The July 4 Joint Declaration

This year marks the 48 th anniversary of the Joint Declaration signed by senior officials of the two Koreas on 4th July 1972.

The DPRK has commemorated this agreement by noting that ‘The July 4th Joint Statement clarified three principles of independence, peaceful reunification, thus providing a fundamental guarantee for Korean reunification.’

The key provisions of the declaration are:

The two sides agreed on the following principles as a basis of achieving unification.

First, unification shall be achieved independently, without depending on foreign powers and without foreign interference.

Second, unification shall be achieved through peaceful means, without resorting to the use of force against each other.

Third, a great national unity as one people shall be sought first, transcending differences in ideas, ideologies, and systems.

The NZ-DPRK Society believes that détente between the two parts of the Korean peninsula, leading to peaceful, mutually-acceptable re-unification can only be achieved by the Koreans themselves, free of foreign interference. This means, in particular, the disengagement of the United States.

We call on the New Zealand Government to endorse the ‘principle of self-determination of peoples’ enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations by supporting détente in Korea and the end of foreign interference.

Issued by Tim Beal (Chairman) and Peter Wilson (Secretary) of New Zealand-Democratic People's Republic of Korea Society (NZ DPRK Society).

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