Japanese Communist Party Chair Kazuo Shii issued a statement welcoming the joint declaration issued by the heads of South and North Korea. The full text of his statement is as follows:
An Important Progress toward Peace and Denuclearization on Korean Peninsula
JCP welcomes the Inter-Korean Summit Meeting and its “Pyeongyang Joint Declaration of September.”
Kazuo Shii
Chair, Japanese Communist Party
Member of the House of Representatives of Japan
Tokyo
September 19, 2018
Moon Jae-in, President of the Republic of Korea and Kim Jong Un, Chairman of the State Affairs Commission of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea held the third Inter-Korean Summit Meeting in Pyeongyang and signed the Pyeongyang Joint Declaration of September 2018 and its annexed document Agreement on the Implementation of the Historic Panmunjom Declaration in the Military Domain.
The outcome of the meeting marks an important step forward as it specifies concrete measures to be taken towards establishing peace and denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and makes an effort to achieve a breakthrough in the stalemated negotiations between the United States and the North Korea. The Japanese Communist Party heartily welcomes the outcome.
South and North Korea agreed in the Pyeongyang Joint Declaration to expand the cessation of military hostility beyond confrontation fraught areas such as the DMZ, which was agreed to in the Panmunjom Declaration in April, to the “substantial removal of the danger of war across the entire Korean Peninsula and a fundamental resolution of the hostile relations.” The two sides also agreed in the annexed agreement to “completely cease all hostile acts against each other in every domain, including land, air and sea, which are the sources of military tension and conflict.”
Chung Eui-yong, Chief of the National Security Office of the South Korea, who attended the summit meeting, regards the annexed agreement as the de facto mutual non-aggression agreement between the South and North. It is of high significance towards eliminating the danger of war on the Korean Peninsula as well as establishing peace and stability in Northeast Asia in that the two leaders promised not to allow any war on the peninsula and agreed to the implementation of the concrete measures to be taken to ensure this.
The Joint Declaration makes clear that Pyeongyang will permanently shut down its Dongchang-ri missile engine testing facility and missile launch pad “with experts from allied countries participating in the process” and carry out “extra measures such as a permanent closing of its nuclear facilities in Yeongbyeon” in line with “corresponding U.S. measures.” The Declaration also specifies “close cooperation” with each other during the process of pursuing complete denuclearization.
These agreed items are of high importance as a first step in taking concrete measures for realizing the denuclearization of the peninsula.
The JCP strongly hopes that driven by the momentum created in the summit meeting, the negotiations between the United States and North Korea will make progress. The key for making progress is simultaneous efforts taken by both sides; for North Korea to propose concrete steps to be taken towards its denuclearization; and for the U.S. to clarify corresponding measures it will take.
To achieve success in the historic process working for peace and denuclearization of the peninsula, the backing of the international community and the global public is indispensable. The JCP will continue to make efforts to support and enhance the peace and denuclearization process.
