'First Agreement Since Division' July 4 Joint Statement... Secret Meeting Between South and North Korea

In a D?tente Atmosphere... First Ever Unification Agreement Between South and North
Lee Hu-rang and Director of Central Intelligence Agency Secretly Travel Between Seoul and Pyongyang
Then and Now... North Korea Insists on 'Withdrawal of US Forces in Korea'
Dialogue Started with Historic Statement... Ends After 3 Years

At 10 a.m. on July 4, 1972, a joint statement was simultaneously announced in Seoul and Pyongyang. This was the '7·4 Joint Statement,' the first agreement between South and North Korea on 'unification' after the Korean Peninsula was divided. Both sides established three major principles: independence, peace, and national unity, and promised to hold Red Cross talks for the reunion of separated families. The permanent direct telephone line between South and North was also officially installed at this time. The opening words of the news reporting this historic event were: "After a quarter of a century of blockage, the path of dialogue between South and North has begun to open."

After meeting Kim Il-sung, Premier of North Korea, in Pyongyang in May 1972, Lee Hu-rak, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. [Photo provided by the Ministry of Unification]

At the tail end of the Cold War, the 7·4 Joint Statement, buoyed by the international d?tente atmosphere, attracted worldwide attention. For the first time, expectations for 'unification' arose on the Korean Peninsula. It was also a period when the national power of North Korea, which was at its peak in the 1970s, and South Korea, which achieved rapid economic growth under the Park Chung-hee regime, were at their most comparable levels. The principle of 'renouncing the use of force' for unification was also established at this time. Since it was a declaration from the Park Chung-hee administration, it remains a principle that the conservative camp has not denied and the progressive forces acknowledge as a significant achievement.

According to the political sector South-North talks documents (1,678 pages) released by the Ministry of Unification on the 6th, there were secret preliminary contacts between South and North before this achievement was realized. These documents include the secret contact process before the announcement of the 7·4 Joint Statement, the statement itself, the proceedings of the South-North Coordination Committee meetings, and the minutes.

South and North met 11 times at Panmunjom to discuss mutual visits by senior working-level officials. After March 1972, Lee Hu-rak, the head of the Central Intelligence Agency, went to Pyongyang and met Kim Young-ju, the brother of Kim Il-sung and head of the Workers' Party Organization and Guidance Department. A month later, in April, Park Sung-chul, the North's second deputy premier, came to Seoul and held talks with Director Lee Hu-rak. It is reported that senior officials from both sides traveled between Seoul and Pyongyang and met with President Park Chung-hee and Premier Kim Il-sung, respectively.

Documents secretly exchanged between Lee Hu-rak, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, and Kim Young-ju, Director of the Workers' Party Organization and Guidance Department, to travel back and forth between Seoul and Pyongyang.
[Photo provided by the Ministry of Unification]

South and North began the 'South-North Coordination Committee Joint Chairmen Meeting' to improve relations. This occurred in October 1972, three months after the statement was announced. Both sides exchanged an agreement containing contents such as ▲ realization of independent peaceful unification ▲ prevention of military clashes ▲ joint coordination in external activities. Looking at the official member list of the South-North Coordination Committee at that time, it included Choi Kyu-ha, who later succeeded President Park Chung-hee as a special advisor, and Kang In-duk, the head of the 9th Bureau of the Central Intelligence Agency who served as the first Minister of Unification under the Kim Dae-jung administration.

From November 1972 to June of the following year, both sides held three 'South-North Coordination Committee meetings' while traveling between Seoul and Pyongyang. They exchanged opinions on exchange and cooperation projects and discussed ways to end the confrontation. However, unlike South Korea, which wanted to start cooperation in 'easier-to-solve areas,' the North insisted on 'broad cooperation in all fields' and even demanded military reduction as a precondition, causing cracks in the 'unification expectations.' The North's attitude of dictating terms as they pleased was the same then as it is now.

To keep the dialogue alive, South Korea made efforts, and from December 1973 to March 1975, ten 'South-North Coordination Committee Vice-Chairmen Meetings' were held. During this period, an incident occurred where South Korean fishing boats were attacked due to North Korea's inclusion of the West Sea as international waters. Despite the discovery of infiltration tunnels for a North Korean invasion, the North insisted on conditions for dialogue such as the withdrawal of U.S. troops stationed in South Korea. The situation was further complicated by the assassination attempt on President Park Chung-hee in the South, and the historic dialogue between South and North, which had been deteriorating, ended with the March 1975 meeting.

In May 1972, a delegation from the North visited President Park Chung-hee (center) in Seoul. [Photo provided by the Ministry of Unification]

The government has previously released historical materials twice, in May and December last year. This is the third time. When materials discussing the separated families issue between South and North were released amid a tense atmosphere following North Korea's 'Panmunjom axe incident' in August 1976, the contents related to the 7·4 Joint Statement and Lee Hu-rak's contacts with the North, which preceded that, were scheduled to be released but were ultimately withheld after preliminary review. Since then, the Ministry of Unification has conducted additional reviews and consultations to establish the scope of disclosure and has now released the related contents.

An official from the Ministry of Unification explained, "The release of South-North talks materials signifies the institutionalization and policyization of the talks disclosure project according to the Ministry of Unification's regulations," adding, "We will continue to promote document disclosure to enhance the public's right to know and the transparency of inter-Korean policies."

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