Unification and Denuclearization 'Reversal'... North Korea Says It Was Right Then, Wrong Now

"Not Country vs. Country" → "Hostile Relationship Between Two States"
Barriers at the Armistice Line Called "National Disgrace" → Construction of Concrete Walls
"Denuclearize the Korean Peninsula" → "Completion of National Nuclear Force"

Newly disclosed records of inter-Korean talks reveal multiple instances where North Korea pressured South Korea under the pretext of unification and denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. While North Korea has recently redefined inter-Korean relations as a 'hostile relationship between two states' amid calls for nuclear force advancement, its stance was quite different at the time.

On the 13th, the Ministry of Unification released documents from the 6th inter-Korean talks. The documents, totaling 2,266 pages, cover political, economic, and sports-related discussions from September 1984 to July 1990. The newly released records vividly show North Korea’s stance shifts that are 180 degrees opposite to its current position, depending on the situation.

A representative example is North Korea’s perception of inter-Korean relations and unification. Since the end of 2023, North Korean State Affairs Commission Chairman Kim Jong-un has redefined inter-Korean relations from a kinship relationship to a hostile relationship between two states (the two-state theory) and abandoned the unification policy inherited from his predecessors.

However, the talk records show that North Korea pressured the South under the opposite stance, using unification as a justification. At the 5th Inter-Korean Economic Talks on November 20, 1985, the issue of the official names (gukho, 國號) of both sides was raised during the signing of the agreement. The next day, the Rodong Sinmun pointed out, “Since the agreement adopted between the North and South is not between two countries but within one country, there is no need to include official country names.”

At the 4th preliminary meeting of the Inter-Korean High-Level Talks held on November 15, 1989, when the name of the talks became an issue, North Korean head Baek Nam-jun pressured the South by saying, “Your side’s name for the talks does not well reflect the people’s desire for unification.”

Additionally, since last year, North Korea has been constructing concrete barriers near the Military Demarcation Line that effectively serve as a ‘border line.’ Yet, at a preliminary meeting on January 31, 1990, North Korea emphasized that “Having a military demarcation line within the country is already a painful matter, but having artificially built walls is a disgrace to the nation,” criticizing South Korea’s anti-tank defense walls near the Military Demarcation Line.

Mentions of denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula also differ significantly. In the past, North Korea launched denuclearization offensives by raising issues about U.S. tactical nuclear weapons deployed in South Korea. On December 31, 1989, North Korean leader Kim Il-sung stated in his policy speech at the 1st session of the 8th Supreme People’s Assembly, “We cannot allow our homeland to become a battlefield for a U.S. nuclear war,” and strongly urged, “to quickly make the Korean Peninsula a denuclearized and peaceful zone free of nuclear weapons and war risks.”

However, subsequent denuclearization efforts by the two Koreas diverged. South Korea achieved denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula through the establishment of diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union in 1990, the withdrawal of U.S. tactical nuclear weapons in 1991, and a declaration by then-President Roh Tae-woo that same year. Meanwhile, shaken by waves of reform and opening in China, the Soviet Union, and Eastern Europe, North Korea withdrew from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in 1993 and focused on nuclear development it had been pursuing since the past, eventually declaring the ‘completion of national nuclear force’ in 2021.

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