Amid North Korean Military Provocation Warnings... 6·15 Declaration 20th Anniversary Ceremony Also 'Half-Hearted'

Government Commemoration Ceremony Greatly Reduced
North Korea "Will Initiate Resolute Action"
Repeatedly Hints at Military Action Against South

Following North Korea's official designation of the South as an "enemy" and its announcement of military action, on the 14th, the South Korean Taegukgi flag of Daeseong-dong village and the North Korean flag of Gijeong-dong village face each other across the Western Front Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) viewed from the border area in Paju, Gyeonggi Province.

The government commemoration event for the 20th anniversary of the June 15 North-South Joint Declaration will be held in a scaled-down manner amid North Korea's warnings of military provocations.

Originally, the government had prepared a commemorative dinner and ceremony lasting over two hours starting at 5:30 p.m. on the 15th at the Odusan Unification Observatory, together with Seoul City and Gyeonggi Province.

Minister of Unification Kim Yeon-cheol, Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon, and Gyeonggi Governor Lee Jae-myung were scheduled to attend the commemorative dinner for about an hour, followed by the reading of the June 15 Joint Declaration, viewing of former President Kim Dae-jung's voice and reunion videos of separated families, and a singer's performance as part of the ceremony.

It has been reported that the commemorative dinner will be canceled, and the press corps will not be organized.

This decision appears to be influenced by the difficulty of proceeding with the planned event as is, given that Kim Yo-jong, First Deputy Director of the Workers' Party of North Korea, on the 4th warned of severing inter-Korean relations and hinted at military demonstrations.

The ongoing spread of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) was also taken into consideration.

The June 15 North-South Joint Declaration was adopted at the first inter-Korean summit in 2000 between former President Kim Dae-jung and former North Korean National Defense Commission Chairman Kim Jong-il. The declaration included content such as "recognizing the commonality between the South's proposal for a confederation and the North's proposal for a low-level federation, and aiming for unification in this direction."

Meanwhile, North Korea remained silent on the 20th anniversary of the June 15 North-South Joint Declaration. No articles related to the 20th anniversary were published in state-run or propaganda media.

This contrasts with last year when the North's June 15 Joint Declaration Implementation Committee sent a solidarity message to the South's counterpart committee, appealing to jointly open an era of peace, prosperity, and unification.

Instead, North Korea repeatedly hinted at military actions, emphasizing "retaliation" toward South Korea.

The Workers' Party organ, Rodong Sinmun, published a political commentary article titled "We Will Retaliate with Continuous Actions Until the End" stating, "As already declared, the useless inter-Korean liaison office has collapsed without a trace, and the authority for hostile actions will be entrusted to our military."

It continued, "The invincible revolutionary army will initiate resolute actions to relieve the deep resentment of our people, who are enraged to the utmost," signaling imminent military provocations.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.