of US troops from south
Korea.
In close cooperation with the General
Federation of Trade Unions of Korea, the WFTU continues to mobilize
international solidarity with the struggle of the Korean people for the
peaceful reunification of the country, in accordance with the proposals for
great national unity propounded by the great leader Kim Il Sung.
(To be continued)
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